Social History of Communities
The Social History of Communities is a Flemish-Dutch research programme that brings together scholars working on the broad field of the social history of communities. The programme seeks the fruitful academic interactions between senior academic staff, postdoc researchers and Ph.D. students from and outside the Netherlands.
Research Directors
• Prof.dr. Marlou Schrover (Universiteit Leiden)
• Dr. Griet Vermeesch (Vrije Universiteit Brussel)
Description of the theme
Developments in early modern and modern communities result from interactions between means of production, institutions and social relations. This program looks at causes and patterns of the formation of social groups, and at the consequences, in particular the rise of a civil society. The program focuses on the formation of boundaries between social groups, and the causes, and consequences thereof. Particularly, the issue of the rise of a civil society is important in this respect.
Three areas of research are particularly relevant:
(1) the formation of boundaries between social groups e.g. through marriages between social, religious or ethnic groups, or through processes of assimilation (or not);
(2) the institutions that create and propagate -or deteriorate and destroy- shared beliefs and the feeling of belonging together;
(3) the impact that institutions have on society at large: do the ties between the institutions and their members, and among the members themselves, lead to a generalized feeling of trust in society, or, conversely, to social tensions and conflicts?
Background
The program accommodates researchers in the Netherlands and Flanders working on this topic and facilitates their work, for example by supporting meetings and conferences and supporting grant applications. It encourages collaboration with scholars from different universities in the two countries, including scholars in other research programs of Posthumus notably Life-course, Household and Labour. With this purpose it organises international meetings and supports, e.g. via guest editorships, the publication of articles in both leading international journals as well as in Dutch edited volumes and journals. Last but not least it helps in graduate teaching through the organisation of master classes, by hosting national and international meetings (in which PhD students are stimulated to participate), and also because the staff teaches in the Posthumus curriculum.
Examples of projects carried out
Scholars working within the field of Group Formation and Civil Society have over the past years worked on the following topics: Communalism, state formation, and civil society (City and Society in the Low Countries, 1200-1800; State, Society, and Individuals after 1750 ); Philanthropy; Migration History; and Social mobility.
• The ERC awarded an Advanced Investigator Grant -, “Towards Open Societies? Trends, Variations and Driving Forces of Intergenerational Social Mobility in Europe over the Past Three Centuries”, Marco van Leeuwen (UU)
• Civil Services and Urban Communities, 1500-1800. Manon van der Heijden (UL);
• Differences that make all the difference. Gender, Migration and Vulnerability. Migration to the Netherlands 1945-2005. Marlou Schrover (UL);
• Cities and Society in the Low Countries, 14th-18th centuries. Marc Boone (UG), Hilde de Ridder Symoens (UG), Maarten Prak(UU), Bruno Blondé (UA), Bert de Munck (UA);
• Giving in the Golden Age (GIGA), Lex Heerma van Voss (IISG) en Marco van Leeuwen (UU);
• Back to the roots. Alex van Stipriaan (EUR), M. Halbertsma;
• Urbanisation and Urban Culture. Leo Lucassen (UL), Wim Willemsen (UL);
• Ranks and Classes in Europe: constructing scales for the 19th and 20th centuries. Marco van Leeuwen (U));
• Integration of artisan-immigrants into urban labour markets: Antwerp and Brussels, 1450-1800. Hugo Soly and Catherina Lis (VUB);
• Politieke en discursieve strategieën van ambachtslieden onder druk: conflicten rond ‘sociaal kapitaal’ in 16e-eeuws Antwerpen, Bert De Munck (UA);
• Vroegmoderne publieke opinie. Patronen, mechanismen en actoren in opinie- en besluitvormingsprocessn in de Noordelijke en Zuidelijke Nederlanden in de vroegmoderne tijd. G. Marnef (UA);
• Towards open society? Trends, variations and driving forces of intergenerational social mobility in Europe over the past three centuries. Marco van Leeuwen (UU).
• Research grant of the Research Council (Onderzoeksraad) of the University of Antwerp, project ‘Sociaal kapitaal in Antwerpse ambachten, 16de eeuw’, by Bert De Munck (UA) and Koen Wouters (UA) (2007-2011).
• Integration of artisan-immigrants into urban labour markets: Antwerp and Brussels, 1450-1800, Hugo Soly ((VUB) and Catharina Lis (VUB), 2006-2010.
• Foundation of the research group AMI: Archief en herinnering van migratie in Vlaanderen, by Leen Beyers, University of Leuven.
• VNC-project ‘Netwerken van staat en kapitaal. Oorlog, militaire instituties en entrepreneurs in de Zuidelijke Nederlanden, 1700-1788’, by Hugo Soly (VUB) and Griet Vermeesch (VUB).
• FWO research project ‘Expel or subsidise? Local migration policies in the Southern Low Countries, c. 1700-1900’ (2007-2010)’, granted 138.000 Euro.
• 2010-2013 Wetenschap en maatschappijproject UGent Feestlokaal Vooruit: 100/30 jaar (im)materieel erfgoed (Bruno De Wever, Gita Deneckere)
• Bert De Munck (UA), Stad en verandering. Naar een nieuwe onderzoeksagenda voor stadsgeschiedenis FWO-onderzoeksgemeenschap (WOG 2011-2016).
• 2009- 2011 European research network grant on Civil Society, ESF Exploratory, by Bert de Munck (UA) and Maarten van Dijck (UA).
Staff
• Bert Altena (EUR)
• Jan Art (UGent)
• Hans Binneveld (EUR)
• Marc Boone (UGent)
• Ulbe Bosma (IISG)
• Gita Deneckere (UGent)
• Leo Lucassen (UL)
• Guido Marnef (UA)
• Gijsbert Oonk (EUR)
• Patrick Pasture (KULeuven, affil.)
• Maarten Prak (UU)
• Chris Quispel (UL)
• Herman Roodenburg (KULeuven-Meertens Instituut, affil.)
• Marlou Schrover (UL)
• Pieter Spierenburg (EUR)
• Alex van Stipriaan Luïscius (EUR)
• Hilde Symoens (UGent)
• Loes van der Valk (EUR)
• Boudien de Vries (UvA)
• Karin Willemse (EUR)
• Anne Winter (VUB)
Temporary Staff
• Laura van Aert (UA)
• Leen Beyers (KULeuven, affil.)
• Anne-Laure van Bruaene (UGent)
• Koen Buyens (KULeuven, affil.)
• Maarten Van Dijck (UA)
• Jelle Haemers (UGent)
• Jord Hanus (UA)
• Erika Kuijpers (UU)
• Elise van Nederveen Meerkerk (UL/IISG)
PhD Students
• Jan-Frederik Abbeloos (UGent)
• Nadia Bouras (UL)
• Annelore Brantegen (VUB)
• Ellen Burm (UA)
• Shirley Haasnoot (RUG)
• Lidewij Hesselink (UU)
• Diederick Klein Kranenburg (UL)
• Charlotte Laarman (UL)
• Veerle De Laet (UA)
• Sopfie De Langhe (UGent)
• Gillian Mathys (UGent)
• Sae Matsuno
• Elke Ortmanns (UA)
• Jan van der Poel (VUB)
• Carolien De Staelen (UA)
• Wouter Vanacker
• Robert Vonk (VU)
• Christophe Verbruggen (UGent)
• Frederik Verleysen (VUB)
• Petra Vervust (UGent)
• Remco Visschers (WUR)
• Tycho Walaardt (UL)
• Koen Wouters (VUB)