Repertoire of academic work:

• 2025: Powerpoint of a small study about the use of music and drama in teaching Dutch as a second language. Presented at the VU January 2025.

• 2022: Rewriting of my paper from Dutch to English: 'A 'Class Struggle'?: Confrontations in the classroom of the Private and the Public Spheres in the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic from 1960 up to 1968'.

  • Abstract: During the state-socialist regimes of the Soviet era, a pronounced distinction emerged between the official public sphere and the private sphere of family and close acquaintances. This division was a direct result of the autocratic nature of the regime. These two spheres operated concurrently yet independently, forming a unique mode of communication—a distinct discursive space. As articulated by Václav Havel, the public sphere was characterized as the domain of 'lies,' serving as the platform for state propaganda. Conversely, the private sphere was where 'the power of the powerless' came to life, sustained by the preservation of 'truth.' This notion of truth was closely linked to an individual's position within the system and the nature of their resistance to or support for the regime. 

    This study explores the interplay and confrontations between the public and private spheres through a localized case study involving schoolchildren in 1960s Czechoslovakia. Employing oral history methodology, the research investigates the contrasting influences of public propaganda disseminated through the educational system and the private responses within the home. The school environment was a conduit for highly propagandistic narratives, raising the question: how did families navigate and counteract such teachings at home? The participants in this study were primarily from intellectual backgrounds, with parents who opposed the regime. The findings revealed that children were often sent to school with a sense of skepticism, while curriculum content was critically scrutinized and sometimes ridiculed within the family setting. Notably, the accounts of these individuals highlighted a heightened awareness of class stratification. Proletarians were perceived as beneficiaries of the regime's favoritism, intellectuals were stigmatized as adversaries of the state, and the bourgeoisie was marginalized as societal outcasts. While communism aimed to eliminate class distinctions, the private sphere underscored the enduring significance of class differences, which continued to define personal identity and social relationships. 

     

  
  
  ( See research gate: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/362910763_School_during_communism_a_class-struggle_The_private_and_the_public_sphere_in_the_Czechoslovak_Socialist_Republic_1960-1968). 
  

   

• 2019: MA-thesis: 'What was going on there?' Dutch photo-collections of Curaçao 1900-2010: Rediscovery, Kingdom reconfirmation and alienation’ (See also Research Gate). 
  
  Abstract: Dutch photographic collections related to the Dutch Caribbean, particularly Curaçao, have so far received limited scholarly attention. As part of the research project ‘Traveling Caribbean Heritage,’ this thesis examines photographs taken in Curaçao between 1900 and 2010, housed in various Dutch institutions. By analyzing these photographs, the study seeks to explore the sociocultural and (post)colonial perspectives of Curaçao as portrayed by Dutch photographers and institutions, as well as how these perspectives evolved in response to sociopolitical and socioeconomic developments during this period. The research identifies four distinct periods for frame analysis and addresses the central question: ‘What aspects of Curaçao were deemed most significant by various Dutch photographers (both individuals and institutions), and how did these perspectives shift over a century?’ This question draws on Goffman’s concept of frame analysis, which investigates subjective interpretations of a situation—essentially asking ‘What is happening right now?’ as perceived by the observer (in this case, the photographer). Using a mosaic-like methodology that combines content analysis (tagging), frame analysis, and discourse analysis, this study reconstructs the 'Dutch' visual discourse surrounding Curaçao. Central themes, referred to as ‘icons,’ were identified to form an 'iconic repertoire' that reflects this discourse. The findings reveal that the Netherlands consistently portrayed Curaçao and its people as ‘the (inferior) other.’ This portrayal evolved over time, influenced by distinct periods of recolonization (1920–1950), Kingdom reconfirmation (1954–1969), and alienation (1969–2010).
  
  

• 2018, presentation in 2021 at the NGG conference 'Religion and heritage: Futures of religious pasts' (uva):'The Matthäus Mania in the local Dutch context: Religion goes easy?'

• Soon here: My paper about framing women during the Cold War.