Embedded Files
Leon Spilliaert, Zicht op de Visserskaai vanuit het atelier, Oostende (1909)
Dear Members of the ALCS,
While the nights are still dark and the wild winds coldly blow, we would like to take a moment to look back on the past six months in Dutch and Flemish Studies in the UK.
Although reforms and restructurings at academic institutions across the United Kingdom keep threatening less widely taught languages, we look forward to the spring of a new year and many events to come, including our 15th ALCS Conference in July.
On behalf of the ALCS Executive Committee we want to thank you for your continued support of our Association. It is thanks to you that we can keep doing what we do.
Christine Sas (Chair)
Christine Sas (Chair)
Filip De Ceuster (Director)
Filip De Ceuster (Director)
Association for Low Countries Studies in the UK and Ireland
LOOKING FORWARD
This event takes place at UCL (XG03 Moot Court, Bentham House) on 5 February 2024 at 6:30pm and is followed by a reception.
UCL Centre for Low Counties Studies Annual Lecture - 5 February 2024
UCL Centre for Low Counties Studies Annual Lecture - 5 February 2024
Dr Sibo Rugwiza Kanobana: 'The Language of Whiteness in Dutch and Beyond'
Dr Sibo Rugwiza Kanobana: 'The Language of Whiteness in Dutch and Beyond'
Sibo Kanobana presents his latest book, Witte orde. Over ras, klasse en witheid [White Order. On Race, Class and Whiteness] (2024). He offers an examination of the historical use of 'blank' and 'wit' and their underlying tensions, and proposes a comparative analysis of both terms with those terms commonly used to signify whiteness in the context of the Democratic Republic Congo, the former Belgian Congo, such as ‘mzungu’ in KiSwahili and ‘mondele’ in Lingala. Building upon the work of Charles W. Mills, Kanobana demonstrates how whiteness is interconnected with ideas of race as well as class and discusses its ongoing effects in contemporary (Belgian) society where discussions of racism are still too exclusively centred on colour.
Correcting & (re)Collecting Text, Story, Languages, Time
Correcting & (re)Collecting Text, Story, Languages, Time
15th ALCS Biennial Conference 7-9 July 2024
15th ALCS Biennial Conference 7-9 July 2024
For the 15th ALCS conference we would like to explore the theme of questioning the UN/KNOWN in the broadest sense in a Low Countries and comparative context. We take a particular interest in interdisciplinary approaches and papers that explore collaborations between Dutch Studies scholars, translators, authors and practitioners.
The two-day conference will include a festive conference dinner and a performance by the Sheffield Artist in Residence Paulien Cornelisse.
We invite individual 20-minute papers or themed 1.5-hour panels. We welcome contributions from emerging scholars and creative practitioners. Please send your proposal in the form of a 250 words abstract by 29 February.
For the third time the ALCS and the Nederlandse Taalunie organise a Dutch Summer School! This edition's theme is Rivieren and takes place at the University of Sheffield, where 'the Dutch river' runs, named after the engeneer Cornelius Vermuiden, who in 1633 connected the Sheffield's river Don with the Ouse.
Whether you are a complete beginner or an advanced learner, join us for a week of language classes, cultural excursions and Low Countries related workshops!
Places are limited. We welcome all learners of Dutch living in the UK and Ireland. Priority will be given to applicants who are currently enrolled or plan on enrolling in a Dutch language program at a UK institution. A limited number of bursaries are available.
The academic year 23-24 marks 75 years of Dutch Studies at the University of Sheffield. To celebrate this milestone, all Sheffield Dutch Allumni are invited to a special anniversary event and dinner on Saturday 25th May 2024.
There is a festive day lined up for allumni including an opportunity to take a tour of the campus and to join a Dutch language class. There will be lekker eten and dancing for those who want to join in. And plenty of opportunities to talk to people!
Dutch at Sheffield would like to hear from you!
Dutch at Sheffield would like to hear from you!
Did you, or did anybody you know, study Dutch at the University of Sheffield or at another HE institution in the UK or Ireland during the 1950s, 1960s, 1970s or 1980s? If so, you could be a part of a book celebrating 75 years of Dutch at the University!
Sheffield Artist in Residence Paulien Cornelisse is putting together a short book of interviews with former students of Dutch. Would you be interested in taking part?
Participation would involve an online conversation with Paulien, during which you would share your experiences of studying Dutch and whether or not it still plays a role in your life. The conversation would take around an hour and would take place in either English or Dutch.
Please email Paulien at sheffielddutch75@gmail.com with your name and the year in which you graduated.
New: ANS Dutch Studies Bursary
New: ANS Dutch Studies Bursary
The School of European Languages, Culture and Society at UCL is excited to announce a new Dutch Studies Bursary supported by the Anglo-Netherlands Society (ANS). A bursary worth £1.250, supplemented by additional funds from members of the Anglo-Netherlands Society, will be awarded to one student per year for a Masters-level postgraduate programme with a Dutch Studies component.
Peirene Stevns Translation Prize 2024 is now open
Peirene Stevns Translation Prize 2024 is now open
This year's prize is aimed at emerging translators from Dutch to English. Entrants are invited to translate a sample from Zee Nu by the Dutch writer Eva Meijer. Entries close March 4th 2024 (12 noon GMT). The winner receives a £5,200 commission to translate Zee Nu, a translation retreat in the French Pyrenees, and a mentorship from International Booker Prize-winning translator Michele Hutchison.
LOOKING BACK
Tülin Erkan - Taalunie Writer in Residence 2023-2024
Tülin Erkan - Taalunie Writer in Residence 2023-2024
In December 2023, UCL and the University of Sheffield welcomed Belgian author Tülin Erkan. Under the expert guidance of literary translator Jonathan Reader, final year students of Dutch at both institutions produced an English translation of an excerpt from her novel Honingeter (2021). In addition to this translation project, Erkan offered our students a creative writing workshop in Sheffield and discussed her work at in London.
Exhibition: Ten true stories of Dutch colonial slavery
Exhibition: Ten true stories of Dutch colonial slavery
As part of Black History Month, Dutch Studies at Sheffield presented a poster exhibition that centres on personal and real-life stories of people affected by Dutch colonial slavery. Rather than abstract concepts, these stories from Brazil, Suriname and the Caribbean, from South Africa and Asia tell the tales of persons who profited from colonial slavery, and who rose up against it. Each story had a link to an audio recording voiced by speakers who are connected to one of the ten people featured.
The ten posters were developed by the Rijksmuseum Amsterdam, the Netherlands' main national museum. Previously, the exhibition travelled to the UN Head Quarters in New York and Geneva.
Off the Shelf Festival: We Slaves of Suriname
Off the Shelf Festival: We Slaves of Suriname
On Sunday 29 October, Off the Shelf Literary Festival hosted 'Repairing the Past: On We Slaves of Suriname'. Dutch-Surnamese Author Tessa Leuwsha and Black Archives Amsterdam Director, Mitchell Esajas discussed this seminal publication by author, historian and activist Anton de Kom, which is now available in an English translation by David McKay). The moderator was Dr Kehinde Andrews, the UK's first professor of Black studies (Birmingham City University).
The event was supported by the Dutch Foundation for Literature and the Embassy of The Kingdom of the Netherlands. Programmed by Modern Culture as part of New Dutch Writing.
As (former) colonial powers around the world apologise for their role in the slave trade, this event explored the writing of history through the prism of literary masterpiece: We Slaves of Suriname by Anton de Kom
ALCS Research Grant Recipient: Adam Sammut
ALCS Research Grant Recipient: Adam Sammut
Dr Adam Sammut, Leverhulme Early Career Fellow at the Department of History of Art, University of York, was one of the recepients of an ALCS grant of £300 to acquire the rights for eight high-resolution images for his book Rubens and the Dominican Church in Antwerp: Art and Political Economy in an Age of Religious Conflict (Brill, 2023).
Rubens and the Dominican Church in Antwerp is about what is known today as the Sint-Pauluskerk, the church of St Paul’s. It is structured around three works of art, made or procured by Peter Paul Rubens: the Fifteen Mysteries of the Rosary cycle (in situ), Caravaggio’s Rosary Madonna (Vienna) and the Wrath of Christ high altarpiece (Lyon). Within the artist’s lifetime, the church and monastery were completely rebuilt, producing one of the most spectacular sacred spaces in Northern Europe. Sammut reconceptualises churches as theatres of political economy, advancing an original approach to cultural production in a time of war.
All but two of the artworks reproduced in my book are hundreds of years out of copyright. However, with notable exceptions like the Rijksmuseum Amsterdam, public museums in Europe and the USA continue to exert a monopoly over images of their collection, in spite of a move towards open access. Art historians (whose metier is images) inevitably incur substantial costs. Vanishingly few grants are offered to support publication convention, forcing scholars to dip into their own funds, reproduce fewer or low-quality images, or resort to image piracy. It was, therefore, a relief to secure the support of ALCS to be able to acquire the remaining images.
TWO PODCAST TIPS...
In Our Time: Vincent Van Gogh
In Our Time: Vincent Van Gogh
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the career of the Dutch artist celebrated after his death for his paintings of sunflowers and starry nights but selling only one work in his life. With Christopher Riopelle (Neil Westreich Curator of Post 1800 Paintings at the National Gallery), Martin Bailey (Van Gogh specialist and correspondent for The Art Newspaper), and Frances Fowle (Professor of Nineteenth Century Art at the University of Edinburgh and Senior Curator at National Galleries Scotland).
Man met de microfoon: Sheffield!
Man met de microfoon: Sheffield!
Writer, comedian and Documentary maker Paulien Cornelisse and Chris Bajema, a.k.a. man met de microfoon, are for a year in Sheffield! Follow their adventures in Sheffield and in Dutch Studies each Friday in the man met de microfoon podcast (in Dutch)!
Dutch Crossing - Journal of Low Countries Studies
Our flagship journal Dutch Crossing: Journal of Low Countries Studies continues to develop successfully. At present it has a very healthy h-index of 9 according to Harzing's Publish and Perish. The complete journal run from 1977 to the present day is now available online.
Does your library have a subscription to Dutch Crossing? Please encourage them to do so!
In the latest issue...
In the latest issue...
Christopher Joby (Poznań) on Dutch in eighteenth-century Japan. During the presence of the Dutch on the artificial island of Dejima, in the port of Nagasaki, for a long time the only European trade post in the country, their language was used not only by Europeans but also by Japanese in a range of social domains. As Joby demonstrates, the processes resulting from the language contact had a large effect on the use of Dutch in Japan, including its acquisition as a foreign language, bilingualism, language competition, code switching and loanword integration. Paying particular attention to the subject of translation, which started to emerge in this period and gave rise to the discipline known as rangaku (蘭学, lit. ‘learning from the Dutch’), Joby analyses the role of Dutch and linguistic diversity in early modern Japan.
Michaël Green (Łódź) looks at the image of Amsterdam presented in Jean Crosnier’s L’Année Burlesque (1682). Fleeing from persecution in France to the Dutch Republic, the Huguenot author and editor (1652-1709) began publishing several literary works as well as the Mercure Burlesque, a monthly gazette focused on gossip and news written in verse, often of a frivolous nature. Green turns his attention to the ways in which Crosnier depicted Amsterdam, the city he lived in, with its multicultural and multi-religious environment.
Tanja Collet (Windsor, Canada) investigates propaganda in the Gazette van Detroit during the first world war. One of many immigrant newspapers set up in the area of the big lakes at the time, the paper kept the Belgian community of Detroit, wider Michigan and Southwestern Ontario (Canada) abreast of the developments in their former homeland. To this end the paper published numerous pieces under the scrutiny of the Belgian government in exile in Le Havre, and later also the US government. As Collet’s analysis demonstrates, much of the Gazette’s wartime reporting can be considered as propaganda, aimed at mobilising the immigrant community’s opinion against a vicious enemy.
Jeroen Dera, Roel Smeets and Tommie van Wanrooij (Leiden) look at the representations of teachers and education, and the figure of the teacher in particular, in 21st-century Dutch literature. Their analysis demonstrates not only the relative commonness of educational representations and teacher characters in contemporary Dutch literature but also the largely negative attributes ascribed to teachers. In this sense, they conclude, literary representations of education appear to converge with the negative public appeal of the educational sector in the contemporary Low Countries.
Page updated
Report abuse