Projects
Literature and Pornography: a textual and contextual study of Dutch novels in the 1960s and 1970s. KU Leuven
The interaction between pornography and modern fiction has rarely been examined in Dutch literary studies. The present proposal seeks to remedy this by focusing on a corpus of pornographic novels from the 60s and 70s written by renowned authors (Ferron, Geeraerts, Heeresma en Krijgelmans) who represent different forms of literature. The aim is twofold: (1) to contextualize these pornographic texts and determine their institutional position in ...
The European Commission’s Internal and External Strategies in International Trade Negotiations - An Empirical Analysis of the European Community’s Negotiations of Voluntary Export Restraints with Japan from the 1980s to the Early 1990s KU Leuven
The objective of this dissertation is to analyse the European Commission’s internal and external strategies during the European Community’s (EC’s) bilateral trade negotiations of voluntary export restraints (VERs) with Japan from the 1980s to the early 1990s. Despite the proliferation of VERs in international trade policy from the 1980s to the early 1990s, the study of European Union (EU) trade policy almost exclusively analyses multilateral ...
Gender, Nationalism, and Sports: Women's Cycling, Boxing, and Catch-Wrestling in Belgium and Mexico in the 1920s to 1990s. University of Antwerp
A Tale of Spain: Historical Novels in English by Spanish Exiles during the 1820s and 1830s Ghent University
This project focuses on historical novels written in English by Spanish exiles in London from 1822 to 1834. It examines how these writers, arriving in Britain during the heyday of Walter Scott, embraced the new form of historical novel he innovated. The project explores how the standpoint of exile transforms the genre and its reflection upon history and national identity.
Shaping Social Commitment. Architecture and Intellectuality in the 1970s and '80s KU Leuven
The overall research question that guides this dissertation, together with that of my colleague Elke Couchez, revolves around the formative years of architectural theory in Flanders. What conditions allowed architectural theory to mature into a self-aware and recognized discipline in the 1980s and 1990s?
To this aim, the notion of ‘architectural theory’ is broadened to that of ‘architecture intellectuality’, which simply refers to ...
Pioneering PracticesRe-reading Flanders’ architecture of the 1960s and ‘70s KU Leuven
In Flanders, several exceptional buildings from the 1960s-1980s that take on a central role in the urban fabric are derelict or in physical decay. There is an acute lack of insights to guide their status as monuments, the processes of reconversion to face the future as well as the high demands for restauration. The research aims to generate more knowledge on these ‘pioneering buildings’, by combining design and practice-based expertise with ...
Nobodies’ Jews: Non-national Jews between Refuge and Deportation during the 1930s and the Holocaust KU Leuven
The Nazi’s rise to power and occupation of large swathes of Europe had a significant impact on more than 17 million individuals. Jews formed the biggest group that was racially targeted by Nazi Germany. National Jewish communities in all European countries suffered from the increasing destruction of the Nazis. Notably, more than two thirds of all the Jewish victims in Nazi-occupied and Nazi allied countries were non-national Jews. Within this ...
Sulfones, Sickness and Segregation? The Landscapes of Leprosy Care in Congo (1930- 1970) KU Leuven
This proposed research aims to investigate the evolution of the treatment, experience and sociocultural significance of leprosy in Congo between 1930 and 1970. After being known for centuries as an incurable disease, the sulfone therapy succeeded in effectively curing leprosy around 1950. In the preceding period, missionaries and colonial authorities established leprosaria in their African colonies. In doing so, they followed the ...