Projects
Scientific research in economic and city history. University of Antwerp
Transcendental Materialism and its Disciplinary Concern' - On the Systematization, History and Practice of a Philosophy after the Žižekian Synthesis Ghent University
This project aims to systematize the contemporary, increasingly influential movement named ‘Transcendental Materialism’ (‘TM’) by philosopher Adrian Johnston. Associated with, among others, Slavoj Žižek and Alain Badiou, this philosophy eclectically draws from German idealist, psychoanalytical, and Marxist traditions. Recent scholarship shows that TM, despite earlier attempts at systematization, is currently still unable to reflect on its key ...
The collective memory of collaborators in Belgium's post-war society: a socio-political history (1944-1970) Ghent University
Collaborators in Flanders have succeeded in depicting the post-war purge as an anti-Flemish, harsh and never-ending operation. This research aims to demonstrate the genesis and success of this collective memory through a structural and empirical analysis of sources that reveal the functioning of their organisations and the ways in which other milieus connected and sympathised.
Augustine of Hippo's De civitate Dei in the Central Middle Ages (10th-12th c.): Transmission History and Reception in Theological Debates KU Leuven
My project centers on the reception and manuscript transmission of Augustine of Hippo’s De civitate Dei from the 10th century to the first two decades of the 12th. Augustine’s masterpiece has been one of the most influential works in shaping not only Christian identity, but also Western culture as such. Nonetheless, its medieval Fortleben has received less attention than it deserves. By providing the first encompassing study of its reception ...
How history matters for public sector organizations: examining the effect of past changes on organizational autonomy. KU Leuven
In response to economic pressures and increasing demands on public sector performance, subsequent waves of public sector reforms were introduced over the last decades. During these reform waves, public sector organizations were subject to a wide array of structural changes. Research has largely neglected the impact of such sequential and repeated structural changes on public sector organizations. My research addresses this gap and examines ...
Universal historiography and millenarian kingship in late medieval Egypt and Syria: the third reign of al-Nasir Muhammad and the discourse of history Ghent University
This project investigates a corpus of historiographical texts, predominantely universal chronicles, composed by four historians closely related to the court of the Mamluk sultan al-Nāṣir Muḥammad: Baybars al-Manṣūrī, al-Nuwayrī, Ibn al-Dawādārī, and Abū l-Fidāʾ (death dates between 1325-40). It argues that these texts attest to a specific discourse of history that went well beyond formulations of legitimisation and sultanic hegemony. These ...
An East-Asian “Sonic Empire”: the record company Nippon Victorand its role in global jazz history, 1927-1954 KU Leuven
Record companies played an important role in disseminating jazz
around the world during the interwar period and can be described as
“empires of sound”. Nippon Victor was founded in 1927 as a
Japanese branch of The Victor Talking Machine Company and
became a prominent player in the East Asian jazz market by using
the Japanese empire as its base. This research aims to study the
changing role of Nippon Victor as an ...
The New Jerusalem: The history of a Biblicalimage in Late Antique Christianity (ca. 150–600) KU Leuven
The New Jerusalem (NJ) is an image that emerged within the Hebrew Scriptures, developed in the intertestamental period, and was expanded upon to dramatic effect in the Apocalypse and elsewhere in the New Testament. In the time since, it has become a persistent and powerful religious, political, literary, and artistic topos within the Western cultural heritage. At its heart, the image of the NJ and its cognates (e.g. the heavenly Jerusalem) ...
“When times collide”: A meta-historical analysis of history and memory in post-war Guatemala. Ghent University
Between 1960 and 1996, Guatemala was shattered by an internal armed conflict that resulted in the death of 200,000 people, including genocide against the indigenous Mayan population. By conducting ethnographic field research I investigate different ways of dealing with the conflict and analyze their political implications. I aim at testing time concepts empirically by introducing them in transitional justice.