Projects
Language change, cultural change? Social deixis through nominal and pronominal address in the history of English KU Leuven
Address terms constitute a core resource for realizing social deixis. Because of address terms' prominent social function, changes in address systems are often attributed to cultural changes (e.g. recent changes in address between children and parents may reflect changing parent-child relationships). However, these explanations have rarely been tested on a systematic basis. Cultural explanations of changes in address usage are most convincing ...
U+201CDecline and fall?U+201D Social and cultural dynamics in the Low Countries in the Late Roman empire (AD 270-450). Ghent University
Since GibbonU+2019s Decline and fall of the Roman Empire (1776), the late Roman period is known as a period of decline. In recent decades, this view is debated. Our researchaims at studying this era from a modern vision upon material culture. The immiagrtions which where put negatively from a Roman point of view, will de considered from an angle of new social and culturele formations.
Breaking the silence. On the cultural, formal and social integration of the hearing impaired. The case of East-Flanders, 1750-1900. Ghent University
According to (inter)national literature, disabled people were well integrated within their communities until the mid-19th century, when as a result of the industrial revolution and medicalization process, they became an oppressed group. This research project intends to subject this hypothesis to an empirical inquiry and aims to gain more insight into the social position of deaf people, in East-Flanders (1750-1900).
Multilingual encounters in the late medieval town. Rewriting history in multilingual social and political contexts in late medieval Flanders and Brabant (1380-1500) Ghent University
This project deals with the various multilingual social networks in the commercial towns in the County of Flanders and the Duchy of Brabant during the Late Middle Ages (1380-1500). The Burgundian Low Countries were multilingual in their speaking and writing culture. So far, literary and historical scholarship has been rather one-dimensional in its approach towards multilingualism in literature, focusing predominantly on place or cultural ...
The spectacle of socialism. A transnational and interdisciplinary research on the social and architectural history of WorkersU+2019 Assembly Buildings in European cities (1890-1914). Ghent University
This PhD aims to investigate the interactions and entanglements between architecture and the political culture of labour movements in prewar Europe by focusing on the architectural phenomenon of the often spectacular social democratic Maisons du Peuple or U+2018PeopleU+2019s HousesU+2019 that were built around the turn of the nineteenth to twentieth century in a wide range of European cities. The objective is a clear-cut transnational and ...
Masks, Puppets and Performance Objects as Tools of Critique, REsistance and Agency in South Africa; Developing a Situational, Embodied and Postdramatic Approach for Dealing with the Cultural Trauma of Apartheid Ghent University
Dance studies showed how folk dance, mass choreographies and sports events served the
modern state’s bio-politics and developed a spectacle of nationhood. A supra-ethnic national
‘Yugoslavian’ identity was performed beyond religious, ethnic, cultural or gender differences
and this provided the basis for an antagonism between the so-called ‘communist East’ and the
‘capitalist West’. After WWII, Europe embarked on a ...
Perspectives on the so-called 'late Middle Kingdom funerary assemblage'. A Middle Bronze Age Egyptian funerary practice in the light of urban culture, religion, and cultural interrelations. KU Leuven
The aim of the research is to offer a new perspective on the development of an important subset of funerary material culture during the Egyptian Middle Kingdom (c. 2000-1750 BC) and to offer a method for studying changes within funerary assemblages.
The Middle Kingdom was a period of profound socio-cultural changes and it has been argued that these changes are reflected in the evolution of the funerary material. During the later phase ...
Sacred Gender Exclusion: A Study of Cultural Heritage and Religious Tradition in Modern Japan Ghent University
This project concerns the practice of excluding women or men from religious sites and religious
practices in Japan, and the complex interconnections among religion, traditions, and cultural
heritage in the modern period (1868 to the present). Three Japanese sites recognized as UNESCO
World Cultural Heritage (WCH) have historically banned-or currently ban-women's access as a
condition of "religious tradition." A fourth ...
Actresses and their Literary Networks: Reshaping the Cultural Scene in Early Modern Italy Ghent University
Professional actresses were among the few women to build wide literary networks and play an active cultural role in early modern Italy. Yet moralists commonly labelled them as ‘weavers of infernal webs’, ‘violators of spectator’s chastity’, or ‘prostitutes’, colouring critical perceptions for centuries and eclipsing their cultural achievements. This project examines the ways in which six prominent actresses in the professional theatre (now ...