Books by Gerrit Verhoeven
Ooit was België een topbestemming. Toeristen stroomden van heinde en verre toe om van een streepj... more Ooit was België een topbestemming. Toeristen stroomden van heinde en verre toe om van een streepje zon aan de Belgische kust te genieten, de ruwe Ardense valleien te ontdekken of door één van onze kunststeden te struinen. Dat bruisende toerisme liet zijn sporen na in het landschap: van de luxueuze villa’s en hotels uit de Belle Époque in Westende tot de verroeste wandelwegwijzers in Wépion.
Met dat erfgoed als ankerpunt brengt Bestemming België die turbulente toeristische ontwikkeling in kaart, van het prille begin in Waterloo in 1815 tot het heden. Daarbij doet het boek recht aan de uitzonderlijke diversiteit van toerisme. Op het programma prijken (schijnbaar) tijdloze trekpleisters, maar ook meer verrassende bestemmingen zoals de slagvelden van de Eerste Wereldoorlog, het koloniale Léopoldville, pelgrimsoord Banneux, of Hofstade les Bains.
Centraal in het boek staat het wel en wee van het Belgische toerisme, dat na de hoogdagen algauw in zwaar weer terecht kwam. Kortom, Bestemming België neemt je mee op een wervelende reis door het verleden, heden en toekomst van toerisme in België.
Material Histories of Time: Objects and practices (14th-19th century)
The historiography of timekeeping is traditionally characterized by a dichotomy between research ... more The historiography of timekeeping is traditionally characterized by a dichotomy between research that investigates the evolution of technical devices on the one hand, and research that is concerned with the examination of the cultures and uses of time on the other hand.
Material Histories of Time opens a dialogue between these two approaches by taking monumental clocks, table clocks, portable watches, carriage clocks, and other forms of timekeeping as the starting point of a joint reflection of specialists of the history of horology together with scholars studying the social and cultural history of time. The contributions range from the apparition of the first timekeeping mechanical systems in the Middle Ages to the first evidence of industrialization in the 18th and 19th centuries.
Travel in early modern Europe is frequently represented as synonymous with the institution of the... more Travel in early modern Europe is frequently represented as synonymous with the institution of the Grand Tour, a journey undertaken by elite young males from northern Europe to the centres of the arts and antiquity in Italy. Taking a somewhat different perspective, this volume builds upon recent research that pushes beyond this narrow orthodoxy and which decentres Italy as the ultimate destination of European travellers. Instead, it explores a much broader pattern of travel, undertaken by people of varied backgrounds and with divergent motives for travelling. By tapping into current reactions against the reification of the Grand Tour as a unique and distinctive practice, this volume represents an important contribution to the ongoing process of resituating the Grand Tour as part of a wider context of travel and topographical writing. Focusing upon practices of travel in northern and western Europe rather than in Italy, particularly in Britain, the Low Countries and Germany, the essays in this collection highlight how itineraries continually evolved in response to changing political, economic and intellectual contexts. In so doing, the reasons for travel in northern Europe are subjected to a similar level of detailed analysis as has previously only been directed on Italy. By doing this, the volume demonstrates the variety of travel experiences, including the many shorter journeys made for pleasure, health, education and business undertaken by travellers of varying age and background across the period. In this way the volume brings to the fore the experiences of varied categories of traveller – from children to businessmen – which have traditionally been largely invisible in the historiography of travel.
In Europe within Reach Gerrit Verhoeven traces some sweeping evolutions in the early modern trave... more In Europe within Reach Gerrit Verhoeven traces some sweeping evolutions in the early modern travel behaviour of Dutch and Flemish elites (1585-1750), as the classical Grand Tour was slowly but surely overshadowed by other types of travelling.
Leisure trips to Paris, London or Berlin, a cours pittoresque along the Rhine, domestic trips in the Low Countries and a series of other destinations gained ground, while new sorts of travellers cropped up: female and middle-class travellers, domestic servants, children, youngsters and the elderly.
Verhoeven does not only trace these evolutions, but also explains why Netherlandish travellers gradually turned into art connoisseurs; why they were spellbound by sites of memory and by rugged landscapes; or why all sorts of fashionable gadgets and thingies were bought on the way.
Articles by Gerrit Verhoeven
Journal of Belgian History, 2024
During the 20th century, the marketing of tourist destinations increasingly shifted from a local ... more During the 20th century, the marketing of tourist destinations increasingly shifted from a local to a national level, as politicians became aware of the economic potential of tourism in terms of tax revenues, employment and other gains. Moreover, politicians gradually discovered that (smart) tourism branding could produce positive hetero- and auto-images, that were, not only, vital to attract moneyed, foreign tourists, but could also strengthen national identities. During the last few decades, a host of experts from Tourist Studies have tried to disentangle these links between nationalism and tourism marketing. However, a historical lens, that zeroes in on the topic in a diachronic way, remains largely missing. This paper will break new ground by looking at evolutions in tourism policy and branding strategies from a top-down and bottom-up perspective in one particular – yet highly tormented – nation. How did ideas about nationhood (re)shape the promotion of Belgium as a product for domestic and foreign tourism? What brand should be developed, by whom, and with which media? And, most importantly, what was the rationale behind these promotional activities?
Early Modern Low Countries, 2023
Several theories claim that the rhythms of daily life changed dramatically in the late eighteenth... more Several theories claim that the rhythms of daily life changed dramatically in the late eighteenth century under the influence of the advent of street lighting. New technologies made it possible to work longer hours during the evening, enjoy a dash of leisure time or otherwise stay active. People thus slowly but surely "colonized" the night. By collecting fresh empirical data from the eyewitness accounts of the local criminal court in Antwerp, we subject this theory to a thorough investigation. The findings show that there was no real increase in nocturnalization because Antwerpers – even without new street lamps – remained active for a long time anyway. They usually continued working long after sunset or had time for leisure. Sleep was limited to the biological minimum. A deviant rhythm in which people remained active until the wee hours of the morning and only got up well after sunrise was reserved for a small group of people who either belonged to the absolute cream of the crop or to the fringes of society.
Virtus: Journal of Nobility Studies, 2023
The current special issue brings together new empirical research on aristocratic collecting pract... more The current special issue brings together new empirical research on aristocratic collecting practices in Belgium and the Netherlands in the nineteenth and early twentieth century.
Museum History Journal, 2022
During the interwar years, when Belgium struggled to overcome the destructions of the First World... more During the interwar years, when Belgium struggled to overcome the destructions of the First World War and the economic slump of the Great Depression, the government launched one of the most ambitious construction projects in Belgian history. At the Parc du Cinquantenaire an impressive ensemble of buildings, halls and galleries was constructed during the 1920s and 1930s to house the collections of the Royal Museums of Art and History. Drawing new evidence from the archives of the museum, newspaper articles, and parliamentary proceedings, this article will examine how the curators in chief managed to secure enough funding for these ambitious projects in times of deep economic crisis. It will be argued that this tour de force was the result of a combination of factors, including intense lobbying, putting forward convincing arguments, and deploying a pragmatic realpolitik.
Crime, History & Societies, 2022
For a long time, early modern judicial procedures have been portrayed as harsh, ad hoc, sloppy, s... more For a long time, early modern judicial procedures have been portrayed as harsh, ad hoc, sloppy, superficial, heavy-handed, and extremely brutal, with suspects threatened, bullied, and pressured to confess through every possible means. Yet, surprisingly little is known about actual interrogation techniques in early modern Europe. What kind of questions were posed? Did examining magistrates immediately press for a full confession by inflicting fear and awe on the accused or did they use more sophisticated techniques? Were these methods modified by Enlightened rationalisation or did they remain unchanged until the early nineteenth century? Drawing fresh evidence from the examinatieën en informatieën — the reports of the preliminary investigation of the Antwerp Hoge Vierschaar — this article demonstrates how interrogation techniques were slowly but surely fine-tuned in the course of the eighteenth century. Change was already well underway before the French Revolution.
Continuity & Change, 2020
According to the classic hypothesis of the Industrious Revolution of the American historian Jan d... more According to the classic hypothesis of the Industrious Revolution of the American historian Jan de Vries time became money sometime between the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries. Dutch men and women slashed their leisure time and increased their labour input in order to boost their family-based income. Numerous strategies were used. Working hours were stretched not just by earlier start and later finish times, but also by reductions in breaks and pauses. Traditional feast-and holidays were removed from the calendar. Women and children were also increasingly put to work in order to maximize the family budget. According to de Vries, this spike in industriousness was triggered by new consumer behaviour, as the Amsterdam market was being increasingly swamped by an expanding assortment of new, exotic, and fashionable goods. Lists of chattels and goods in post-mortem inventories indeed evidence the growing abundance, as the notaries and their clerks had to spend ever more hours working their way through loads of calicoes, chintzes, and other fashionable fabrics, through collections of posh cabinets, mahogany tables, and comfy chairs longues, through chic coffee and tea sets, sophisticated snuffboxes, pocket watches, barometers, and other such newly fashionable contraptions and amenities. Moreover, this cry for the new not only appealed to upper-crust consumers (the Dutch regenten), but also trickled down to the lower rungs of society. Consumerism was clearly on the march. However, to pay for these myriad new luxuries, eighteenth-century people were forced to work significantly harder than their forebears had, as they now faced a levelling or even a decrease in their real wages. Industriousness was a viable strategy by which to row against this current.
Journal of Tourism History, 2020
Overtourism is often seen as a modern phenomenon without a history. Drawing on the parliamentary ... more Overtourism is often seen as a modern phenomenon without a history. Drawing on the parliamentary proceedings of the Belgian Chamber of representatives, this paper explores how concerns about crowding and carrying capacity already fuelled a protracted parliamentary debate about camping in Les Trente Glorieuses (1945-’75). Even though ‘tent cloth vacationing’ was seen as an important tool to democratize tourism, it was not always applauded in the Belgian hemicycle. Urged by the powerful lobby of hotel and restaurant owners, conservative representatives emphasized the many inconveniences of camping – zeroing in on the loose morals, the bad hygiene, the lack of environmental planning, the ecological threats – and pressed for more regulation. At the same time, these arguments were unmasked by social democrats as a smoke screen to curb the ‘unruly’ proliferation of campsites. In Belgium, the debate was deeply influenced by the limited carrying capacity of the North Sea coast. With barely 40 miles of coastline, Belgium was short of natural resources. It fuelled a policy whereby priority was given to hotels and holiday homes, while camping was curbed or left to its own devices.
Journal of Sleep Research, 2020
Lately, experts have turned to historical evidence to uncover the default mode of our sleep patte... more Lately, experts have turned to historical evidence to uncover the default mode of our sleep pattern. Even though there are some notable exceptions, most historians use a qualitative methodology based on scattered evidence in diaries, letters, novels, medical treatise, and other literary sources. To provide fresh perspective in the debate, the present article develops a more quantitative approach. Drawing fresh evidence from early modern criminal records-viz the eyewitness reports of the Hoge Vierschaer or the local criminal court in Antwerp-we are able to debunk some classic stereotypes about premodern sleep patterns. Data reveal that most eighteenth-century Antwerpers slept less hours than we would expect, slumbered in a monophasic way, and rarely if ever took a nap during the day. Moreover, the on-and offset of sleep was less attuned to the solar cycle than we would imagine. Last but not least, the pattern also shows some fascinating weekly and seasonal variations.
Cultural and Social History, 2020
According to the classic hypothesis of E.P. Thompson, modern
timekeeping and time awareness were ... more According to the classic hypothesis of E.P. Thompson, modern
timekeeping and time awareness were born during the Industrial
Revolution. Factory horns, time clocks, and heavy fines not only
coerced labourers into a new, hectic, and relentless labour rhythm;
they also facilitated the ascendancy of clock time. Thompson’s
hypothesis has been frequently challenged in the last decades,
yet conclusive empirical evidence to substantiate, hone or refute
his claims remains scanty. Drawing on the proceedings of the Old
Bailey, this article provides some fresh perspective by tracing slow if
not glacial evolutions in everyday timekeeping and time awareness.
Journal of Family History, 2020
Drawing evidence from the letters and travel journal of Jan Teding van Berkhout – scion of a weal... more Drawing evidence from the letters and travel journal of Jan Teding van Berkhout – scion of a wealthy regenten family from Delft – this article scrutinizes how elite masculinity and wellevendheid (politeness) were constructed, perceived, experienced, and contested in the eighteenth-century Dutch Republic. Berkhout’s correspondence not only hints at some important differences in the Netherlandish and British interpretation of polite masculinity, but also evidences that ideas about what a “true man” was and how he should behave could differ substantially within one and the same family. Differences in age, gender, and the unequally balance of power created a set of – coexisting, competing, or clashing – multiple masculinities. Whether masculinity was performed front- or backstage also mattered, as politeness was frequently put on hold and replaced by intimate bawdiness. In fact, the spectrum of masculinities available in the Berkhout family casts serious doubt on Connell’s controversial idea of hegemonic masculinity.
Low Countries, 2020
They turned up unexpectedly in Flanders and the Netherlands, too-the angry slogans in chalk and g... more They turned up unexpectedly in Flanders and the Netherlands, too-the angry slogans in chalk and graffiti, on posters and banners, and even on T-shirts, urging tourists in no uncertain terms to pack their bags and go home. It seems that tourism is increasingly becoming more of a curse than a blessing.
Journal of Contemporary History, 2019
Belgium has often been labelled as a reluctant colonizer in the past. Yet, a meticulous analysis ... more Belgium has often been labelled as a reluctant colonizer in the past. Yet, a meticulous analysis of tourist magazines, guidebooks, brochures, posters, and documentaries on colonial tourism in the Belgian Congo tells a different story. Travel literature was often teeming with pro-empire propaganda that emphasized the primitiveness of the Congo and underscored the civilizing mission. Tourism was, in this respect, not very different from the overtly positive framing of the Belgian colonial rule that was propagated by museums, monuments of colonial heroes, exhibitions, movies and schoolbooks. The aim of this article is to take the argument even further. Most research on colonial tourism is focused on the creation of pro-empire propaganda in tourist magazines and guidebooks, while the actual appropriation of this image by travellers of flesh and blood is often tacitly assumed or – even worse – taken for granted. Interviews with ex-colonials show that the reality was much more subtle, as the overly positive propaganda was not always swallowed hook, line and sinker.
Continuity and Change, 2013
Cultural and Social History, 2016
Whereas early modern migration history has been traditionally based on citizenship rolls, marriag... more Whereas early modern migration history has been traditionally based on citizenship rolls, marriage registers, censuses and myriad other sources, this research explores the value of eyewitness reports before the Antwerp criminal court in the eighteenth century. On the face of things, these proceedings of the hoogere Vierschaer corroborate earlier findings. Due to the economic slump, Antwerp merely drew an endless stream of humble, unskilled labourers from its rural fringe; immigrants who were often relegated to the most menial, dirty and low-paid jobs. Acts of xenophobic violence against these new arrivals, who spoke a (slightly) different language or had different habits, were no exception. Most migrants seemed to have left town after they had saved a penny. Yet, the files of the Vierschaer also shed light on some slow-burn processes of integration, which have been less thoroughly scrutinized in the past. Some migrants blended smoothly into their new environment, by finding a permanent job (mostly as publican, peddler, or unskilled labourer); by mastering new skills (literacy and language); by seizing opportunities for (modest) social rise; or by establishing strong bonds with their new neighbours, friends, colleagues or parishioners. Findings also suggest that this integration process eventually stroke home.
Continuity & Change, 2013
Traditionally a large role has been attributed to the spread of clocks and watches in fostering a... more Traditionally a large role has been attributed to the spread of clocks and watches in fostering a ‘modern’ awareness of time. Yet, little research is available that empirically enables signs of growing time awareness to be linked to the distribution of time-keeping devices. In this article both these phenomena are brought together using two independent sets of evidence that permit the hypothesis that clocks and watches contributed to a heightened consciousness of time to be tested. While the ownership of clocks and watches was socially skewed, highly gendered and unevenly distributed over time, time awareness – as exemplified throughout numerous court cases – was essentially none of these.
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Books by Gerrit Verhoeven
Met dat erfgoed als ankerpunt brengt Bestemming België die turbulente toeristische ontwikkeling in kaart, van het prille begin in Waterloo in 1815 tot het heden. Daarbij doet het boek recht aan de uitzonderlijke diversiteit van toerisme. Op het programma prijken (schijnbaar) tijdloze trekpleisters, maar ook meer verrassende bestemmingen zoals de slagvelden van de Eerste Wereldoorlog, het koloniale Léopoldville, pelgrimsoord Banneux, of Hofstade les Bains.
Centraal in het boek staat het wel en wee van het Belgische toerisme, dat na de hoogdagen algauw in zwaar weer terecht kwam. Kortom, Bestemming België neemt je mee op een wervelende reis door het verleden, heden en toekomst van toerisme in België.
Material Histories of Time opens a dialogue between these two approaches by taking monumental clocks, table clocks, portable watches, carriage clocks, and other forms of timekeeping as the starting point of a joint reflection of specialists of the history of horology together with scholars studying the social and cultural history of time. The contributions range from the apparition of the first timekeeping mechanical systems in the Middle Ages to the first evidence of industrialization in the 18th and 19th centuries.
Leisure trips to Paris, London or Berlin, a cours pittoresque along the Rhine, domestic trips in the Low Countries and a series of other destinations gained ground, while new sorts of travellers cropped up: female and middle-class travellers, domestic servants, children, youngsters and the elderly.
Verhoeven does not only trace these evolutions, but also explains why Netherlandish travellers gradually turned into art connoisseurs; why they were spellbound by sites of memory and by rugged landscapes; or why all sorts of fashionable gadgets and thingies were bought on the way.
Articles by Gerrit Verhoeven
timekeeping and time awareness were born during the Industrial
Revolution. Factory horns, time clocks, and heavy fines not only
coerced labourers into a new, hectic, and relentless labour rhythm;
they also facilitated the ascendancy of clock time. Thompson’s
hypothesis has been frequently challenged in the last decades,
yet conclusive empirical evidence to substantiate, hone or refute
his claims remains scanty. Drawing on the proceedings of the Old
Bailey, this article provides some fresh perspective by tracing slow if
not glacial evolutions in everyday timekeeping and time awareness.
Met dat erfgoed als ankerpunt brengt Bestemming België die turbulente toeristische ontwikkeling in kaart, van het prille begin in Waterloo in 1815 tot het heden. Daarbij doet het boek recht aan de uitzonderlijke diversiteit van toerisme. Op het programma prijken (schijnbaar) tijdloze trekpleisters, maar ook meer verrassende bestemmingen zoals de slagvelden van de Eerste Wereldoorlog, het koloniale Léopoldville, pelgrimsoord Banneux, of Hofstade les Bains.
Centraal in het boek staat het wel en wee van het Belgische toerisme, dat na de hoogdagen algauw in zwaar weer terecht kwam. Kortom, Bestemming België neemt je mee op een wervelende reis door het verleden, heden en toekomst van toerisme in België.
Material Histories of Time opens a dialogue between these two approaches by taking monumental clocks, table clocks, portable watches, carriage clocks, and other forms of timekeeping as the starting point of a joint reflection of specialists of the history of horology together with scholars studying the social and cultural history of time. The contributions range from the apparition of the first timekeeping mechanical systems in the Middle Ages to the first evidence of industrialization in the 18th and 19th centuries.
Leisure trips to Paris, London or Berlin, a cours pittoresque along the Rhine, domestic trips in the Low Countries and a series of other destinations gained ground, while new sorts of travellers cropped up: female and middle-class travellers, domestic servants, children, youngsters and the elderly.
Verhoeven does not only trace these evolutions, but also explains why Netherlandish travellers gradually turned into art connoisseurs; why they were spellbound by sites of memory and by rugged landscapes; or why all sorts of fashionable gadgets and thingies were bought on the way.
timekeeping and time awareness were born during the Industrial
Revolution. Factory horns, time clocks, and heavy fines not only
coerced labourers into a new, hectic, and relentless labour rhythm;
they also facilitated the ascendancy of clock time. Thompson’s
hypothesis has been frequently challenged in the last decades,
yet conclusive empirical evidence to substantiate, hone or refute
his claims remains scanty. Drawing on the proceedings of the Old
Bailey, this article provides some fresh perspective by tracing slow if
not glacial evolutions in everyday timekeeping and time awareness.
"
Individual researchers from England, Germany, and the Netherlands have sought to map these novel trends in travel behaviour, yet a broad survey, which ties these various threads together, remains missing. This article delves into the literature and endeavours to link the elements of this puzzle: major changes in destinations and travel itineraries (performances) will be meticulously (re)considered, and travellers’ opinions and judgements (discourse) will be analysed. Was the magnetism of London, Paris, Amsterdam and other thriving metropolises indeed growing in the eighteenth century, and the attraction of Rome, Naples and Venice fading? Were travellers of the opinion that Europe’s cultural meccas were henceforth to be found in North-Western Europe and no longer on the Italian peninsula? If so, were they thus creating a new cultural hub?
The objective is not merely to uncover trends and evolutions, but also to pinpoint underlying explanations. The phenomenon of place branding must be kept in mind, for slick, eighteenth-century publishers were robustly disseminating handy-sized guidebooks to Paris, London and Amsterdam which presented visions of modern, creative metropolises bustling with life and culture. Likewise, materiality should not to be disregarded. Stone-slab paved roads and regular stagecoaches rendered London, Paris, and Brussels easily accessible in the late early modern age and thus facilitated their newly obtained status as cultural hubs. Politics also played a central role, with kings, ministers, and citizens vigorously seeking to boost the cultural renown of their metropolises, especially through efforts to foster urban renewal, architectural landmarks, museums, music and the arts. Finally, yet not least, this article seeks to scrutinise the gradual but definite evolutions in the conceptualization of culture. Foreign travellers to sixteenth-century Rome seemed to restrict the concept to renaissance art, humanist acumen, and Roman antiquity, whereas the eighteenth-century notion of a cultural hub evolved to embrace fashion, science, sports, youth culture, and various other elements.
Met het jaarcongres willen we niet alleen een staat opmaken van deugd en ondeugd in de zeventiende-eeuwse Nederlanden, maar ook inzicht verkrijgen in de complexe werking tussen norm en praktijk. Moraal was zelden of nooit statisch, maar werd op een bijzonder persoonlijke wijze toegeëigend, geaccommodeerd of gecontesteerd. Daarnaast wil het congres nieuw licht werpen op de verschillende moral communities. Naargelang van iemands sociale positie, gender, leeftijd, herkomst, religie en andere eigenschappen konden waardenpatronen immers fel van elkaar verschillen. Op het congres willen we dus zoveel mogelijk opvattingen over deugd en ondeugd in de Lage Landen aan bod laten komen en bediscussiëren.
We nodigen iedereen die een bijdrage wil leveren aan het congres, graag uit om een kort abstract (maximaal 300 woorden) en CV (max. 100 woorden) in te dienen voor 1 april 2019. Eveneens welkom zijn voorstellen voor een complete sessie. Op het congres bedraagt de maximale spreektijd 20 minuten. Abstracts inleveren bij gerrit.verhoeven@uantwerpen.be
First of all, the session zeroes in on the production of national imagery from above in the policy of Tourist Information Office’s [TIO] in posters, brochures, guide books, promotional films, and other material. Secondly, we will look at the meso-level of commercial stakeholders (travel agencies, touring operators, hotels,…), associations (touring clubs, youth associations, camera clubs,…) and other initiatives. Last but not least, the session aims to uncover nationalism from below. Innovative concepts, including theories on banal nationalism and national indifference, have challenged the idea that top-down initiatives were swallowed hook, line and sinker by ordinary citizens. National identities rather refracted in fifty shades of grey, as people had the agency to appropriate nationhood idiosyncratically, haphazardly, or selectively – not to mention the option to deflect or even to reject it.
We invite participants to reflect on the interaction between grassroots and top-down initiatives in a variety of countries (Europe and beyond), periods (from the 18th to the 21st century), and angles. Drawing on the insights from the performative, spatial, and other “turns” we also encourage participants to move beyond a traditional focus on discursive practices. Nationhood is not only constructed in what tourists say or write, but also in images (photos & films), objects (souvenirs), (everyday) rituals/performances, space (destinations & itineraries), emotions and corporality (pride, shame, reverence,…).
Abstracts (max. 500 words) and a short CV should be sent to andreas.stynen@kuleuven.be or gerrit.verhoeven@uantwerpen.be before 13 April 2019.
Organisers:
Andreas Stynen (KULeuven)
Gerrit Verhoeven (UAntwerpen)
In this session, we invite paper givers to explore five main issues on the basis of original research. First of all, we want to achieve a better understanding of the main actors involved in urban tourist promotion, and, especially, study their motives and interaction. Which stakeholders (from urban administrations, over tourism promoting associations, to hotel and restaurant managers, etc.) took the lead in urban tourism promotion and why? How did they negotiate their sometimes conflicting goals, interests and visions of the city as tourist destination? Was tourist attraction always the main driver behind urban promotion, or part of a wider and more diverse set of motives, strategies and activities to ‘boost’ cities? Which media – from newspaper adds, brochures and posters, to cinema, radio and other ‘new’ media – did actors use to put their city in the spotlight? In what way were different media technologies mobilised to address socially different tourists? Which main attractions and urban experiences did actors stress in tourist promotion? How did they, for instance, strike a balance between selling urban heritage and modernity? And were certain types of urban tourists more welcome as others (for instance wealthy ones, or those looking for culture)? Last but not least, how did local stakeholders develop their urban brands and marketing strategies by a local, national and international transfer of expertise? Which cities in Europe and beyond took the lead in urban tourism promotion? And how was knowledge on urban tourism promotion internationally disseminated, studied and imitated from place to place?
To address these types of questions, we accept proposals written from different urban disciplinary perspectives. We particularly welcome proposals which offer a wider comparative and/or long-term historical perspective. European as well as non-European case studies will be taken into consideration.
Jan-Hein Furnée (RUNijmegen)
Ilja Van Damme (UAntwerpen)
Gerrit Verhoeven (UAntwerpen)
Proposals have to be submitted through the website before 4 October 2019: https://www.uantwerpen.be/en/conferences/eauh2020/papers/call-for-papers/
We would like to invite papers that address these questions from a variety of perspectives-be it cultural, socioeconomic, or political history, history of science, medicine, consumption, mobility, and so on-and broach a series of new sources (including scientific manuals, criminal proceedings, trade registers, travel journals, letters and life-writing) from the early sixteenth to the early nineteenth century. Moreover, we encourage papers with a comparative European or even global scope. After a first round of feedback, the papers will be included in a book proposal to be submitted at Routledge.
Deugd en ondeugd waren alomtegenwoordig in de zeventiende eeuw. Morele lessen zaten verpakt in de literatuur van Jacob Cats, in Bredero's toneel, in Arnout van Overbeke's moppen, in de beelden van Artus Quellinus en in de schilderijen van Jan Steen. Normen over zedelijk gedrag werden ook vrolijk rondgebazuind in schuine liedjes en stuiverromans, in vertrouwelijke brieven, roddel en achterklap. Katholieke priesters uit het zuiden ontketenden een nieuw zedelijkheidsoffensief doormiddel van donderpreken, biecht en catechese, terwijl predikanten in het noorden hun schaapjes vanuit de kerkenraad op koers probeerden te houden. Daarbij werd het doel lang niet altijd bereikt. Deugd en ondeugd waren eveneens belangrijke thema's in de ordonnanties van stad en staat, in de reglementen van ambachten, gilden en schutterijen, en in humanistisch geïnspireerde etiquetteboekjes. Doormiddel van exemplae uit de Klassieke Oudheid, religieuze of vaderlandse geschiedenis probeerden biografen en hagiografen hun lezers een spiegel met voorbeelden van deugdzaam gedrag voor te houden. Met dit themadossier wil het Jaarboek de Zeventiende Eeuw niet alleen een staat opmaken van deugd en ondeugd in de vroegmoderne Nederlanden, maar ook inzicht verkrijgen in de complexe werking tussen norm en praktijk. Moraal was zelden of nooit statisch, maar werd op een bijzonder persoonlijke wijze toegeëigend, geaccommodeerd of gecontesteerd. Daarnaast wil het dossier nieuw licht werpen op de verschillende moral communities. Naargelang van iemands sociale positie, gender, leeftijd, herkomst, religie en andere eigenschappen konden waardenpatronen immers fel van elkaar verschillen. In het themadossier willen we dus zoveel mogelijk opvattingen over deugd en ondeugd in de Lage Landen aan bod laten komen en bediscussiëren. We nodigen iedereen die een bijdrage wil leveren aan het Jaarboek graag uit om een kort abstract (maximaal 500 woorden) en CV (max. 100 woorden) in te dienen voor 25 september 2019. Deadline voor het inleveren van de artikelen is 1 december 2019. Abstracts graag inleveren bij gerrit.verhoeven@uantwerpen.be CFP-Themadossier Jaarboek de Zeventiende Eeuw CFP-Themadossier Jaarboek de Zeventiende Eeuw
Jan-Hein Furnée (RUNijmegen) Ilja Van Damme (UAntwerpen) Gerrit Verhoeven (UAntwerpen).
Proposals have to be submitted through the website before 4 October 2019: https://www.uantwerpen.be/en/conferences/eauh2020/papers/call-for-papers/
First of all, the session zeroes in on the production of national imagery from above in the policy of Tourist Information Office’s [TIO] in posters, brochures, guide books, promotional films, and other material. Secondly, we will look at the meso-level of commercial stakeholders (travel agencies, touring operators, hotels,…), associations (touring clubs, youth associations, camera clubs,…) and other initiatives. Last but not least, the session aims to uncover nationalism from below. Innovative concepts, including theories on banal nationalism and national indifference, have challenged the idea that top-down initiatives were swallowed hook, line and sinker by ordinary citizens. National identities rather refracted in fifty shades of grey, as people had the agency to appropriate nationhood idiosyncratically, haphazardly, or selectively – not to mention the option to deflect or even to reject it.
We invite participants to reflect on the interaction between grassroots and top-down initiatives in a variety of countries (Europe and beyond), periods (from the 18th to the 21st century), and angles. Drawing on the insights from the performative, spatial, and other “turns” we also encourage participants to move beyond a traditional focus on discursive practices. Nationhood is not only constructed in what tourists say or write, but also in images (photos & films), objects (souvenirs), (everyday) rituals/performances, space (destinations & itineraries), emotions and corporality (pride, shame, reverence,…).
Abstracts (max. 500 words) and a short CV should be sent to andreas.stynen@kuleuven.be or gerrit.verhoeven@uantwerpen.be before 13 April 2019.
Organisers:
Andreas Stynen (KULeuven)
Gerrit Verhoeven (UAntwerpen)
We nodigen iedereen die een bijdrage wil leveren aan het congres, graag uit om een kort abstract (maximaal 300 woorden) en CV (max. 100 woorden) in te dienen voor 1 maart 2019. Eveneens welkom zijn voorstellen voor een complete sessie. Op het congres bedraagt de maximale spreektijd 20 minuten. Abstracts inleveren bij gerrit.verhoeven@uantwerpen.be
Street food significantly developed over the last decade and cannot anymore be assimilated to junk and fast food -that would be the result of the frenetic pace of modern urban life- nor even to something new. From the take-away fried fish of ancient Alexandria to the present fancy food trucks in New York, London or Paris, through the Aztec tortilla sellers, the Ottoman şerbetçi or the allegedly immemorial Japanese Yaki Imo vendors, numerous practices have already been observed -and some of them are well-known- in different times and places.
This workshop doesn’t aim to resume a lost world but to examine urban cultures in practice, into which street food provides and exceptional insight able to shed a new light on our present foodways.
Street food deals with formal and informal economy, with urban popular sociability and leisure, with the emergence of public sphere and its correlated policy of social control. Street food can support practices that partially or totally define a group or a community. It encompasses both the environmental and emotional dimensions of the urban history. It sits at the crossroad of the economic, social, and cultural histories of consumption. Street food could also be a consequence of a specific urban planning that generates it when it doesn’t try to eradicate it, in the name of modernity and food safety. However, most of the time, street food is an appropriation of the public space, and gets out of the municipal control.
In the field of social and economic history, old age has been addressed in research about retirement, diminishing family ties, and old folks homes. However, there are still many issues that we are in the dark about. For one, what was the life expectancy in the seventeenth century and how did lifestyle, gender, and social components influence longevity. Did aging parents rely on their children for support or did they prefer to remain independent and take care of themselves? In recent years, art history, literature, and cultural history have focused on the topic, including examples of the very elderly senior citizens found in paintings, curiosity cabinets; recollections about elderly found in memoirs, diaries and other documents. Nevertheless, the history of old age is very young. Moreover, the topic has a complicated component. In the seventeenth century old age also had an ambiguous status. The elderly were also portrayed as foolish, ugly or in some cases old women as witches. Old age has been on the international research radar for some time but the theme has hardly been addressed in the Northern and Southern Netherlands.
However, there is still much to know about the practical experience – the physicality and materiality - of mobility in this period; for instance, about the spaces through which mobile people passed (which became important sites of encounter and exchange), the forms of transport they used, the physical, mental and emotional ‘baggage’ that they carried with them. How was access to and experience of mobility shaped by the traveller’s class, gender, religion and age? How did Renaissance authorities, both at city and state level, respond to this mobility, attempting to enable, harness or control it? How, exactly, did mobility facilitate communication and cultural exchange, across and beyond the continent? And how does studying people’s movements shed new light on the great changes of the period, from the transmission of Renaissance culture to Europe’s contact with the rest of the world?
In spite of the recent upsurge in books and articles on collectors and collecting practices in Belgium and the Netherlands, research on this blue blood collecting in the Low Countries after 1750 remains thin on the ground. Who were these highborn collectors? What did they collect? And why? In this special issue we aim to draw a detailed portrait of these collectioneurs nobles, their changing social profile, and their motivations. How different were their motives and aims from their emerging bourgeois counterparts? What were the norms and values that fuelled aristocratic collecting? Did they, for instance, pay more attention to noble pedigree and patina in the selection of objects? And in what way were older, Humanist and Enlightenment values carried over in modern times with these collectors? Tying in with a recent strand, we also want to pay attention to the links between gender and collecting. To what extent were the collection profile and practices of noble ladies and lords different? We also aim to shed more light on the presentation, musealisation, and afterlife of these noble collections. To what extent became noble collections more accessible for a wider public in the nineteenth and early twentieth century, and how were they received by noble, bourgeois or lower class visitors? How were these aristocratic ensembles eventually integrated into public museums? Last but not least, we also try to identify local, regional or even national differences between well-bred collectors in Belgium and the Netherlands, in the industrial cities and in the countryside, and so on.
We aim to provide some answers to these questions by sampling the latest research on noble collectors and collections in the Low Countries. The special issue will be published in Virtus: Journal of Nobility Studies. [WoS A1- journal] Abstracts – ca. 350 words, including a short bio-sketch – should be send to gerrit.verhoeven@uantwerpen.be before 1 February 2022. Full chapters (5000 words, including footnotes) should be submitted in the same way before 1 October 2022.