Author: René van Weeren

On 29 and 30 June 2026 the University of Antwerp and the Paris School of Economics will host the workshop ‘Channeling Middle-Class Savings, 1850-1940’, exploring the investment of middle-class savings between the second half of the nineteenth-century and the Second World War.

The organisers call for papers that deal with the expansion of savings banks and other financial institutions competing to attract household savings, the government’s involvement in the management and use of savings, as well as the investment decisions of individual households. Submissions of both descriptive studies and analytical papers are encouraged; scholars at all career stages and diverse backgrounds are invited to participate in this workshop.

Submissions, either as extended abstracts (5-10 pages) or as full paper drafts, should be submitted ultimately on 5 January 2026 via e-mail.

FULL CALL (PDF)

The Huizinga Institute and the N.W. Posthumus Institute are offering a 3-day workshop on ‘Networks in History’, to be held on 21-23 January 2026 at the International Institute of History in Amsterdam.

Description and aim

Historical network analysis as a mode of enquiry is gaining traction in the humanities. Embedded in the interdisciplinary field of network sciences, and digital humanities, scholars have utilised the approach in a great variety of subfields and subjects within the historical discipline. This thematic course aims to enable early-career researchers to consider the purpose, potential and procedure of historical network analysis for their research projects. Sessions are taught by researchers from different backgrounds who use historical network analysis in their work. The classes will treat the process and steps of reasoning prior to adopting a specific programme to enter and analyse the data. The focal point is historical network analysis but other approaches to studying networks in history will also be discussed. Before moving onto the practical ‘how’, ample attention is paid to the theoretical and conceptual ‘why’.

Preliminary programme

Day 1

09:30-12:30 Session 1	Introduction to networks in history & Conceptual reflections – Instructor: Christophe Verbrugge
13:30-17:00 Session 2	Methods and concepts (part I) – Instructor: Christophe Verbrugge

Day 2

09:30-12:30 Session 3	Methods and concepts (part II) – Instructor: Nina Geerdink
13:30-17:00 Session 4	Methods and concepts (part III) – Instructor: Ivo Zandhuis

Day 3

09:30-12:30 Session 5	Hands-on workshop – Instructor: Liliana Melgar
13:30-17:00 Session 6	Reflection and application – Instructor: Rick Mourits

Participation

The workshop is open to research master students and PhD students who are considering employing a network approach in their research. The minimum number of participants is 5, the maximum 15 participants. The course will be in English.

Assessment and EC

Students will be assessed on their preparation in reading the course materials and formulating questions, their participation in and contributions to the general discussions, and class attendance. After the workshop, students should write a reflection paper (1500 words max.) on the decision to adopt or not adopt the method of historical network analysis in the students’ own research. This paper should be submitted a week after the course. The final score will be on a pass/fail basis. Passing this course successfully is valued at 2 EC.

Application procedure

You can apply for this course via this form. Applications will be dealt with on a first-come first-served basis; in case there are more applications than places available, students already enrolled in a programme of the Huizinga Institute or the N.W. Posthumus Institute will have priority. Within a week after the deadline, all applicants will be notified about the outcome of their application.

Course coordination

This course is jointly offered and supported by the Huizinga Institute and the N.W. Posthumus Institute in cooperation with the International institute of History (IISH). The course is coordinated by Dr Rick Mourits (IISH) in cooperation with Eva Seuntjens and Merel Blok (both PhD candidates at IISH).

More info

For more info, contact Eva Seuntjens.

On 26 and 27 March 20-26, the Faculty of Business and Economics of the University of Groningen and the University of Antwerp will jointly organise the second edition of the workshop series ‘The Economic and Financial History of Colonialism’ at the University of Groningen.

This year’s theme, ‘Diversity in Development: Colonial Legacies and Varied Paths of Growth’, invites new perspectives on how colonial economic and financial systems shaped long-term development trajectories across regions. The workshop aims to foster comparative and interdisciplinary dialogue on the mechanisms through which colonial institutions, fiscal regimes, and financial structures influenced the diversity of post-colonial growth experiences.

The organisers encourage submissions that examine how different colonial models – whether extractive or developmental, centralized or decentralized, formal or informal – produced distinctive economic outcomes. We particularly welcome comparative contributions across empires and regions, from the relatively diversified colonial economies of East Asia or the settler dominions to the more extractive or commodity-dependent cases in Africa, the Caribbean, and Southeast Asia. Both descriptive and analytical papers, including case studies and comparative research are welcomed.

Those interested in participating in this workshop, should submit an extended abstract (500–800 words) or a full paper ultimately 15 December 2025 by e-mail.
DOWNLOAD FULL CALL (PDF)

On 10 and 11 December 2025, the international conference ‘Becoming Local? Forgotten Lineages of Displaced Communities Across the Indian Ocean World, 1650-1850’ will be held at Leiden University. Organisers are Dries Lyna and Pouwel van Schooten in cooperation with Sanayi Marcelline (all three Posthumus affiliates within the research network Routes and Roots in Colonial and Global History) and Nira Wickramasinghe (Radboud University).

‘Becoming Local?’ pioneers the notion of forgetting to analyze centuries-long processes of self- and community-making in the Indian Ocean world. This two-day conference traces the paths through which generations of displaced individuals and their descendants under colonial regimes gradually or abruptly changed their relationship to their home country, (un)willingly erased or even forgot their past, and became local subjects. It seeks to move away from a conceptual approach that unproblematically projects colonial social categories of the more recent past – Cape Coloured, Malay, Burgher, Kaffir, Moor, Orang Borgo or Mardijkers – back in time, and opts for studying the everyday making of forms of belonging over two centuries. With an explicit intergenerational approach the conference aims to track down the revolving doors of individual/family/community forgetting, writing contiguous microhistories to reinvent the historiography of empires and global connections.

Keynote lectures will be delivered by Professor Sue Peabody (Washington State University): ”Little’ Stories in ‘Big’ Histories. Families, Mobility, and Identity in the Indian Ocean’ and Professor Jennifer L. Gaynor (University at Buffalo, State University of New York): ‘Remembering and Forgetting in Two Worlds. Writing Histories of Forced Displacement and Submerged Genealogy’.

The keynote lectures are open to the general public. Those wanting to attend the whole conference should contact de organisers via e-mail.

This conference forms part of the larger project Forgotten Lineages. Afterlives of Dutch Slavery in the Indian Ocean World, funded by the Dutch Research Council (NWO).

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