Author: René van Weeren

Dr Frank Veraart (Eindhoven University of Technology), one of the directors of the Posthumus Research Network ‘Globalisation, Inequality and Sustainability in Long-Term Perspective’, together with PIs Professorr Jan-Pieter Smits (also Eindhoven University of Technology) and Professor Johan Schot (Utrecht University) (in cooperation with Wageningen University and Research, Statistics Netherlands (Centraal Bureau voor de Statistiek) and the SHT Institute for Transition Studies) was recently awarded funding by NWO in the Open Competition for the international project ‘Sustainability trade-offs in the Netherlands’ entangled modernisation, 1900-2020′.

Imports of resources affect economic, social, and environmental conditions elsewhere in the world. Regarding sustainability trade-offs abroad, the Netherlands has the worst track record in Europe. Its performance has historical origins: over the past two centuries, scientific knowledge production, colonial developments, and industrial modernization have helped to create global production chains. Systematic science-based commodification attributed economic and use values to natural resources. This changed western perceptions of the natural environment. It had a severe impact on global environment and indigenous people’s livelihoods. Our research investigates this commodification process in conjunction with the development of global supply chains and their effect on sustainability. It traces the activities of global supply chain entanglers, the actors who constructed transnational socioeconomic systems. The research consists of four work packages. The first, conducted in collaboration with Netherlands Statistics, develops two databases: (1) on the import of commodities to the Netherlands, and (2) on the sustainability indicators for selected periods and regions. In conjunction, work packages two and three study qualitatively the processes of commodification, global system entanglement, and the distribution of these systems’ sustainability trade-offs in edible oils and metals. This enables a system comparison and analyses of cross-system dynamics in package 4. Findings will contribute to nascent academic fields of sustainability histories and deep transitions. Furthermore, this research will provide perspectives for contemporary policy initiatives in the field of sustainability transitions. The project is supported by an experienced multi-disciplinary team of scholars and relevant societal partners, ensuring broad dissemination of the knowledge gained.

The N.W. Posthumus Institute congratulates Frank and his project partners with this grant.

Profile

Posthumus General Board member Professor Erik van der Vleuten (TUE), together with Professor Jacqueline Broerse and Dr Evelien de Hoop (both VU Amsterdam) and Professor Claiton M. da Silva (Universidade Federal da Fronteira Sul, Brazil) was recently awarded funding by NWO in the Open Competition for the international 5-year project project ‘SOY STORIES: Connected sustainability histories and futures of the global Soyacene’.

Different regions across the globe face grave sustainability challenges that may be at once highly diverse and highly interconnected. SOY STORIES investigates diverse Brazilian and Dutch sustainability histories connected by soy, and studies how a connected diversity perspective can contribute to imagining more inclusive sustainable futures. Since the 1970s, accelerating soy production in Brazil has been associated with challenges such as large-scale deforestation, land-grabbing, and child labor, while soy-based intensive animal farming in the Netherlands came with challenges such as a 4-decades-long national manure and nitrogen crisis, public health hazards, greenhouse gas emissions and animal welfare problems. This study is important because historiography currently lacks a convincing approach to investigate the connected histories of diverse sustainability challenges. In turn, this omission entrenches a similar lack of connected thinking in future imaginaries.

To tackle this problem, SOY STORIES combines expertise in sustainability history and transnational history on both sides of the Atlantic (Eindhoven History Lab Eindhoven University of Technology and UFFS, Brazil) with expertise in transdisciplinary research (TDR) for sustainable futures (Athena Institute, VU, NL). We combine in-depth historical research based on written source analysis and oral history on both sides of the Atlantic with regular stakeholder interaction. We continuously monitor and evaluate the effects of this combination of methods and approaches to make novel contributions to the fields of sustainability history, soy historiography and TDR.

The N.W. Posthumus Institute congratulates Erik and his project partners with this award.

profile

Although we generally do not include book offers in our website or newsletters, we thought it wise to make an exception for two book offers we received recently, because of their relevance for Posthumus affiliates. Please note that all contact regarding these offers are between you and the supplier, the N.W. Posthumus Institute is no party in this matter.

Free copies Inequality and the City

The first offer concerns a limited number of free copies of the publication Inequality and the City in the Low Countries (1200-2020), eds. Bruno Blondé, Sam Geens, Hilde Greefs, Wouter Ryckbosch, Tim Soens, Peter Stabel.

Social inequality is one of the most pressing global challenges at the start of the 21st century. Meanwhile, across the globe at least half of the world’s population lives in urban agglomerations, and urbanisation is still expanding. This book engages with the complex interplay between urbanisation and inequality. In doing so it concentrates on the Low Countries, one of the oldest and most urbanised societies of Europe. It questions whether the historic poly-nuclear and decentralised urban system of the Low Countries contributed to specific outcomes in social inequality. In doing so, the authors look beyond the most commonly used perspective of economic inequality. They instead expand our knowledge by exploring social inequality from a multidimensional perspective. This book includes essays and case-studies on cultural inequalities, the relationship between social and consumption inequality, the politics of (in)equality, the impact of shocks and crises, as well as the complex social relationships across the urban network and between town and countryside.

A limited number of copies is available free of charge on the base of ‘first come, first served’. Please use the button below to access the order form.

order form

Offer from personal collection em. Professor Knotter

The second offer is by emeritus Professor Ad Knotter, who offers some standard works form his own library to those interested free of charge. The offer concerns some standard works in Economic and Social History:

• AAG-bijdragen 8-23 en 29-39
• Economisch-Historisch Jaarboek VI-XVIII en XXX-LVI
• NEHA-Jaarboek en NEHA-bulletin 1994-2002
• Economic and Social History in the Netherlands (6 dln)

For this offer, also based on ‘first come, first served’, you can contact professor Knotter directly via e-mail, please use the button below for this.

MAIL PROF. KNOTTER

Just before the Summer holidays, the N.W. Posthumus Institute received a collection of books and documents, until then owned by relatives of N.W. Posthumus (1880-1960). Among them were some personal documents, the earliest of which dated from N.W. Posthumus’ times as student at the University of Amsterdam, and several of his later books and publications. As the N.W. Posthumus Institute’s seat changes every five years, with the approval of N.W. Posthumus granddaughter Jocelyn, we have found a sound and structural place for the personal documents within the archives of the International Institute of Social History in Amsterdam. The N.W. Posthumus Institute expresses its gratitude to the Posthumus family for this kind gesture.