Category: Agenda

On 15 April 2026, the Stichting Nederland-Sri Lanka in collaboration with the Research Network ‘Routes and Roots in Colonial and Global History’ of the N.W. Posthumus Institute will organise a book launch event for Lives, Land, and Labour. A Social History of Eighteenth-Century Sri Lanka (Leiden: Brill, 2026), authored by Posthumus fellow Luc Bulten. The launch will take place in the Belle van Zuylenzaal of Utrecht University Hall (Academiegebouw).

The book is based on the ‘Thombos”, a rather unique collection of eighteenth-century land and population registers detailing the lives lived, lands held, and labour provided by tens of thousands of people inhabiting the coastal regions of Sri Lanka that were colonised by the Dutch East India Company. Turning this archive inside out by highlighting both the indigenous and colonial roots of this administrative system, Luc Bulten presents a gateway into everyday social realities surrounding caste, conjugality, (forced) work, and land tenure. In doing so, he demonstrates how both European expansionism and local agency reciprocally affected the ways such social realities were shaped.

During the launch, Luc will discuss some of the main takeaways of his book, and will then be joined by a junior Posthumus fellow (Pouwel van Schooten, Leiden University) and senior Posthumus fellow Filipa Ribeiro da Silva (International Institute of Social History), who will share their thoughts on the work. Afterwards there is room for a Q&A followed by drinks at the same venue.

Attendance is free of charge, but because of limited seating, prior registration is requested.

REGISTRATION FORM

On 11 March 2026, Posthumus alumna Yannis Skalli-Housseini successfully defended the thesis ‘In the Name of Distributive Justice: Debating Fiscal Reform in 18th-Century Flanders’ at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel. Supervisor were is Professor Wouter Ryckbosch (Ghent University) and Dr Klaas Van Gelder (VUB).

Yannis’ dissertation contributes to the recent historiographical re-evaluation of the rise of the fiscal state that aims to overhaul this dominant political-economic paradigm. For this purpose, inspired by the literature on inequality studies, it introduces the concept of a ‘fiscal inequality regime’. Addressing the factor of historical change, the dissertation begins by investigating the negotiations between the Flemish rural administrations of Aalst and Veurne with the central state’s fiscal reform commission (the Jointe). In contrast to what the literature suggests, the role of subaltern administrations in these reforms was not merely one of ‘resistance’ and keeping the tax burden low: implementing their own ambitious policies led them to increase the tax burden, nullifying government efforts.

Yannis demonstrates how the connection between ideological and material factors within the concept of the ‘fiscal inequality regime’ allows for a better understanding of Early Modern tax debates. Specifically, the discourses and practices of fiscal contestation against the Castellany tax on cattle in Aalst during the 17th and 18th century are argued to have been essential in shaping the major peasant uprisings in Flanders’ revolutionary 1780s. Moreover, the dissertation shows how ideas within the realm of political economic convinced reformers that lowering the tax burden was a desirable goal.

The N.W. Posthumus Institute congratulates Yannis with obtaining the PhD!

On 3 and 4 December 2026, Ghent University will host the conference, ‘Bridging Boundaries: Interdisciplinary Perspectives on the Environmental History of the Low Countries’. The conference is a collaboration between researchers on the medieval and (early) modern Low Countries and the Roman Society Research Center.

The conference wants to encourage the exchange of recent research, ongoing projects, and current debates between scholars working in different disciplines, including environmental history, environmental archaeology, historical ecology, and historical geography. It invites contributions that study environmental change in the Low Countries from Antiquity to modern times. Contributions that cross boundaries between different disciplines are particularly welcome.

Those wanting to present at this conference, should send an abstract (300 words max.) and short cv to Dr Sander Govaerts and Dr Stefan Meysman ultimately by 30 April 2026.

FULL CALL (PDF)

Posthumus fellows Dr Ramona Négron and Dr Karwan Fatah-Black invite research paper proposals for the workshop ‘Reinterpreting the Caribbean age of revolutions: Slave revolts, their non-slave participants and proto-citizenship’, to be held on 23 October 2026 at the KITLV/Royal Netherlands Institute of Southeast Asian and Caribbean Studies in Leiden.

Historians have found that in the history of Atlantic slavery, the period from the 1770s to 1840s saw the most slave rebellions, and within that period, the 1790s are a moment when slave revolts peaked. This workshop aims to explore why so many of the leaders and participants in so-called slave revolts were not enslaved themselves. How sustainable is the framing of these uprisings as revolts for and by enslaved people? The organisers propose to reinterpret these events through the lens of the relationship between the state and subject populations.

Please note that this workshop will be in tandem with the Graduate Seminar ‘Early modern Caribbean and Atlantic slavery and emancipation’ on the preceding day, 22 October 2026.

Those who would like to present at this conference should send a 1-page abstract ultimately 30 March 2026 by e-mail to Ramona Négron.

FULL INFO

Posthumus fellows Dr Ramona Négron and Dr Karwan Fatah-Black welcome graduate students working on topics related to early modern Caribbean and Atlantic slavery and emancipation to participate in a one-day graduate seminar on 22 October 2026 at the KITLV/Royal Netherlands Institute of Southeast Asian and Caribbean Studies in Leiden, The Netherlands.

The graduate workshop offers the opportunity for PhD candidates at different stages of their projects to present a chapter, an article draft, or research paper in a small and specialized setting. Participants can expect to receive constructive feedback from peers and invited senior scholars in the field. The workshop aims to foster open discussion across imperial and linguistic contexts and methodological approaches and welcomes contributions at different stages of completion.

This seminar is organized in tandem with the workshop Reinterpreting the Caribbean age of revolutions: Slave revolts, their non-slave participants and proto-citizenship, to be held at the KITLV the next day, 23 October 2026.

Graduate students wanting to participate should send their 1-page abstract ultimately 30 March 2026 by e-mail to Ramona Négron.

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On 26 March 2026, Posthumus alumna Rosa Kösters will defend the thesis ‘How to Self-Organise? Insight from Workers at Albert Heijn (Ahold) and Unox (Unilever) in the Netherlands, 1960–2020’ at Leiden University. Supervisors are Professor Leo Lucassen (Leiden University & International Institute for Social History) and Professor Matthias van Rossum (Radboud University).

In her dissertation, Rosa reconstructs histories of work and workplace organising in the Netherlands between 1960 and 2020. She focuses on workers at the distribution centres and supermarkets of Albert Heijn (Ahold) and at the Unox sausage and soup factory (Unilever), which together employed a diverse workforce of men and women, migrants and natives, as well as young and old workers. The dissertation challenges traditional top-down, union-centred narratives of post-war labour history and puts forward the concept of self-organisation. It demonstrates that workers organised themselves both independently of and within formal trade unions. Additionally, it analyses major economic transformations from the workers’ perspective. Consequently, it reveals that many contemporary workplace features, including flexible contracts and modern distribution logistics, have deeper historical roots, dating back to the 1960s and 1970s.

The N.W. Posthumus Institute wishes Rosa a successful defence!.

The ceremony can be attended in person on location as well as online via the live stream of Leiden University.

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LIVESTREAM

On 25 February 2026, Posthumus alumnus Junhao Cao sucessfully defended the PhD thesis ‘Property Rights and Agricultural Growth in Northwestern Europe, 1300-1800’ at Utrecht University. Supervisors were Professor Bas van Bavel and Dr Jessica Dijman (both Utrecht University).

Junhao Cao’s research seeks to explain the agricultural growth in the Low Countries and England over the period 1300–1800. This study investigates whether the transition towards private and secure land property rights drove agricultural growth, and through what mechanisms such impact occurred. The study employs regional, long-term and comparative approaches. Five case studies—the two main cases being Holland and Norfolk and the three minor ones inland and coastal Flanders and the South Midlands—serve as representatives of the advanced agriculture in the Low Countries and England, and broader in northwestern Europe. The study demonstrates that the favourable development of land property rights formed a precondition for and drove agricultural growth under certain conditions, but the extent of this growth varied, and in some cases stagnation occurred. The crucial points were as follows: free, private and secure property rights increased the transferability of land; land was transferred to dominant social groups which were different across regions; this gave rise to different strategies of land management and different farm size distribution; which in turn shaped labour input patterns and land use models, and thus determined agricultural growth in terms of labour productivity.

The N.W. Posthumus Institute staff congratulates Junhao Cao with obtaining the PhD!

THESIS INFO

The International Institute of Social History (IISH), in cooperation with the École normale supérieure de Lyon (ENS Lyon), welcomes paper and session proposals for the 16th edition of the European Social Science History Conference (ESSHC 2027), to be held at ENS Lyon on 21-24 April 2027.

The aim of the ESSHC is bringing together scholars interested in explaining historical phenomena using the methods of the social sciences. The conference welcomes papers and sessions on any historical topic and any historical period and is organised in 28 thematic networks.

Proposals should be submitted ultimately by the extended deadline of 22 April 2026 via the dedicated Oxford Abstracts Platform of the IISH.

FULL INFO