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On 27 March 2026, Posthumus alumna Alessandra De Mulder (University of Antwerp) successfully defended the thesis ‘Embedding a consumer revolution: Shifting values in the language of London auction advertisements, c. 1730-1830’ at the FelixArchief in Antwerp. Supervisors were Professor Bruno Blondé and Professor Ilja Van Damme (both University of Antwerp.

Alessandra’s dissertation examines the emergence of modern consumer culture through the language of eighteenth-century London auction advertisements. By combining digital humanities methodologies with traditional historical analysis it uncovers what values actually mattered to Georgian consumers and shows that everyday linguistic practices of buying and selling played a crucial role in the consumer revolution. Alessandra’s research nuances our understanding of the so-called consumer revolution by demonstrating that consumer culture emerged not simply through grand economic or social transformations but through everyday practices of buying, selling, and describing material goods; practices that were fundamentally linguistic by design. The study demonstrates that auctioneers functioned as active ‘arbiters of taste’ rather than passive intermediaries. By bridging the gap between theoretical frameworks about consumer values and the actual linguistic evidence of marketplace practices, this study offers new perspectives on how Georgian Londoners navigated an increasingly complex material world, constructed meanings around household goods, and participated in the birth of modern consumer society through the language they used to describe, desire, and acquire objects.

The N.W. Posthumus Institute staff congratulates Alessandra with obtaining the Ph!

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The Tensions of Europe Early Career Scholars Network welcomes applications from both PhDs and Postdocs for the Summer School ‘Tensions of Europe 2026’ on 6-7 July 2026, which is organised in connection to the XII Tensions of Europe Conference ‘The meaning of the past in sustainable futures’, which will be held on the next days (8-10 July 2026) at the Eindhoven University of Technology.

The summer school will take place in Dordrecht, the Netherlands, July 6-7, 2026. It aims at introducing early career scholars to the Tensions of Europe community as well as to facilitate networking between scholars across borders, and support the consolidation and building of new academic skills.

The summer school is organised to a large extent around workshops and group discussions. Participants will be asked to do some preparatory readings (3 to 5 papers), to write a short text on their research which will be circulated before the summer school (300-500 words), and to prepare a very brief presentation on it (2-3 minutes). Additional information and materials will be provided after the notification of acceptance.

Confirmed guests include Professor Ruth Oldenziel (Eindhoven University of Technology), Professor Nina Wormbs (KTH Royal Institute of Technology), Dr Anna Aberg (Chalmers University of Technology), Dr Emily Clark (University of Amsterdam), and Dr Anne Helmond (Utrecht University).

For accepted participants, a participation fee of 50 euros (including welcome dinner, summer school lunches and coffee breaks, and the field trip) applies. Applications should be sent ultimately by the extended deadline of 20 April 2026, 23:59 (CET) via the dedicated registration form.

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On 15 and 16 January 2027, the international coe ‘Households as Coercive Labour Regimes II’ will be jointly organised by the Bonn Center for Dependency and Slavery Studies (BCDSS) of the University of Bonn and the International Institute of Social History (IISH). Organisers of this event are Stephan Conermann (BCDSS) and Posthumus fellows Ulbe Bosma and Gijs Kessler (both IISH).

During the conference, the organisers would like to focus on larger household-type organizations, including the private households of the military, political and economic elites, but also, for example, army barracks or ships, plantations, prisons, labour camps, haciendas and estates. Such households represent labour regimes based on an asymmetrically dependent work force consisting of servants, peasants, enslaved and other coerced labourers. Various forms of such labour regimes have existed throughout human history in all parts of the globe. This is why the organisers start out from the hypothesis that they are without exception formative for societies. Against this backdrop, they aim to cross the usual historiographical divides between modern and pre-modern and would like to inquire into the various forms, functions, developments, justifications and changes of the different types of coerced labour can be identified in these households.

Participants who want to participate, should submit an abstract (which should not exceed 300 words) ultimately by 15 April 2026 via an e-mail to Stephan Conermann.
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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.

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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!