Interview Dick Douwes Resisting Uniformity

Abstract

After a career of seven years as Academic Coordinator (later Executive Director) and Editor of the ISIM Newsletter/Review, Dick Douwes now joins the Erasmus University Rotterdam as Chair of History of Non-Western Societies and Dean of Faculty of History and Arts. In this interview he talks about his research interests, the building of ISIM, and the development of the ISIM Newsletter into the ISIM Review. One of his growing concerns is over what he sees to be an increasing pressure to conform to the “acceptable,” which allows for very little chance for the expression of authentic identities; a regrettable development that he witnesses not only in the Middle East but also in Europe, and in particular, the Netherlands.