In October 2019, massive demonstrations took place in the streets of Santiago, Chile. The demands were varied, addressing several aspects of the acute social inequalities that characterise Chilean... Show moreIn October 2019, massive demonstrations took place in the streets of Santiago, Chile. The demands were varied, addressing several aspects of the acute social inequalities that characterise Chilean society. Protests were met with a brutally violent response by the police forces deployed to control them. What was more difficult to regulate was the explosion of graffiti and street art that accompanied the social unrest. These mobilisations speak of the repolitisation of the civil sphere through the occupation of public spaces. In this article, I propose to look at the role public spaces have played in these events not only from the perspective of public spaces as sites of political encounter and counter-hegemonic mobilisations, but mostly as borders. I contend that public spaces act as material and symbolic borders where the struggles over practices of ordering and othering take place. By looking at the history of a square in Santiago’s city center—Plaza de la Dignidad—and a selection of the graffiti in its surroundings, I explore how the square acts as a border and, in doing so, enables an alternative spatial imagination that feeds new possible political and social orders. Show less
In this article we argue for a study of Dutch literature that adjusts the ‘what’ (research domain) and ‘how’ (research method) to the time in which we currently find ourselves. We refer to the... Show moreIn this article we argue for a study of Dutch literature that adjusts the ‘what’ (research domain) and ‘how’ (research method) to the time in which we currently find ourselves. We refer to the conditions of our era as late modern conditions (Giddens), which means that they can be traced back to earlier, modern conditions; we can therefore examine the historical and cultural background and causes. The fact that these are conditions means that if we take these conditions seriously they are changing the nature and design of our field. We argue that the study of Dutch literature can help us to trace the concrete affective, emotional and imaginary patterns and routines that both characterize and uphold late modernity. Our argument will take shape through a reading of two contemporary novels: Maxim Februari’s Klont (2017) and Lieke Marsman’s Het tegenovergestelde van een mens (2017). Show less
Reflection of/on the City: Literature, Space, and Postmodernity is an interdisciplinary study of literary representations of the postmodern city. While the early 20th century was characterized by... Show moreReflection of/on the City: Literature, Space, and Postmodernity is an interdisciplinary study of literary representations of the postmodern city. While the early 20th century was characterized by the metropolis, with a high concentration of people and enterprise, the second half of the 20th century is marked by, on the one hand, a different kind of city – sprawling, flexible, to be understood in different frameworks – and on the other hand a changed usage of existing urban space. This study explores aspects of the postmodern city by looking at American literary works from the 1960s to the end of the century. These aspects are represented in literary works, of course, but my usage of these texts is explicitly geared towards looking beyond literary categories. Literary works do not only offer a reflection of, but importantly also a reflection on the city. My aim is to approach urban issues by using literature as a way of thinking about the city, which can therefore be brought together with theoretical of social scientific ways of thinking. Show less
Interdisciplinarity of research is a hot topic because of new developments occurring at frontiers of disciplines (e.g. nanoscience), but also because of the urge for societal relevance of research.... Show moreInterdisciplinarity of research is a hot topic because of new developments occurring at frontiers of disciplines (e.g. nanoscience), but also because of the urge for societal relevance of research. A lot has been written on interdisciplinarity, however, relatively little empirical research has been carried out. In this thesis the value of quantitative, in particular bibliometric methods in research on interdisciplinarity is investigated and these methods are applied in a number of case studies. Methods are applied in three ways: in order to determine the interdisciplinary character of research; to validate evaluation processes in science, in particular with respect to interdisciplinary research; and to investigate knowledge flows between disciplines. The results show that bibliometric outcomes can offer a test, but also may offer additional information for peer review procedures in science. It also appears that the assumption that peer review is biased in case of interdisciplinary research, is not universally true. An analysis, with the aid of bibliometric methods, of the outcomes of a nation wide research assessment of physics showed no bias in peer review judgements in case of interdisciplinary research programs. In this study a more clear distinction is advocated between interdisciplinarity and societal relevance of research, and furthermore between top down stimulation and bottom up development of interdisciplinarity. This distinction helps to gain more insight into contributions to interdisciplinary developments from within basic research in disciplines. Citation analysis gives indications for the significance of such processes. E.g. citation analysis shows a relatively large knowledge flow from disciplines like basic life sciences and physics to other disciplines. Show less
