In our globalised food system, farmers meet domestic and transboundary food needs. As a result, the contribution of farmers to domestic food production is a poor proxy for their role in national... Show moreIn our globalised food system, farmers meet domestic and transboundary food needs. As a result, the contribution of farmers to domestic food production is a poor proxy for their role in national food security. This study offers the first global assessment of how small-, medium-, and large-scale farmers contribute to global food security. We find that the role of small-scale farmers in national and global food security has been significantly underestimated due to the localised focus of previous studies, particularly in high-income nations. Future research must account for the differentiated roles, impacts, and vulnerabilities of farmers within a global context. Show less
In this experimental paper, I will share my hypotheses for the recently commenced study on the economic activities of several Asian business communities in eighteenth-century Melaka. In recent... Show moreIn this experimental paper, I will share my hypotheses for the recently commenced study on the economic activities of several Asian business communities in eighteenth-century Melaka. In recent years Asian merchants and entrepreneurs – e.g. Chinese, Malay, Chettiar, Gujarati, Arab, Bugi, Armenian, and Jewish traders – and their relation to the Indian Ocean World have received increasing attention from scholars. These studies show that such social groups had major stakes in both regional and global trade networks, both thanks to and despite of the presence of the colonial trade companies and imperial governments. Moreover, the persistent presence and activities of such communities showcase their capacity to navigate, utilise, or evade European colonial efforts to control and monopolise commerce – offering us an insight into how such communities dealt with and lived under (or regardless of) European colonial rule. In this paper, and my project at large, I want to take a next step by considering how the activities of such trade communities collectively helped shape and transition institutions, structures, and networks on a global scale that were previously mostly accredited to Western colonialism in an Age of Revolutions – such as capitalism, modern economic, legal and bureaucratic institutions, and forced labour regimes. Through three vignettes centred around the colonial port city of Melaka (1750-1820), I explore to what extent stories extracted from colonial archives can help reconstruct such dynamic historical processes and transitions from a more diversifying perspective – moving beyond binaries like colonial/local, occidental/oriental, and western/non-western. Show less
Differentiated instruction concerns adapting education to students’ needs. However, relatively little is known about how students experience the degree to which their teachers fulfill their... Show moreDifferentiated instruction concerns adapting education to students’ needs. However, relatively little is known about how students experience the degree to which their teachers fulfill their individual educational needs. In the current study, the Differentiated Instruction from Students’ Perspective (DISP) questionnaire was developed and administered among 458 students of grade 4 to 6 of 22 primary school teachers in the Netherlands. The internal consistency of the DISP instrument was considered good. Students in general were moderately positive about the level of differentiation they experienced and few differences between DISP-ratings of students with varying mathematics achievement levels were identified. It is concluded that the DISP questionnaire is a suitable instrument to study students’ perspectives and can be used by researchers as well as by teachers who would like to gain insights in and improve their differentiation practice. Show less
As the field of peace history awakens to its provincializing moment, scholars are increasingly demonstrating how activists and networks from across the global South opposed war and violence... Show moreAs the field of peace history awakens to its provincializing moment, scholars are increasingly demonstrating how activists and networks from across the global South opposed war and violence throughout the latter half of the 20th century. Arguably, historians are moving beyond expressions of peace from postcolonial nations, like the idea of ‘moral violence’ by Indonesian President Sukarno at the 1955 Bandung Conference. This paper assesses the work of historians seeking to overcome Eurocentric models and chronologies of peace activism and peace movements. It has three aims. First, it briefly sketches the broader historiography of peace history by demonstrating how Eurocentric perspectives slowly give way to more global ones. I then touch upon three key aspects that global peace history historians grapple with: scale, definitions, and fault lines. Finally, I assess the potential of global peace history for the fields of global history and peace studies. I argue that peace activism in the decolonizing world cannot simply be added to ‘canons’ of peace history, nor can concepts from peace studies be bluntly applied to global peace history. Instead, definitions of and engagements with peace must be historicized and localized worldwide to build new approaches that take the global South as a starting point. Show less
Jong, M.A. de; Adegeest, E.; Bérenger-Currias, N.M.L.P.; Mircea, M; Merks, R.M.H.; Semrau, S. 2023
