The organisers of the Economic and Social History seminar series at Utrecht University cordially invite you to the lecture 'Climate, economy and society in the Netherlands, 1579-1800' by Jan de Vries, Ehrman Professor Emeritus at UC Berkeley. The lecture will be held on 15 October 2024, 4-6 pm, at Janskerkhof 2-3, room 0.21. Jan de Vries has constructed a series of annual data on winter temperatures in Holland, starting in 1579. He will explain the creation of this data-set but, more importantly, what the data can tell us about the changes in the local climate during the Little Ice Age, and its impact on the Dutch economy and society at a time when the Dutch dominated world trade and managed to become arguably the richest people in the world. Jan de Vries is professor emeritus at the University of California, Berkeley. He is one of the most-cited economic historians of his generation and famous for his work on both Dutch and European economic history. Attending is free of charge and no reservation is required. However: full is full, members of the ESH group at Utrecht University will have priority.

~ because of scope, in Dutch only ~
Op 27 september 2024 zal de lancering van het nieuwste boek van emeritus professor Jan Luiten van Zanden, Dochters van Lucy, plaatsvinden te Utrecht. Dit boek, dat hij schreef in nauwe samenwerking met Posthumus-bestuurslid Sarah Carmichael, vertelt het verhaal van de macht en de onmacht van vrouwen en mannen vanaf de eerste mens, Lucy, zo’n 3,2 miljoen jaar geleden, tot de emancipatie van de vrouw in de vorige eeuw. Centraal staan de vragen wanneer en waarom de ongelijkheid tussen vrouwen en mannen ontstond en in welke delen van Eurazië de genderongelijkheid het meest intens was. H
Het boek is via de uitgever Prometheus en andere verkooppunten beschikbaar vanaf 11 september 2024.

Organisers Yuliya Hilevych, Karen Hollewand and Hanneke de Boer (all University of Groningen) will organise a mini-conference on the topic ’40 years of abortion legislation in the Netherlands’. 1 November 2024 marks 40 years since abortion was legislated in the Netherlands. However, it is still debatable if it can be seen as fully legislated. This mini-conference aims to bring into a conversation the historical and contemporary perspectives on abortion legalisation, abortion travel, abortion care and activism in the Netherlands and internationally. Those interested to attend, are asked to register ultimately 30 October 2024.

On 25 and 26 October 2024, the first biennial symposium Environmental History in the Medieval and Early Modern Low Countries is scheduled to take place at Leiden University. This symposium, organised by the Research School for Medieval Studies and Leiden University in collaboration with Flemish colleagues, focuses on sharing recent research, ongoing projects, and points of discussion in the field of environmental history in the Netherlands and Belgium. The symposium will conclude with a keynote by Richard Hoffmann, titled ‘Bringing in the Catch: Three European Fisheries Evolutions of the Later Middle Ages', followed by a tour of the Hortus Botanicus in Leiden, guided by Paul Keßler.

The Moving Humanities Conference 2024, organised by Radboud University and Groningen University, will take place on 31 October and 1 November 2024. This year’s theme is ‘Resistance’ taken in its broadest sense, both within subjects of research and the humanities itself. Resistance can be to the common way of understanding things, to other positions and interpretations, to change, or as a subject in itself. The organisers are now calling for abstracts (300 words max., excluding bibliography) for talks and poster presentations from (research) master and PhD students and will give special consideration for those which fit the broad theme of ‘Resistance’.

On 3 and 4 July 2025, The Warsaw School of Economics will be hosting the Third Global Conference on the History of Risk and Insurance. This conference investigates insurance as crucial to social development, economic advances, finance globalisation, and general capitalism. It discusses risk and how people have coped with it from the early beginning of human society to the era of artificial intelligence, locally, regionally, and internationally, with a closer look at the Central and Eastern European regions. This global lens invites the combination of the wide global perspective with local, micro-historical perceptions. The conference combines business professionals and academics from around the world. Abstracts (500 words max.) are due by 16 December 2024

The 7th biennial conference of the European Rural History Organisation (EURHO) will be held in Coimbra, Portugal, from 9 to 12 September 2025, hosted by the University of Coimbra. You can submit your session proposals until 30 September 2024. Full details can be found on the conference website.

On 17 October 2024, Posthumus alumnus Ewout Hasken will defend his PhD thesis ‘From Rags to Riches: Changing Perceptions of Family Business in the Netherlands, 1945-2019’ at Utrecht University. Promotores are Professor Bas van Bavel and Professor Naomi Ellemers (both Utrecht University), co-promotor is Dr Gerarda Westerhuis, previously Assistant Professor at Utrecht University and currently Sectoral Economist Retail and Leisure at ABN AMRO Bank. Right before the start of the formal defence ceremony, between 10:15 and 10:30, Ewout will deliver a ‘layman’s speech’ to introduce his research topic to the audience present. We wish Ewout a successful defence!

As of 1 March 2024, the N.W. Posthumus Institute has started using Mastodon as social medium, following the decision to stop using X, formerly known as Twitter, actively for new announcements, as a result of the current developments surrounding the X platform. Do sign up with Mastodon and follow our account to keep updated frequently with new items and developments. Join us on Mastodon!