Funding for doctoral research on return of archives

20 June 2024

Leah Niederhausen is one of 20 talented upcoming researchers receiving funding from the PhDs in the Humanities programme.. She will be a doctoral student at the University for Humanistic Studies starting in September, researching archives as objects and tools of colonial restitution in the Netherlands

Research

The restitution of looted objects from colonial contexts is a major challenge in dealing with colonial violence. Within object restitution, archives play a special role, being the subject of looting and restitution but also documenting and preserving events. The research will specifically compare two cases of archival restitution to Indonesia and Suriname.

Niederhausen's research aims to answer the question of under what conditions archive restitution can contribute to transformative justice. After reading the proposal, the evaluation committee was very convinced of the candidate's motivation and experience to carry out the proposed research.

The award is the successful outcome of an application selected by the four NLU partners. In this programme, only one application may be submitted together with Utrecht Theological University, Theological University Apeldoorn and Protestant Theological University. Principal applicant for the funding is Nicole Immler, professor of Historical Memory and Transformative Justice. Co-applicant is Prof. Dr. Wouter Veraart (VU).

Programme

The Program Promotions in the Humanities aims to boost the recruitment and advancement of young talent in the humanities. Funders are the Program Office Sustainable Humanities and the NWO Social Sciences and Humanities Domain. Read more about the funding awarded.

Leah Niederhausen receives funding from the Humanities Doctoral Program. She will conduct research on archives as a doctoral student beginning in September 2024.