Dutch Deep South
In the fall of 2021 I did a secondment at the Roosevelt Institute for American Studies (RIAS) in Middelburg, the Netherlands. The secondment was originally planned for the spring of 2023, but because of the pandemic and visa delays, I had to move a few things around. So instead of traveling to the Deep South of the United States, I ended up in the Deep South of the Netherlands: the province of Zeeland. Besides working remotely at the University of Groningen and writing two articles – one on plantation politics in the Cold War and one on the swampy hinterlands of Louisiana – I had the pleasure of participating in the Institute’s activities and organizing a few events myself, despite all the pandemic-related limitations. Some highlights were the Tim & Paul Geschiedenis podcast about the Frontier and a two-day workshop with the Rural Imaginations research group of the University of Amsterdam.
Tim & Paul Geschiedenis Podcast
In early October, Tim Streefkerk and Paul de Jong came to Middelburg to talk with me about life on the North American frontier during the nineteenth century, the myths surrounding it, the multiplicity of frontiers that in fact existed in the Americas (such as the railroad frontier and the plantation frontier), and the impact of the frontier on current-day popular culture, including videogames like Red Dead Redemption.
Rural Imaginations @ RIAS workshop
A month later, the researchers of Rural Imaginations journeyed to Zeeland. On the first day of our workshop, we talked about methodology and about our research projects, through the lens of colonialism, slavery, and the rural. The second day was devoted to discussing chapters for an edited volume about hinterlands. In the afternoon we did a city walking tour that focused on the historic role of Middelburg in the transatlantic slave trade.
My workspace at RIAS
Besides these events, I enjoyed being involved in the daily life of RIAS, albeit under COVID restrictions, with not so many people around at the same time. It was nonetheless exciting to learn about the work of the PhDs affiliated with the RIAS graduate school, to give feedback on Debby Esmeé de Vlugt’s fascinating study of Black Power in the Dutch Caribbean at a symposium of the Huizinga Institute, and to do online lectures about 1) political polarization in the United States and 2) the use of primary sources stored at RIAS in my fellowship research. I had a great time in Middelburg and working at RIAS was a valuable experience, but I am of course thrilled to finally be in Oxford, Mississippi, where I will continue with the Race Land project at the Center for the Study of Southern Culture.
