Welcome to the final Newsletter of 2025.

Join us on December 9 for the national higher education strike in Amsterdam on Dam square at 12am. Find out more here.

Project Festive Season message from PI Rachel Gillett: 

And so it is December. It seems to have arrived fast. For many of us in the Netherlands, and around the globe, it has been a hard year, with cuts to higher education looming (come and protest! Dec 9!) and adverse political winds for work on inclusion, belonging, and anti-racism. Across the project many of us have been affected by the pain, the bitter feelings and violence enacted in Gaza and against those of us protesting genocide. But as a team, we feel that we are focused, caring, and doing good things. This includes showing up for our communities and our students. 

One practice we have taken time with recently is to ensure that major decisions about project budget(s) are shared and discussed transparently and with all affected. Sounds obvious but sometimes administrative structures push us to skip this step and get things done fast. I’ve been privileged to hear the resulting plans for exciting things to come – documentaries, podcasts, dialogue tables with commissioned music, and written reflections aplenty. 

We continue to struggle, sometimes, with workflow – who is doing what, when, and how do we collaborate effectively across such a sprawling project? We try not to be spinning in a thousand directions but at least operating in the same planetary orbit, with a shared center of gravity or focus. This is always a balance and also a test of how much our leadership can let go, encourage, and support new ideas, while maintaining our original intentions. We are inspired by the fact we are finding further funding and being invited to take up new things. A huge thank-you to Isabella Hall Allen, who “makes it so.”

Many of us traveled to Curacao in March, in a trip co-organised by the “Sports Heroes” work team and the University of Curacao. It was a highlight, a challenge, a wakeup call as to how we do responsible work. In May our consortium meeting felt like a turning point for the project in its cohesion and vitality. It was an especial delight to welcome Laurent Dubois and Kaiama Glover to discuss their translation of A Quiet Dawn – a novel about Haiti, France, and colonial entanglements. We also hosted the full triptych of Farida Nabibaks’ dancework “Schitterende Schaduw/Radiant Shadow” which presents vignettes from the Dutch history of colonialism and enslavement and the fragmentary lives of humans caught in its web. The aftervideo of the consortium is here.

This year we farewelled Lynaissa Gibbs – our student assistant who is now finishing up her degree, and Jeroen Bakker, data officer and digital archivist who is moving on from Utrecht University to revive his career in music. We wish Bram Ieven good luck as he steps down from leading the “ Urban Arts and Hip Hop” work team to concentrate on research. We welcome Holly Zijderveld (Data Archivist and Podcast support) and Karym Leito (Sports heroes) and continue to be grateful that Jody Metcalfe joined us late last year.

December and January mean simultaneous slowing down and speeding up. We stare into the face of winter and commit to festive and family time. We recognise that not every festivity is for everyone, and families are chosen as well as given. We  wish you joy with yours, and may music accompany you into the new year,

In warmth and solidarity.

Rachel Anne Gillett.

Management updates

Welcome Holly Zijderveld the new Technical Support officer

Hi, I’m Holly, and I’m the new Technical Support Officer for the research consortium. I have a background in the anthropology of science & technology and research around inclusive open source software culture. Within Re/Presenting Europe, my focus is on supporting researchers in the projects’ multiple community archiving and podcasting initiatives! 

Upcoming events

Fanon mixtape: 100 jaar Frantz Fanon: een muzikale performance over zijn erfgoed.

Op 6 december 1961 stierf een van ’s werelds meest invloedrijke antikoloniale denkers: Frantz Fanon. 100 jaar na zijn geboorte wekt spoken word artiest Mathieu Charles met een muzikale performance zijn geest tot leven in Felix Meritis met Fanon Mixtape: een visionaire droom en krachtige reflectie op de wereld van vandaag. Arakaza sluit de avond af met een sonische ode aan Frantz Fanon. Tickets here.

Belonging to Academia NIAS symposium: Explore how belonging works in academia, and what can – and can’t – belong. Join us for the third and final episode of the NIAS Studies of Belonging series.

This event offers a unique opportunity to critically examine the mechanisms and meanings of belonging in/to academia, while reflecting on the insights gained across the Studies of Belonging series. The symposium is the third and final episode of the NIAS Studies of Belonging series. It also serves as a farewell to Jan Willem Duyvendak and Bernike Pasveer, who will both retire. Space is limited to 150 participants.
More info & registration

SAVE THE DATE: Esther Captains inaugural lecture on Wednesday October 14 2026 at 16:00 at Pieterskerk 5, 3512 JR in Utrecht.

Jonathan Tjien Fooh seminar on Coloniality of Silence in Javanese Indentured Labour.

On Monday 19 January 2026, Jonathan Tjien Fooh (WP5, Athena Institute, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam) will give a Cultural History and History of International Relations seminar, titled Coloniality of Silence in Javanese Indentured Labour. Tjien Fooh examines how silence shapes the remembrance and erasure of Javanese indentured labour across archives, public commemorations, and family histories. More information

Toeslagen Tragedy Exhibition for Re/presenting Europe colleagues

On Monday March 2, 2026, there is a possibility to visit the exhibition of the Toeslagen Tragedy where we are offered an exclusive tour for Re/Presenting Europe researchers. As many of you are interested in the healing from the Toeslagenscandal case studied by Durwin Lynch, this invite is extended to you. Want to join? Send me an email to d.lynch@vu.nl before 30 January. There are limited spots! See more general information of the expo in Dutch or English. 

Transformative dialogue table entitled ‘Get Dem Activists and Academics “Outta Da Spiritual Closet”:

Durwin Lynch and Jonathan Tjien Fooh are hosting a constructive and transformative dialogue table entitled ‘Get Dem Activists and Academics “Outta Da Spiritual Closet” during the Week Against Racism from March 16 to 21, 2026. This is a dialogue on productive, effective, and fair collaborations between academics and activists. The event is organized by Pakhuis de Zwijger and the March 21 Committee. This program leads up to the national Anti-Racism Demonstration. This week furthermore offers an interdisciplinary program featuring theater, film, music, spoken word, storytelling, lectures, workshops, and dialogue. Save the date if interested, more information will follow soon.

Publications

Rachel Anne Gillett’s chapter “Cultural Pan-Africanism in twentieth-century France” in the Routledge Handbook of Francophone Africa is newly available via open access. Read here

Jan Bant in the Trouw ” Onderzoeker na incident binnen schermploeg: ‘Racisme wordt steeds meer genormaliseerd” read here.

Reflection on previous events

Webinar Series differential doings, europes in margins:

As the webinar series for the edited volume differential doings, europes in margins draws to a close we want to take this time to reflect on the conversations between the scholars of the edited volume and the artists/thinkers/makers who inspire them. Discussions have explored themes related to decoloniality, solidarity building, linguistic liberation, strangling colonial institutions, living as method, madness in storytelling and mythology, occupying corporate universities, histories across Souths and Easts, migrant to migrant histories. We want to thank all our speakers and those who joined us for these sessions. The edited volume will be available in 2026.

And dont miss the final session titled: Black Aliveness: Hope as Practice will be on 3 December 2025.

Writing retreat for PhDs and Postdocs

At the beginning of November most of the PhDs and Posdocs joined eachother for a writing retreat at Samaya just outside of Utrecht. The retreat proved very useful and productive as the two days were fully dedicated to writing with moments of feedback incoporated. The retreat also provided a moment of communal getting together amoung the PhDs and postdocs – an important parctice in our project about belonging. We look forward to reading all their contributions in the projects edited volume.

Thank you for reading our newsletter. We wish you all the best for this holiday season and look forward to welcoming you in 2026.