The Dutch Research Council (NWO) has awarded Dr Tina van der Vlies from the History Department at the Erasmus School of History, Culture and Communication (ESHCC) a Veni grant of €320,000. The Veni grant provides funding for innovative scientific research.
Van der Vlies’ research focuses on time, as time is not only measured but also made and taught. For example, linear, progress-oriented timelines played a role in legitimizing colonial domination and shaped specific understandings of the relationship between the past, present, and future.
In her project “Textbook Temporalities across Empire and the Postcolonial World: shaping societies through time in history textbooks, 1920–2025”, Tina van der Vlies examines notions of time conveyed through Dutch and Indonesian history education. She analyzes processes of dissemination, contestation and adaptation, asking why temporalities endure or change in (post)colonial societies. Such insights are essential, as notions of time are not a neutral backdrop to history but powerful architects of identity, power, and worldviews.
This is the first project to examine how Dutch and Indonesian history textbooks and related online materials (1920-2025) have shaped temporalities through images, narratives, metaphors, and themes like progress and decline, and why in these manners. Van der Vlies highlights how notions of time can perpetuate exclusion and inequality, or, conversely, stimulate critical thinking and innovation. In this way, the project provides essential tools for reflection and revision.
About Veni
Veni is part of the NWO Talent Programme, which gives researchers the freedom to propose their own research topics for funding. Through this programme, NWO supports curiosity-driven, innovative research and enables researchers to pursue promising ideas. Applications are assessed based on the quality of the researcher, the innovative nature of the proposed research, its expected scientific impact, and its potential for knowledge utilisation.
- Researcher
