prof.dr. (Pauwke) PPL Berkers

Biography

Pauwke Berkers is full professor Sociology of Popular Music, specifically in relation to Inclusion, Well-Being, and Resilience in the Department of Arts and Culture Studies, Erasmus University Rotterdam. Together with dr. Julian Schaap, he co-founded research group Rotterdam Popular Music Studies (RPMS) as well as the EUR minor MU$IC: The Economy, Sociology and Practice of Popular Music. Pauwke is head of department Arts and Culture Studies. He is one of founding members of the Rotterdam Arts and Sciences Lab and member of the EUR core team Cultuurcampus.

Pauwke Berkers was born - earlier than expected - on December 6, 1977, the year that punk exploded. Unwilling to leave the beautiful province of Noord Brabant, he studied sociology at Tilburg University, specializing in the sociology of arts and culture. His MA thesis Rock tegen de rollen: Een onderzoek naar vrouwenpunk en feminisme in Nederland rond 1980, addresses the extent and ways in which female band members have dealt with gender boundaries, drawing on both do-it-yourself and feminist ideologies. After obtaining his master's degree, he started his PhD project at the department of Arts and Culture Studies at the Erasmus University Rotterdam. Reluctantly leaving the sociology of music behind him, his dissertation Classification into the Literary Mainstream? Ethnic Boundaries in the Literary Fields of the United States, the Netherlands and Germany, 1955-2005 discusses how and to what degree ethnic minority authors have become part of the literary mainstream (criticism, policy and history) in the United States, the Netherlands and Germany from 1955 to 2005.

Pauwke Berkers is full professor Sociology of Popular Music, specifically in relation to Inclusion, Well-Being, and Resilience in the Department of Arts and Culture Studies, Erasmus University Rotterdam. 

Pauwke has published widely on the relationship between popular music and INCLUSION in (more and less) prestigious academic journals, chapters in edited volumes and a monograph Gender inequality in metal music production. Moreover, he has acquired and led several substantial projects that address inequalities and inclusion in popular music, including the international HERA project European music festivals, public spaces, and cultural diversity (FestiVersities), EUR Fellowship Hearing diversities, PhDs in the Humanities Elvis has finally left the building? Boundary work, whiteness and the reception of rock music in comparative perspective. He has been invited as a speaker at both academic and professional symposia on this topic (e.g., Museumcongres), acted as an expert in media interviews, and presented his work at knowledge festivals (e.g., invited speaker at NWO’s Nacht van de Wetenschap). Finally, Pauwke did contract research on diversity in the arts for the Rotterdam Arts Council as well as the City of The Hague. He is currently part of the National Workgroup Inclusion (including representatives from the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science, Council for Culture, many funding agencies), discussing current developments in inclusion research and strategies in the cultural sector.

Recent work includes RESILIENCE, particularly in the context of popular music as an ecosystem. In the NWO Smart Culture project Staging popular music (POPLIVE), initial ideas on popular music as a more or less resilient ecosystem have been developed, resulting on several publications. Moreover, he supervises the PhD project of Wessel Coppes (Codarts Head of Pop, Jazz and World Music) addressing the connection between higher popular music education and the music industry, touching upon issues of resilience. Pauwke is currently doing a pilot study – with Frank Kimenai (ESHCC), Codarts Rotterdam, and dr. Joost Vervoort (Copernicus Institute of Sustainable Development at Utrecht University) – in the context of a NWO KIEM and an Erasmus Trustfonds project to explore how resilience principles can be applied and adapted to the music sector, particularly in relation to inclusion and well-being.

Spearheaded by dr. Julian Schaap, Pauwke aims to (help to) develop an integrated, transdisciplinary approach on popular music and WELL_BEING, synthesizing physical, psychological, and social well-being, building on preliminary work and in close collaboration with Codarts Rotterdam.

Finally, Pauwke is an avid - admittedly, somewhat snobbish - collector of manele vechi and cumbia villera tapes, and vinyl records from Cabo Verde to Tuva.

 

Erasmus School of History, Culture and Communication

Full professor | Department of Arts and Culture Studies
Email
berkers@eshcc.eur.nl
Location
Burg. Oudlaan 50, Rotterdam

More information

Work

  • Pauwke Berkers & Julian Schaap (1 May 2019) - Metal: meer muziek voor mannen
  • Pauwke Berkers (1 May 2019) - Het dubbele gezicht van de academische rat race
  • Pauwke Berkers & Julian Schaap (9 April 2019) - Despite Damning New Research, Women In Country Music Have It Better Than Most
  • Pauwke Berkers & Julian Schaap (13 December 2018) - Interview Kat Katz metalzangers: ‘Ik was de intimidatie door mannen beu’
  • Pauwke Berkers (6 December 2018) - Steeds minder vrouwen in Top 2000
  • Pauwke Berkers (24 November 2018) - Dan hangen we de slingers zelf maar op
  • Pauwke Berkers & Julian Schaap (4 November 2018) - Het oorverdovende gebrul van metal: Voer voor de wetenschap
  • Pauwke Berkers (1 June 2018) - Georg Simmel en Kaapverdiaanse muziek onthullen de absurditeit van de moderne stad
  • Pauwke Berkers (1 June 2018) - Genderongelijkheid in de muziek
  • Pauwke Berkers (11 April 2018) - Vrouwen aan de riem: in clips moet het kunnen

  • Michael Berghman, Pauwke Berkers & Ton Bevers (2021) - Gender and the representation of visual artists abroad: the case of the Netherlands
  • Julian Schaap & Pauwke Berkers (2019) - Gender inequality in metal music production
  • Pauwke Berkers (2019) - Discussant of movie Una banda de chicas
  • Rick Everts, Pauwke Berkers & Erik Hitters (2019) - ‘All institutions die hard’, How beginning pop artists navigate the changing Dutch music industry
  • Pauwke Berkers (2019) - Gender inequality among women music creators
  • Pauwke Berkers (2018) - Gender, music, inequalities: what can the study of music tell us about gender dynamics in society?
  • Pauwke Berkers (2018) - Culturele diversiteit in de cultuursector van Den Haag
  • Pauwke Berkers (2018) - De cultuursector is als een alp, hoe hoger je komt hoe witter het wordt: Over inclusiviteit en diversiteit in de cultuur- en museumsector
  • Koen Eijck & Pauwke Berkers (2018) - Diversiteit in de Rotterdamse culturele sector
  • Pauwke Berkers & Julian Schaap (2018) - Vrouwen met gitaren – Waarom het zo lastig is om het als vrouw te maken in de mannenwereld van de metalmuziek (en hoe dat anders moet)

  • Jacco van Sterkenburg, Amanda Paz Alencar, Julian Schaap & Pauwke Berkers (2021) - KNAW Science Communication Grant. Main applicant.
  • Pauwke Berkers, Koen van Eijck & Kjell Noordzij (2018) - NSV Artikelprijs
  • Pauwke Berkers, Koen van Eijck & K. Noordzij (2018) - Ik ben niet zo rijk, misschien wel gelukkiger: Interpretatiewijzen van portretteringen van sociale klassen in realitytelevisie

Popular Music: Greatest Hits and Critics

Level
Minor
Year Level
Minor
Year
2023
Course Code
CC9012

Research Traineeship

Level
MA-1
Year Level
MA-1
Year
2023
Course Code
CS5008

Master Thesis

Level
MA-2
Year Level
MA-2
Year
2023
Course Code
CS5050

Sociology, Culture and Modernity

Year Level
Pre-master, BA-3, BA-3, Other, BA-2, BA-2
Year
2023
Course Code
CC2015

Cultural Sociology

Level
MA-1
Year Level
MA-1
Year
2023
Course Code
CS5001

Future scenarios for the cultural sector

Year Level
BA-3, BA-2, BA-3, BA-2
Year
2023
Course Code
CC3004

Master Thesis Class ACS

Level
MA
Year Level
MA
Year
2023
Course Code
CC4008

News regarding prof.dr. (Pauwke) PPL Berkers

Impressive street-art mural celebrating 110th anniversary of Erasmus University Rotterdam

The mural has a size of no less than 10 x 30 meters and was festively inaugurated in the presence of the artist Mick La Rock.
Audience at the ESHPM Lapré lecture, the new mural is visible in the background.

“They might think I’m dangerous”: Unveiling racial stigma of young Moroccan-Dutch men in Rotterdam

Joia de Jong and Pauwke embarked on a journey through Rotterdam alongside Moroccan-Dutch men to uncover the intricacies of their experiences throughout the city
People walking through Rotterdam

How festivals are designed as spaces of encounter

What is the role of the festival organizer in creating a space where people meet others? That was the focus of a recent study by Britt Swartjes and Pauwke
Woman on someone's shoulders enjoying a festival

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