Cultural Studies research encompasses a broad variety of cultural topics. Recurring themes include the policy of museums, their collections and target audiences, early and contemporary patronage, heritage policy and institutions.
Some of the other themes/subjects also dealt with include cultural diplomacy, quality criteria in the arts, the development of management and marketing, cultural globalisation, and migration and culture. Several researchers collaborate with (art) historians archaeologists, anthropologists and sociologists. Almost all of the staff members perform research together with cultural institutions in Amsterdam and other regions.

Research takes places at The Amsterdam Institute for Humanities Research ( AIHR). The research is divided between various Research Schools, which all cover their own research programme. Cultural Studies researchers are affiliated with ASCA (Amsterdam School for Cultural Analysis), ASCH (Amsterdam School for Culture and History), AHM (Amsterdam School for Heritage, Memory and Material Culture) en ARTES (Amsterdam Regional Transnational and European Studies).

ASCA
Amsterdam School for Cultural Analysis

Located at the Faculty of Humanities of the University of Amsterdam, the Amsterdam School for Cultural Analysis (ASCA) is a research institute and doctoral school dedicated to the interdisciplinary study of culture from a broad humanities perspective.

ASCA does not subscribe to any single theoretical or methodological practice, but, rather, is defined precisely by its interdisciplinary approach, in which researchers work at the intersections of core disciplines in the humanities to develop new theoretical frameworks and research methodologies for analysing culture in all its forms and expressions. ASCA is the only humanities research institute in the Netherlands to place interdisciplinarity and theoretical research on culture at the core of its mission, vision, and programme.

ASCA is home to more than 100 scholars and over 100 PhD candidates active in literature, philosophy, film and media studies, art and visual culture, musicology, religious studies, theatre and performance studies, and argumentation theory. Specialists in their own respective fields, ASCA members share a commitment to working within an interdisciplinary framework and to maintaining a close connection with contemporary social and political debates. Within ASCA, they collaborate to provide an innovative, stimulating, and productive research environment for scholars, professionals, and graduate students from the Netherlands and abroad.

ASCA has particular strengths in four key areas of research: globalisation and cultural transformation; creative industries; cultural heritage and identity; and digital humanities. These strengths, which combine expertise and insights from members across all constituent departments, make ASCA ideally suited to address the ‘big questions’ facing contemporary society, including issues of multiculturalism; inequality; migration and urbanisation; new media and communication technologies; and knowledge production, sharing, and archiving.

Affiliated with ASCA:
Prof. R.W. (René) Boomkens
Dr C.A.J.C. Delhaye

For more information: http://asca.uva.nl

ASH
Amsterdam School of Historical Studies

The Amsterdam School of Historical Studies (ASH) represents and fosters the study of cultural history within the Faculty of Humanities at the University of Amsterdam. It brings together more than 300 academics, who participate in ca. 35 research groups. ASCH research is on the interface of history and culture: it studies the historical dimension of culture and the cultural dimension of history.

Researchers are oriented towards culture in its various historic manifestations and dynamics. Their work often is characterized by diachronic, longitudinal as well as comparative and synchronic approaches to culture and history.

Affiliated with ASH:
Prof. E.A. (Lisa) Kuitert
Dr  G.M. (Bert) van de Roemer
Dr H. (Hanneke) Ronnes

For more information: www.ash.uva.nl

AHM
Amsterdam School for Heritage, Memory and Material Culture

AHM fosters a dynamic, interdisciplinary and transnational research of heritage and memory, organizes PhD training, seminars, reading groups, workshops, public debates, and international conferences, and stimulates scholarly cooperation in an international setting.

The school brings together researchers working in diverse areas and fields including memory studies, cultural studies, museum studies, arts, media and performative studies, postcolonial studies, religious studies, conflict and identity studies, Slavic cultures, Holocaust and genocide studies, archaeology, conservation and restoration, digital humanities, cultural, public and oral history, and critical and creative heritage studies.

Affiliated with AHM:
Dr M.H.E. (Mirjam) Hoijtink
Prof. B. (Bram) Kempers
Dr T.M.C. (Tamara) van Kessel
Prof. E.A. (Lisa) Kuitert
Prof. R. (Rob) van der Laarse
Dr H. (Hanneke) Ronnes
Prof. P.J.J. (Peter Jan) Margry
D r  I.A.M. (Ihab) Saloul

For more information: http://ahm.uva.nl

ARTES
Amsterdam School for Regional, Transnational, and European Studies

The Amsterdam School for Regional and Transnational and European Studies combines humanities and social science-based approaches to the study of Europe and other world regions and the relations between them.

ARTES research engages with political, intellectual and institutional cultures in their national as well as transnational dimensions, as well as questions of cultural, linguistic and religious identities, and their representations in music, the visual and performing arts, and literature.

As an interdisciplinary and transnational Research School, ARTES aims to go beyond traditional ‘area’ and ‘regional’ studies approaches, focusing also on the re-making and relations between world and regional orders, borders, and identities, historically and in today’s world. 

Affiliated with ARTES:
Dr M.H.E. (Mirjam) Hoijtink
C.M.H.G. (Camille) Creyghton
Dr T.M.C. (Tamara) van Kessel

For more information: http://artes.uva.nl

Publications

Every year UvA-researchers publish about 7500 articles. These can be be found in the Digital Academic Repository of the University of Amsterdam, DARE.