My main research interests are nationalism and imagology (national stereotypes and cross-cultural perceptions)  in Spain, the Balkans and the Netherlands from the nineteenth century till the present. Currently I am working on my PhD research with the working title:

'European Peripheries: stereotyping and (self)characterization in Spanish and South-East European cultural representations’

This project analyses the cultural responses from two European border regions - Spain and Balkans - to the resilient stereotypical images often portraying them as exotically not fully 'European', be it in negative terms in politics or economic affairs, or in positive terms when it comes to ethnic music (for example, flamenco and Gypsy music). Though the peripheries have been an object of cultural representation and stereotyping, the primary sources and the perspectives from the regions themselves are rarely investigated. These cultural voices need to be taken into account for processes of representation and identity formation are not a one way process.           

Supervised by Joep Leerssen and Guido Snel, this research works within the framework of imagology as it analyses canonical and influential literary texts and cinema, in order to understand the effects of dominant stereotypical images onto cultural 'bordering' and identity formation of both these 'peripheries' as well as European identity. To put it differently, this research investigates the complex, multidirectional relationship between social stereotypes, cultural production and identity formation of these border identities in the second half of the 20th century.

The corpus of the cultural objects (novels, films, essays, plays) I analyse in my research includes, among others:

The majority of my teaching activities largely overlap with my research interests (nationalism and cross-cultural stereotyping / imagology). I also teach more general courses focusing on academic research, methodology and philosophy of the humanities. More specifically, the courses I teach  - both in English and Dutch - are: 

National Thought in Europe (Nationaal denken in Europa)  (6 EC)

Articulating Europe: Cultural Histories of a Political Idea (Het articuleren van Europa: Cultuurgeschiedenis van een politiek idee) (12 EC)

European Literary History (Europese Literatuurgeschiedenis) (6 EC)

Philosophy of the Humanities 1 (6 EC)

Philosophy of the Humanities 2: European Studies (6 EC)

Thema Workshop Europese Studies 2 (6 EC)

For course descriptions, see http://studiegids.uva.nl/xmlpages/page/2017-2018/zoek-docent/docent/500797