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Central to De Kurver’s project is the question of why the colonial study programme in Indology focused almost exclusively on “the East”, while “the West” was largely marginalised. By analysing the study programme, collections and archives, her research offers insights into how colonial hierarchies took shape within scholarship, administration, and economics. At the same time, it contributes to broader discussions on the decolonisation of knowledge institutions. With her project, De Kurver aims not only to make blind spots visible, but also to critically reflect on how colonial structures still permeate academic institutions today.

De Kurver will work on this project as an (external) fellow at the Utrecht ľ�ϸ���Ӱ�� Library in December 2025-January 2026. Besides a lecture and a background story for the Special Collections website, she also aims to prepare a larger research application.

Daniëlle de Kurver is research master student Cities, Migration and Global Interdependence at Leiden ľ�ϸ���Ӱ��. Her current research focuses on how labour and emancipation became intertwined in Dutch policy and debate from the 1970s to 1990s. She is interested in how power, normativity and inequality permeate historical knowledge production. She previously studied History and Philosophy at Erasmus ľ�ϸ���Ӱ�� Rotterdam.

This project lays the foundation for broader research on early networks of, for, and by women in academia. Stam will be looking specifically at the case study of the contact between Prof. Johanna Westerdijk and Prof. Maartje Draak. This contact transcended both generations (Westerdijk, b. 1883 and Draak, b. 1907) and fields of study (biology and medieval philology) and was highly significant for the career of the enigmatic first-generation student Maartje Draak. Stam will delve into various records in the Draak Archive that relate to the contact between the two scholars. Among other things, she will investigate what forms of mutual support are visible in correspondence, and whether there is a “trickle down” effect towards other female students. This case study provides insight into the social impact of such networks on first-generation female students.

Stam will work on this project at the ľ�ϸ���Ӱ�� Library in October-November 2025, funded by (internal) seed money from the fellowship programme. This will result not only in a public lecture and a background story for the Special Collections website, but also in a podcast episode in the “Op zoek naar de Draak” series.

Dr Nike Stam is assistant professor of Celtic Studies and her teaching and research are generally concerned with the historical sociolinguistics of medieval Ireland. She has conducted research on multilingualism and is currently looking at the sociolinguistic dimensions of medieval Irish spelling. On the occasion of the centenary of the Celtic Studies programme at UU in 2023, she has also started to study the history of the field in the Netherlands from a Gender Studies perspective. Thus, together with two interns, she developed a podcast on Maartje Draak and published an interview with Leni van Strien on her role in the interdisciplinary solidarity between Celtic and Gender Studies at UU.