Jeroen Vandommele

Background

About Jeroen Vandommele

I have always been fascinated by stories and the way people tell them. This fascination expressed itself in two major ways: my love for history and my love for theatre. Throughout my professional career, I have attempted to combine these two passions. I studied History in Brussels, specializing in the history of the Early Modern Low Countries. After graduation, I sought to advance my knowledge of early modern cultural history by moving to Groningen to start a Phd on 16th century Dutch theatre. The topic of this Phd was the Antwerp Landjuweel of 1561, one of the largest theatre festivals in sixteenth century Europe. During this festival, plays were put on stage that voiced opinions regarding the relationship between the arts, education and the position of mankind in the world. These ideas and opinions were at the centre of my research. My adopted method was one of discourse analysis, in which the debate held in the various theatre contributions, was verbally, but also visually situated within the cultural and literary context of sixteenth century Antwerp. After the completion of my Phd, which won the prize for best historic research in Flemish Brabant, I taught history and literary history at several universities, gaining more experience as an university lecturer. I also worked as a cataloguer for the Printing Cabinet of the Rijksmuseum, expanding my knowledge of early modern visual culture and digital humanities. Apart from my work as a researcher and a lecturer, I have also directed several plays in Groningen. I consider my work as a director as complementary to my academic research. Instead of studying the way a literary text in the past created a certain narrative to persuade and influence its audience, directing gave me the opportunity to put such theory in practice. It also enabled me to be creative and expressive. Specialties: History of the Low Countries Dutch literary history History of Drama Cultural history History of Ideas Printing history Directing