Academic profile

I am an Associate Professor (UHD) of European Literature and Culture. Before joining the Department of European Studies at the University of Amsterdam in 2010, I was Assistant Professor in the Spanish Department at Utrecht University. I studied Modern Philology (English) at the Universidad Complutense of Madrid and  Dutch Literature of the Renaissance and the Baroque at Utrecht University (cum laude), where I also attained my PhD in 2003 with De Tachtigjarige Oorlog in Spaanse Ogen (English expanded edition The Dutch Revolt through Spanish Eyes, Peter Lang 2008). I have led several research projects as PI and as a member of European consortia (see research projects). Between 2010 and 2015 I was Chair of the AHBx (Asociación de Hispanistas del Benelux: http://ahbx.eu/ahbx/ ). Between 2019-2022 I served as Chair of the European Studies Department. Since 2022 I am a member of the Governing Board of the Huizinga Institute, the Dutch National Research School for Cultural History (https://www.huizingainstituut.nl/).

Research Interests

My research concentrates on Spanish-Dutch-Anglo relations and cultural exchanges in the early modern period and beyond (1550-1850), with a focus on the intersection between literature, politics, history and ideology, nation-building processes and cross-cultural dynamics of representation. These lines of research came clearly to the fore in my VIDI-project Mixed feelings. Literary Hispanophilia and Hispanophobia in England and the Netherlands in the Early Modern period and the Nineteenth century, funded by the Dutch Research Council NWO (2015-2021). The project bridged the fields of Imagology, Translation Studies and Cultural transfer.

Ongoing fields of interest are:

• The intersection between international politics and cultural history: I am particularly interested in the ways the cultural field engages with politics, and how political and cultural hegemony can coincide and/or be contested over time.
• The transnational circulation and fluidity of propaganda, especially regarding the forging of enemy images and national identities: My research focuses on how and why ’natural alliances’ and ‘natural oppositions’ are forged over time and on the historical (dis)continuity of certain historical narratives, tropes and national representations. Think for instance on the Black Legend of Spanish Tyranny or the pro-Brexit argumentation leaning on longue-durée narratives of an intrinsic British tendency to separate and ‘stand alone’.
• Literary histories as key agent in the forging of narratives of nationhood and national canons: I am particularly interested in the potential of literary histories to effect political change and to influence current debates on the production and circulation of knowledge. How and why are discourses on cultural hegemony and cultural legacies (re)negotiated in certain national canons? What are the dynamics and paradoxes of ‘writing out’ and ‘writing back’ certain narratives within historiography?
• Historical fictions and historical culture:  Popular historical fictions have exploded in the last two decades, reflecting the multiple ways and media in which we understand and reassess the past. How and why does historical fiction make sense of the past?  

Editorial work:

I am co-editor of Studia Imagologica together with Joep Leerssen (https://brill.com/display/serial/IMAG)

I am a member of the editorial board of Global Historical Fictions (https://brill.com/page/hifi/forthcoming-series-global-historical-fictions)

I am a member of  the editorial board of Clásicos Hispánicos (Iberoamericana/ Vervuert) - Iberoamericana (iberoamericana-vervuert.es)

BOOKS and EDITED VOLUMES

• Brolsma, M., Drace-Francis, A., Lajosi, K., Maessen, E., Rensen, M., Rock, J., Rodríguez Pérez, Y., & Snel, G. (Eds.), Networks, Narratives and Nations: Transcultural Approaches to Cultural Nationalism in Modern Europe and Beyond (Amsterdam, Amsterdam University Press, 2022). https://www.aup.nl/en/book/9789463720755/networks-narratives-and-nations
• Rodríguez Pérez, Yolanda (ed.), Literary Hispanophobia and Hispanophilia in Britain and the Low Countries (1550-1850) (Amsterdam, Amsterdam University Press, 2020).  http://www.aup.nl/en/book/9789048541935/literary-hispanophobia-and-hispanophilia-in-britain-and-the-low-countries-1550-1850
• Raymond Fagel, Yolanda Rodríguez Pérez &  Bernardo J. García García, 1568: Het Begin van de Tachtigjarige Oorlog. Madrid: Instituto Cervantes/ Fundacion Carlos de Amberes (Madrid, Ediciones Doce Calle, S.L., 2018). 1568. Het begin van de tachtigjarige oorlog (docecalles.com)
• Raymond Fagel, Yolanda Rodríguez Pérez &  Bernardo J. García García, 1568: El Comienzo de la Guerra de Ochenta Años. Madrid: Instituto Cervantes/ Fundacion Carlos de Amberes (Madrid, Ediciones Doce Calle, S.L., 2018).1568. El comienzo de la guerra de los ochenta años (docecalles.com)
• Yolanda Rodríguez Pérez and Pablo Valdivia (eds.), Españoles en Europa: Identidad y Exilio desde la Edad Moderna hasta nuestros días, special number Foro Hispánico (Leiden, Brill/Rodopi, 2018). https://brill.com/abstract/title/38040
• Yolanda Rodríguez Pérez and Antonio Sánchez Jiménez (eds.), La Leyenda Negra en el crisol de la comedia: el teatro del Siglo de Oro frente a los estereotipos antihispánicos (Madrid/Frankfurt, Iberoamericana /Vervuert, 2016). http://www.iberoamericana-vervuert.es/FichaLibro.aspx?P1=118781
• Yolanda Rodríguez Pérez, Antonio Sánchez Jiménez and Harm den Boer, (eds.), España ante sus críticos: Claves de la leyenda negra (Madrid/Frankfurt, Iberoamericana/Vervuert, 2015). http://www.iberoamericana-vervuert.es/FichaLibro.aspx?P1=98772
•  Tietz, Manfred and Arnscheidt, Gero (eds.), La violencia en el Teatro de Calderón (in collaboration with Robert Folger, Yolanda Rodríguez Pérez and Antonio Sánchez Jiménez, Vigo, Editorial Academia del Hispanismo, Biblioteca de Theatralia, 22, 2014).
• Yolanda Rodríguez Pérez, Maarten Prak, Simon Groenveld & Luc Panhuysen, Nederland en de Gouden Eeuw. (Utrecht, CD /Luisterboek. VBK Media, 2013). https://www.luisterboeken.nl/yolanda-rodriguez-perez-nederland-de-gouden-eeuw-d.html
• Patrick Collard, Miguel Norbert Ubarri and Yolanda Rodríguez Pérez (eds.), Encuentros de ayer y reencuentros de hoy. Flandes, Países Bajos y el mundo Hispánico en los siglos XVI-XVII. (Ghent, Academia Press, 2009) .

• Yolanda Rodríguez Pérez, The Dutch Revolt through Spanish Eyes. Self and Other in historical and literary texts of Golden Age Spain (c.1548-1673) . Peter Lang, Bern / Oxford 2008.

• E. Slager and Y. Rodríguez Pérez,   Prisma Basisgrammatica Spaans. Uitgeverij Het Spectrum, Utrecht 2006 (1st edition) / 2008 (2nd edition) / 2011 (3rd edition).

• Yolanda Rodríguez Pérez, De Tachtigjarige Oorlog in Spaanse Ogen. De Nederlanden in Spaanse historische en literaire teksten(circa 1548-1673). Vantilt, Nijmegen 2003 (1st & 2nd edition) /  2005 (3rd edition).

• Yolanda Rodríguez Pérez (ed.), De hond van de hertog van Alva . Em. Querido's Uitgeverij, Amsterdam 1997 (Included in the Dutch Digital Library DBNL in 2006). http://www.dbnl.org/tekst/bay_001leve01_01/

Teaching

Courses at BA, MA and ReMA level on Spanish culture and literature and on European culture and literature (with a focus on Dutch and English).

Courses academic year 2023-2024:          

- Constructing Europe (BA)

- Spain, Mediterranean Microcosm  of Europe (BA)

- Making Sense of Europe (BA)

Lectures and Presentations (Selection)

• Rodríguez Pérez, Y. (speaker) (9-12-2023). ‘Educational Reparations through Historical Fictions: The Case of Pérez Reverte’s Captain Alatriste’, Online workshop 'Historical Fictions as Reparative Histories' (HFRN, Historical Fictions Research Network). https://historicalfictionsresearch.org/online-workshop-2023/
• Rodríguez Pérez, Y. (invited speaker) (2-11-2023). ‘Hispanismos, historias literarias y esterotipos’, International conference 'Historiografía internacional, civilización española e hispanismos en el siglo XX', Madrid. http://Historiografía internacional e hispanismos en el siglo XX - Casa de Velázquez | Casa de Velázquez (casadevelazquez.org)
• Rodríguez Pérez, Y. (invited speaker) (20-10-2023). 'Het verhaal van Alkmaar',
  'Het Verhaal van Alkmaar Onzet' (celebration of 450 jaar Alkmaar liberation), Teater De Vest, Alkmaar.
• Rodríguez Pérez, Y. (invited speaker) (5-9-2023). 'Willem van Oranje en Spanje',
  Presentation of 'Het reisboek van Willem van Oranje' by René van Stipriaan, Amsterdam.
• Rodríguez Pérez, Y. (invited speaker) (20-4-2023). ‘El papel de la historia literaria en el hispanismo: el caso de los Países Bajos (s. XIX-XX)’, El hispanismo científico del siglo XX: planteamientos globales y dinámicas nacionales (organized by: Sorbonne Université / Universidad de Zaragoza / Universidad Complutense ), Soria.
• Rodríguez Pérez, Y. (speaker) (18-2-2023). 'Entrenched narratives. Historical fiction in the Netherlands and the Dutch Revolt', Historical Fictions Research Conference HFRC 2023.
• Rodríguez Pérez, Y. (invited speaker) (13-12-2022). ‘De Apologie in Spaanse Ogen', Apologielezing (Stichting Nederlandse Onafhankelijkheid), The Hague.
• Rodríguez Pérez, Y. (invited speaker) (17-11-2022). ‘Facing Persistent Historical Narratives and National Stereotypes in European Construction’, International conference 'Transcultural Europe in a Global World', Université Paris Nanterre, Paris.
• Rodríguez Pérez, Y. (invited speaker) (6-10-2022). ‘Tussen afkeer en fascinatie: culturele hispanofobie en hispanofilie in de negentiende eeuw’, Jacob van Lennep-lezing,  SPUI 25, Amsterdam.
• Rodríguez Pérez, Y. (invited speaker) (24-6-2022). ‘The past as warning through word and image: the transnational case of a Dutch illustrated broadsheet (1598)’, UvA Webinar History in Conflict (organized by Justyna Wubs-Mrozewicz).
• Rodríguez Pérez, Y. (invited speaker) (27-5-2022). Invited Panelist in roundtable, ‘Transculturality: an Operational Concept in Europe?’ , Universitá La Sapienza, Rome.
• Rodríguez Pérez, Y. (invited speaker) (17-2-2022). Guest speaker and panelist at presentation ‘De Zwijger. De Biografie van Willem van Oranje’ by René van Stipriaan (winner Libris Geschiedenis Prijs 2022/ Libris History Prize 2022), SPUI 25, Amsterdam.
• Rodríguez Pérez, Y. (keynote speaker) (1-12-2021). ‘Perspectivas de investigación alrededor de la leyenda negra en un contexto europeo’, Jornadas Doctorales del programa de Doctorado en Artes y Humanidades 2021 (online event), Universidad de Cádiz.
• Rodríguez Pérez, Y. (invited speaker) (18-11-2021). ’Don Carlos en el Norte: renegociaciones inglesas y neerlandesas de pricipios del XIX’, International Conference 'Grises, sombras y reflejos de la Leyenda Negra en las letras españolas (siglos 18-20)', Universidad de Córdoba.
• Rodríguez Pérez, Y. (invited speaker) (4-10-2021). ‘Don Quichot als roman en bestseller’, HOVO-course ‘Don Quichot: Heden en verleden van een universele klassieker’, HOVO (Senior Education) , Instituto Cervantes, Utrecht.
• Rodríguez Pérez, Y. (speaker) (22-4-2021). Creating and Recreating the Dutch Golden Age: Literary Hispanophobia and Hispanophilia, Renaissance Society of America (online).
• Rodríguez Pérez, Y. (speaker) (10-1-2021). 'Nineteenth-Century Dutch Literary History as a Mirror of Globalization'in Session 'Global Dutch', Modern Language Association Conference, Toronto (MLA 2021, online).
•  Rodríguez Pérez, Y. (invited speaker) (14-1-2020). 'On "El Perro del Hortelano /The Dog in the Manger" by Lope de Vega', "Going back to the Golden Age. Portraying Dutch & Spanish Masters on the canvas in motion", Amsterdam, Netherlands.
•  Rodríguez Pérez, Y. (speaker) (9-1-2020). ‘Reimagining the Dutch Golden Age, 1560-1720’ (Spanish perspective)’, Modern Language Association Conference (MLA 2020), Seattle, United States.
•  Rodríguez Pérez, Y. (speaker) (7-11-2019). ‘On the transnational peregrination of Early-Modern Netherlandish Pamphlets: A remarkable anti-Spanish case’, International Conference Worlding the Low Countries, London, United Kingdom.
• Rodríguez Pérez, Y. (invited speaker) (26-9-2019). ‘Belittling Spain. Hispanophobia and the Mirror Image of Greatness’. International Workshop Size Matters! Institute of International Affairs. Centre for Small States Studies, University of Iceland, Reykjavik.
•  Rodríguez Pérez, Y. (invited speaker) (7-6-2019). ‘Negotiating the South through auto-exoticism: digressions on the Spanish case’. Colloque Inventions du Sud. Quand le Sud construit le Sud, quand le Sud construit le Nord, quand le Sud se construit comme Nord... Université Paris Nanterre.
• Rodríguez Pérez, Y. (invited speaker)  (29-4-2019). ‘Los Países Bajos y España: vidas cortesanas, mentalidades’, Programa de Doctorado del IUHS (UVa): Europa y el mundo atlántico: poder, cultura y sociedad. Departamento de Historia, Universidad de Valladolid.
• Rodríguez Pérez, Y. (invited speaker) (29-4-2019). ‘Como un árbol demasiado frondoso para ser podado’: literatura española del Siglo de Oro en historias de la li teratura inglesas del siglo XIX, en Programa de Doctorado (UVa y Usal): Estudios ingleses avanzados: lenguas y culturas en contacto, Departamento de Inglés, Universidad de Valladolid.
• Rodríguez Pérez, Y. (invited speaker) (05-03-2019).'¿Rebelión o resistencia?  Perspectivas y estrategias neerlandesas del conflicto'. Conference series Europa en desorden. Alborotos, revueltas y revoluciones en el siglo XVII. Universidad de Valencia, Valencia
• Rodríguez Pérez, Y. (invited speaker) (11-12-2018). 'On Mixed feelings. Literary Hispanophilia and Hispanophobia in England and the Netherlands in the Early Modern period and the nineteenth century', Colloquium Amsterdam Centre for the Study of the Golden Age, Amsterdam, University of Amsterdam.
• Rodríguez Pérez, Y. (invited speaker) (22-11-2018). ‘De Spaanse herinnering aan de Tachtigjarige Oorlog’, Public Lecture in the series De Tachtigjarige Oorlog: Onze herinnering, Rijksmuseum Amsterdam & Instituto Cervantes.
• Rodríguez Pérez, Y. (invited speaker) (1-11-2018). 'Vriend en Vijand. De 19de eeuwse visie op de Spaanse culturele invloed tijdens de Gouden Eeuw’, Vrienden en vijanden.Nederlanders en Spanjaarden tijdens de Tachtigjarige Oorlog (1568-1648)- Hispanofilie en Hispanofobie hand in hand. Utrecht, Instituto Cervantes.
• Rodríguez Pérez, Y. (invited speaker) (27-10-2018). Nacht van de Geschiedenis 2018 Rijksmuseum - Public Debate: De Tachtigjarige oorlog door verschillende ogen, Rijksmuseum Amsterdam.
• Rodríguez Pérez, Y. (speaker) (19-9-2018). ‘A work of this description the nation certainly wanted’: Charles Dibdin’s and George Henry Lewes’ literary histories and Spain', International Conference Cultural Mobilization (Study Platform on Interlocking Nationalisms), Amsterdam, University of Amsterdam.
• Rodríguez Pérez, Y. (invited speaker) (22-8-2018). ‘Spanje rond 1900: een identiteitscrisis’., Historisch Café, Amsterdam.
• Rodríguez Pérez, Y. (invited speaker) (14-6-2018). ‘Covering the skeletons with flesh and blood of their own creation: Spanish Golden Age theater in English and Dutch nineteenth- century literary histories’, International Conference - 'Mixed Feelings. Literary Hispanophilia and Hispanophobia in England and the Netherlands in the Early Modern Period and in the Nineteenth Century', Amsterdam, Netherlands.
• Rodríguez Pérez, Y. (invited speaker) (2-5-2018). 'Spanje tijdens de Tachtigjarige Oorlog, aversie en fascinatie hand in hand ', Orde van den Prince, The Hague.
• 'The Janus-faced translator: (pseudo) translating the Spanish enemy in the Dutch Republic', Panel ‘Translation and Knowledge Formation in the Early Modern Netherlands’, Annual Conference Renaissance Society of America 2018, New Orleans, 22 March 2018 (speaker).
• 'On the (mis) use of history', public debate 'What's next for Spain and Catalonia?', SPUI, Amsterdam, 23 November 2017 (invited speaker).
• 'Spain: a 'small' country? ', International symposium' Size Matters! : Towards a New Research Agenda for Small State Studies, 1814-present day', Universiteit van Amsterdam, Amsterdam, 26 November 2017 (invited speaker)
• ‘Like a tree too luxuriant to be pruned’: Spanish Golden Age theater in English nineteenth- century literary histories’, International Conference  'AIR2017: Anglo-Iberian Relations, from the Medieval to the Modern', Parador de Zafra (Spain), 19 october 2017 (keynote lecture)
• 'Hispanophobia and Hispanophilia in the Literary Dutch Republic', International conference 'The 17 provinces of the Low Countries and the Iberian Peninsula: New perspectives and methodologies', Rijksuniversitiet Groningen & ForSEADiscovery (Marie Curie Action), Groningen, 28 September 2017 (invited lecture)
• 'Un leopardo no puede cambiar sus manchas': La Leyenda negra en los Países Bajos’ Seminario de Pensamiento y Ciencia Contemporáneos’  CSIC (Centro Superior de Investigaciones Científicas), Madrid, 20 June 2017.
• 'The Dutch Republic: the duality of cultural exchange'. Symposium ‘Cultural Exchange’, ‘Cultural Dynamics’, ‘Transnationality’, ‘Translation’ . International aspects of the Literature and Culture of the Low Countries, Huygens Instituut, Amsterdam, 19 May 2017  (invited lecture)
• 'Mixed feelings. Literary Hispanophilia and Hispanophobia in England and the Netherlands in the Early Modern period and the nineteenth century''. Centre for Translating Cultures Seminars, University of Exeter, Exeter, 8 March 2017 (invited lecture)
• ‘Un Don Quijote Protestante: recepción en los Países Bajos del Quijote del siglo XVIII’. 400 años de Cervantes: La interpretación de su obra y su legado en los Países Bajos (Spanish Embassy and ASOHA, Theatre Branoul, The Hague, 20 October 2016  (invited lecture)
• ‘The Emblematic Enemy. The international success of an anti-Spanish pamphlet’. Workshop The visual language and representation of the Eighty Years’ War. Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, 16 September 2016 (invited lecture)
• ‘King Salomon and the chosen people of Israel: Religion and Identity in Early Modern Spain and the Low Countries’’, Conference And you shall unto me a kingdom of priests, a Holy Nation’: Chosen Peoples from the Bible to Daesh Ertegun House & TORCH (The Oxford Research Centre), University of Oxford, Oxford, 20 June 2016 (invited lecture)
• ‘Entre Historia y ficción. Alejandro Farnesio en el teatro del Siglo de oro’. Alejandro Farnesio en los Países Bajos. Imagen, Artes y Letras. Fundación Carlos de Amberes, Madrid, 14 June 2016 (invited lecture)
• 'Over nationale stereotypen en hardnekkige etiketten in historisch perspectief'. Conference Etiketten plakken en verwijderen-het migratiediscours en de neerlandistiek, Maatschappij der Nederlandse letterkunde, Leiden, Leiden Universiteit, 22 April 2016 (invited lecture)
• 'Over Hispanophobia en hispanophilia in de vroegmoderne tijd’. Departement geschiedenis, Masterseminarie, Universiteit Leuven, Leuven, 11 March 2016 (invited lecture)
• 'Las claves de la leyenda negra', Seminario Internacional Permanente, Universidad de Murcia / Casa Municipal de Cultura de Yecla, Murcia, 12 January 2016 (invited lecture)
• ‘A call to arms. War and the Justification of War in Spanish and Dutch Golden Age Theatre’, International conference War and Peace in Early Modern Literature and Culture, Queen’s University, Belfast, 26 November 2015. (Keynote lecture)
• ‘Invirtiendo y reinvirtiendo la Leyenda Negra en el teatro áureo: el Don Carlos de Jiménez de Enciso frente al de cañizares’. International Symposium The Black Legend staged. Anti-Spanish Prejudice(s) in Golden Age Theatre/ La leyenda negra en el crisol de la comedia: el teatro del Siglo de Oro frente a los estereotipos antihispánicos, Amsterdam, Universiteit van Amsterdam, 1 October 2015.
• Invited speaker at the Expert meeting REAH (Red Europea de Asociaciones de Hispanistas), 60th Conference AHGBI (Association of Hispanists of Great Britain and Ireland), Exeter, University of Exeter, 13-15 april 2015.
• ‘Defining the nation, Defending the nation: The Spanish Apologetic Discourse during the Twelve Years Truce (1609-1621)’. International Conference The Roots of Nationalism. National Identity Formation in Early Modern Europe 1600-1815. Radboud Universiteit Nijmegen, 22 January 2015.
• ‘Spanje en Europa aan het einde van de negentiende eeuw: aversie en aantrekkingskracht, in de serie Spanjes worsteling met de moderniteit, Hoger Onderwijs voor Ouderen (HOVO, Education for the Elderly) and Instituto Cervantes, Utrecht, 19 January 2015 (guest lecture)
• ‘Traduciendo al enemigo español’. Círculo Hispánico las Lanzas, Breda, 12 December 2014 (guest lecture)
• ‘Un laberinto más engañoso que el de Creta’: leyenda negra y memoria en la Antiapología de Pedro Cornejo (1581) contra Guillermo de Orange’ in: International Symposium Spain before her critics: keys to the Black legend / España ante sus críticos: Claves de la Leyenda Negra, Universität Basel, 2-3 October 2014.
• Invited speaker at the experts’ roundtable Symposium 1914-2014: ‘The Black legend’ – then and now, the Institute of Historical Research (IHR), University of London, School of Advanced Study, London 27 September 2014.
• ‘Los Estudios Hispánicos en los Países Bajos y Bélgica: Educación e Investigación’.   Jornadas ‘Hispanismos Europeos’, Ecole Normale Superior (ENS), Lyon, 13-14 June 2014 (guest lecture)
• ‘The Spanish Apology: Contesting the Spanish Black legend’. European Studies Research seminar, Universiteit van Amsterdam, 22 May 2014 (guest lecture)
• ‘De Nederlandse Opstand in de Spaanse literatuur’, in series De Spaanse Gouden Eeuw: Heroïek en Drama, Hoger Onderwijs voor Ouderen (HOVO) and Instituto Cervantes, Utrecht, 20 januari 2014 (guest lecture)
• ‘Don Quichot en de Spaanse literatuur’ in serie De Spaanse Gouden Eeuw: Heroïek en Drama, Hoger Onderwijs voor Ouderen (HOVO) and Instituto Cervantes, Utrecht, 13 januari 2014 (guest lecture)
•  ‘Un Don Quijote protestante: poesía panfletaria en la Holanda del siglo XVIII’, Congreso Internacional ‘Recreaciones Quijotescas y Cervantinas en la poesía y el ensayo’. GRISO, Universidad de Navarra, Pamplona, 12 december 2013 (guest lecture)
• ‘Don Quijote, een eeuwige held’. Culturele Zondagen, Instituto Cervantes, Utrecht, 3 november 2013 (guest lecture)
• 'Traducción y pseudotraducción en la época moderna. Un ejemplo hispano-neerlandés del siglo XVII'. In: Jornada de Traductores de Español. Utrecht, 31 mei 2013 (guest lecture).
• 'Formando la leyenda negra: la Apología de Guillermo de Orange (1581) y la Anti-Apología de Pedro de Cornejo (1581)'. Deutscher Hispanistentag/ 19 Congreso de la Asociación Alemana de Hispanistas, Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster, 21 maart 2013.
• 'Sobre el trasvase cultural entre España y los Países Bajos. imitación y emulación en prosa'. Instituto de Estudios Hispánicos, Antwerpen, 2 maart 2013 (guest lecture).
• 'Nederland en de Gouden Eeuw: De eerste fase van de Tachtigjarige Oorlog'. Collegedag Nederland en de Gouden Eeuw,  geoorganiseerd door Het Historisch Nieuwsblad. Tropenmuseum, Amsterdam, 8 februari 2013 (guest lecture).
• ‘Over the power of Money and the King’s of Spain son-in- law:  Spanish Golden Age satire models in 21st century internet satire’. International Conference, Satire Across Borders. Utrecht University, 18 januari 2013.
•  'William of Orange: The Embodiment of the Dutch Enemy' . International Congress Fascination for the Foe: Self and Other in the Dutch and Spanish Golden Age . UvA, Rijksmuseum, Scheepvaartmuseum,  Amsterdam, 20 september 2012 (guest lecture)
•  'Op Spaanse leest geschoeid. Het verleden in zeventiende-eeuwse romans'. Congres Werkgroep Zeventiende Eeuw  Het vaderlands verleden in de zeventiende eeuw . Universiteit Leiden, 25 augustus 2012.                 
• 'Muiterij op het Spaanse toneel van de Gouden eeuw: fictie en werkelijkheid'. Symposium Oorlogsliteratuur: verbeelding, herinnering en identiteit, ca. 1600-1850 . Radboud Universitiet Nijmegen, 1 juni 2012   (guest lecture)
• 'Van Álvarez tot Reverte. Over de Spaanse beeldvorming van de Nederlanden'. Vereniging Spaanse Graven, Hattem, 8 april 2012 (guest lecture)
• 'The adventures of a Spanish Amsterdammer: nation-building and pseudo-translation in a 17th-century Dutch novel'. International Congress Translation and National Images. The Low Countries Conference 2011  (Lessius Antwerpen/ Amsterdam). Antwerpen, 17 november 2011.
• 'De Amsterdamse Spanjaard: een zeventiende-eeuwse roman als voorbeeld van 'cultural transfer' tussen Spanje en de Republiek'. Amsterdam Centrum voor de Studie van de Gouden Eeuw, Universiteit van Amsterdam, 19 mei 2011 (guest lecture)
• 'Self and Other in History and Historiography: Spanish Sources'. Gastlezing voor MA-cursus 'Imagining the Self and the Other'.   Universiteit Utrecht, 2 maart 2011 (guest lecture)
• 'De Spaanse blik'. De Republiek in een tijd van vorsten , Bonifatius College, Utrecht, 11 november 2011 (guest lecture)
• 'De Amsterdamse Spanjaard : influencias quevedianas y montalbanas en una novela neerlandesa'. Internationaal Congres Recepción y recreación: culturas y literaturas hispánicas en el Benelux . IV Congreso de la Asociación de Hispanistas del Benelux (AHBx), Radboud Universiteit Nijmegen, 21 oktober 2010 (guest lecture)
• (Met Herman Pleij) 'De cultuur- en mentaliteitsverschillen tussen Spanje en de Nederlanden van de Tachtigjarige Oorlog tot in de moderne tijd', KuiperArnhem, Bouw en Ontwikkeling, Arnhem, 7 oktober 2010 (guest lecture)
• 'El teatro histórico de Lope de Vega y las Guerras de Flandes: Marte y Venus de la mano'.   Vakgroep Romaanse Talen - Universiteit Gent, 13 december 2010 (guest lecture)                         
• Un triangulo imagológico en la Edad Moderna: España como azote de Portugal y los Países Bajos. Coloquio Internacional Imagologías Ibéricas: Imágenes de la identidad y de la alteridad en las relaciones luso-españolas , Facultad de Filosofía y Letras, Universidad de Extremadura, Cáceres, Spanje, 28-11-2010 (guest lecture)                              
• Flandes y España en El sol de Breda de Pérez-Reverte y En Flandes se ha puesto el sol  de Eduardo Marquina. ¿Encuentro o desencuentro en la trama histórica?', Derde Congres Asociación de Hispanistas del Benelux: Encuentros, desencuentros, reencuentros: Flandes, Países Bajos y el mundo hispánico en los siglos XVI-XVII , Universiteit Gent, 17 oktober 2008 (guest lecture)
• 'Waar Gebeurd: geschiedenis als toneel'. Studium Generale Universiteit Utrecht,  Reeks 'Waar Gebeurd. Historici aan het woord over geschiedenis als literair genre', Universiteit Utrecht, 30 september 2008 (guest lecture)
• 'G. de Bay, un traductor de Cervantes del siglo XVII como agente de la memoria histórica neerlandesa',  Séptimo Congreso de Historiadores españoles, belgas y neerlandeses: Agentes e identidades en movimiento. España y los Países Bajos, siglos XVI-XVII , Universiteit Gent, 28 september 2007 (guest lecture) 
•  'El perro del Duque de Alba : un reflejo cervantino en la literatura neerlandesa'voor het congres V Centenario del nacimiento del III Duque de Alba Fernando Alvarez de Toledo ), Salamanca,25 oktober 2007.
• 'In the temple of Fame. Alexander Farnese in the Spanish literature and historiography of the Golden Age'. Congres Alexander Farnese and the Low Countries , Nederlands Instituut te Rome en Academia Belgica, Rome, 18 november 2005 (guest lecture)
•  'The Pelican and his ungrateful children. The construction and evolution of the image of Dutch rebelliousness in Golden Age Spain'. Congres The Political Culture of the Revolt of the Netherlands, 1566-1648 , UCLA, Los Angeles, 8 oktober 2005 (guest lecture)
• Spaanse pamfletten over de Tachtigjarige Oorlog:Propaganda en Persuasio in proza en poëzie'. Congres Het lange leven van het pamflet. Boekhistorische,iconografische, literaire en politieke aspecten van pamfletten ca. 1600-1900 . Universiteit Utrecht, 29 april 2005 (guest lecture)
•  'Spel met beelden ten tijde van de Tachtigjarige Oorlog'. Orde van de Prins Den Haag, Afdeling Den Haag, 6 april 2005 (guest lecture)
•  - 'Over de Tachtigjarige Oorlog in Spaanse ogen'. De dag van de Gouden Eeuw - De Tachtigjarige Oorlog en de Gouden Eeuw. Stadsschouwburg Amsterdam, 16 maart 2005. (Ter gelegenheid van de Boekenweek 2005) (guest lecture)
• 'What if Oranje niet was neergeschoten?', Programma Aanslag op Willem van Oranje verijdeld . Museum Het Prinsenhof, Delft, 14 maart 2005. (Ter gelegenheid van de Boekenweek 2005, guest lecture)
• 'Spaanse literaire en historische beelden over de Tachtigjarige oorlog'. Schrijversfestival Overijssel, Steenwijk, 11 maart 2005. (Ter gelegenheid van de Boekenweek 2005, guest lecture)
•  'The Dutch enemy through the eyes of the Spaniards of the Golden Age'. Spiegel vande Lage Landen. Blik van buiten. De Brakke grond' Amsterdam, 2 maart 2005. (Ter gelegenheid van de Boekenweek 2005, (guest lecture )
•    'Flandes, escuelade guerra : Imágenes de los habitantes de los Países Bajos y la Guerra de Ochenta Años desde perspectiva hispánica'. Asociación Belgo-Ibero-Americana , Antwerpen, 15 december 2004 (guest lecture)
•  'Escenas cortesanas de Flandes y el mundo Hispánico: amoríos, política y otras intrigas'/'Hoofse scenes in de Nederlanden en de Spaanstalige wereld: liefdesaffaires, politiek en andere intriges'. De Lage Landen en de Spaanstalige Wereld. Literaire herschepping van degeschiedenis. Instituto Cervantes, Utrecht, 16 november 2004 (guest lecture)
•  'La novela histórica: ¿éxito efímero o logronarrativo?'/ 'De historische roman: tijdelijk succes of literaire vondst?'. De Lage Landen en de Spaanstalige Wereld. Literaire herschepping van de geschiedenis. Instituto Cervantes, Brussel, 8november 2004 (guest lecture)
•  'Wijze Indianen, Barbaarse Hollanders: de beeldvorming van Nederlanders en Indianen in de Spaanse literatuur van de Gouden Eeuw'. De Lage Landen en de Nieuwe Wereld (20 conferentieWerkgroep Zeventiende Eeuw) , Universiteit Leuven, 27 augustus 2004 (guestlecture)  
• 'El enemigo de los Países Bajos:  ¿Hereje, rebelde y pirata?' 50 Jornada Hispánica, Maastricht, 8 mei 2004 (guest lecture)
• 'Leales y traidores, ingeniosos y bárbaros. El enemigo de Flandes en el teatro español del Siglo de Oro'. Colloque International Hauts faitsde guerre et légende noire. Arguments dramatiques sur des themes liant l' Espagne et les Pays- Bas, Béthune, Frankrijk, 25 maart 2004 (guest lecture)              
•  'La guerra de Flandes y los Países Bajos en el teatro del Siglo de Oro'. Curso de verano Españaylos Países Bajos en la Edad Moderna. Fuentes y cultura material,  El Escorial, Spanje, 18 augustus2003 (guest lecture)              
•  'Los neerlandeses en el teatro de la primera fase dela guerra de Flandes (1568-1609)'. Congreso Internacional España y las 17 Provincias de los Países Bajos. Una revisión historiográfica, siglos XVI-XVIII (30 september - 2 oktober 2002).  Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC) enFundación Carlos de Amberes, Madrid, 1 oktober 2002 (guest lecture)

*Partner in POLEMHIS- ‘Comunicación Política, Gestión de la Información y Memoria de los conflictos en la Monarquía Hispánica (1548-1725)’(funded by the AEI [Agencia Estatal de Investigación/State Research Agency, Spain]. PI: Dr Bernardo García García; Departamento de Historia Moderna e Historia Contemporánea, Universidad Complutense de Madrid

(01-09-2021 until 01-09-2025)

* Partner in the Erasmus + Jean Monnet Project 'Transcultural Europe in the Global World' (PI:  Dr Silvia Contarini (Université Paris Nanterre). Other partners: Universitá Roma Sapienza, University of Cagliari, University of Reims, CES Coimbra, University Babes-Bolya, University Charles of Prague)

(01-11-2020 until 01-11-2022)

https://www.parisnanterre.fr/actualites-international/projet-jean-monnet-du-programme-erasmus-selection-du-projet-transcultural-europe-in-the-global-world--978371.kjsp

* MIXED FEELINGS. Literary Hispanophilia and Hispanophobia in England and the Netherlands in the Early Modern period and in the nineteenth century (NWO-VIDI Talent Programme 2014 - 276-30-011) (PI)

(1-11-2015 until 01-09-2021)

https://www.nwo.nl/en/calls/nwo-talent-programme

Current framings of the economic crisis are marked by negative prejudices, depicting the southern European states as corrupt. National characterizations can endure for centuries. In Early Modern Europe, the Spaniards were the most hated nation. Their reputation was tainted by a Black Legend of Spanish cruelty and lust for power. This anti-hispanism is considered central to the process of European proto-national identity formation. It shaped the cultural and political self-definition of both the Netherlands and England, two nations with overlapping histories regarding Spain. However, this hispanophobia did not exclude an undeniable fascination with Golden Age Spanish culture, most visible within the field of literature.

This project problematizes the European paradigm shift around 1800, when after centuries of predominant hispanophobia, a discourse of romantic hispanophilia materialized. The Duke of Alba and the Spanish Armada made way for Carmen and Don Juan. This project will demonstrate how the two narratives of literary hispanophobia and hispanophilia co-existed in the Early Modern period and re-emerged in the nineteenth century, when national identities and literary canons consolidated the Golden Age as the key period in the national-historical consciousness.

The research consists of three interrelated subprojects: PhD’s 1 and 2 will chart this literary ambivalence towards Spain for the Early Modern Period (1550-1700). How this ambivalence was adapted and negotiated in the nineteenth century will be explored in subproject 3 (project leader). This project breaks new ground in four ways: 1) It studies the dynamics of aversion/fascination for a dominant foreign culture across time; 2) it links these dynamics to narratives of nationhood using a comparative perspective; 3) it methodologically bridges the fields of Imagology, Translation Studies and Cultural Transfer; 4) It connects the process of proto-national constructions with the formation of modern nationalism by combining Early Modern research with research into the nineteenth century.

PhD's:

* Rena Bood, PhD

'Between Hispanophobia and Hispanophilia. The Spanish fascination in English and Dutch 17th-century literature' (Thesis defended 01-05-2020) Between Hispanophobia and Hispanophilia (uva.nl)

* Sabine Waasdorp, PhD

'Shaping Spanishness. Literary Hispanophobia and Hispanophilia in England and the Netherlands, ca. 1554-1621' (Thesis defended 18-09-2023)

Shaping Spanishness. Literary Hispanophobia and Hispanophilia in England and the Netherlands, ca. 1554-1621 - Amsterdam Institute for Humanities Research (AIHR) - University of Amsterdam (uva.nl)

*The Black Legend and the Spanish Identity in Golden Age Spanish Theater (1580-1665) - NWO- Internationalisation in the Humanities 2012 (236-30-009) (PI)

(1-1-2013 until 29-02-2016)

https://www.nwo.nl/en/projects/236-30-009-0

The Black Legend is the perception/theory that Spaniards are especially tyrannical, cruel, intolerant, lustful, and greedy people. These powerful stereotypes prevent an accurate understanding of Early-Modern, and even contemporary Spain.

This project will study the Black Legend as an Early-Modern cultural dialogue, one in which Spanish intellectuals saw foreign prejudices as challenges that they needed to answer. We shall approach the Black Legend from an interdisciplinary angle by combining literary studies with theory on nation building, propaganda, and identity forming.In particular, we examine how the Black Legend influenced the Spanish self-conception during the Golden Age: how Golden Age Spanish writers received those ideas and how they used theater to respond to them, how commercial and court plays contributed to a nation-building process, and how even a nation already previously constructed, such as Spain, adopted foreign perceptions to reshape its own self-image.

Partners: prof. dr. Antonio Sánchez Jiménez, (Université de Neuchâtel); Dr. Alexander Samson (University College London); prof. dr. Harm Den Boer, (Universität Basel); prof. dr. Ignacio Arellano, (Universidad de Navarra); ; prof. dr. Cristoph Strosetzki, (Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster)

Webpagina:  https://www.ucl.ac.uk/black-legend

* Cultural Narratives of Crisis and Renewal (CRIC) Marie Curie RISE (Research and Innovative Staff Exchange) Excellent Science Horizon 2020

(June 2015-january 2019)

Project Coordinators: Dr Jorge Catalá and Dr Patricia Olliart, Newcastle University.

Beneficiary universities: University of Amsterdam, Newcastle University, University of Lleida and University of Valencia [[ Amsterdam Task Team on “Disinherited Literature”: Dr Pablo Valdivia (Coordinator) and Dr Yolanda Rodríguez Pérez (researcher)]] 

Partner universities: Universidad Nacional 3 de febrero de Buenos Aires, Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú, Universidad Nacional de Córdoba and Universidad Austral de Chile.

For a project description see: Cultural Narratives of Crisis and Renewal | CRIC Project | H2020 | CORDIS | European Commission (europa.eu)

* NWO PhD position (Onderzoeker in Opleiding, OIO) –April 1998 – February 2003 (own project: 'De Tachtigjarige Oorlog in Spaanse ogen. De Nederlanden in Spaanse historische en literaire teksten (circa 1548 – 1673') Universiteit Utrecht, Faculty of Humanities, Department of Dutch.