Mirjam Hoijtink (1968) is ass. prof. at ACW (dept. of European Cultural History) and program director of MA Museum Studies (full English program from 2015/2016). She is a member of two research schools: ARTES (Amsterdam Regional Transnational and European Studies) and ASHMES (Amsterdam School for Heritage and Memory Studies); and coördinator of the research group The East & Europe.
Since her MA thesis at archaeology (VU Amsterdam) she developed a strong affinity with political and ideological dimensions of archaeological collections in museums. After having worked as a museum professional she returned to university. Hoijtink became doctor at the University of Amsterdam 2009 (Promotor Prof. dr. W. den Boer). An adaptation and translation of her dissertation is published as Exhibiting the Past. Caspar Reuvens and the Museums of Antiquity in Europe 1800-1840 (Brepols, 2012). Reviewed in Oxford Journal of the History of Collections (see downloads)
Hoijtink currently works at ‘Islam as an Issue’ in 19 th and 20 th century Dutch museums of art and antiquity in a European context. Whilst the acquisition of material culture from antiquity (Greek, Byzantine, Hindu-Buddhist) was legitimized as being ‘saved’ from Muslim rulers, the steady growth of Islamic collections lead to various exhibition narratives up until the present. These can be explained by different types of imperialism, perceptions of Ottoman rule, and in the Netherlands: the colonial rule in former Dutch Indies. In collaboration with Luit Mols and Charlotte Huygens the research will be framed in an exhibition 2018-2019, 'Islam & the Low Lands (Working title)
Research interests are merely related from the period 1780, Museums of Antiquities, the biography of collections, European academic networks, Islam, World Heritage and the Muslim World.
As a lecturer Hoijtink encourages to develop an international museumhistorical view in the field of Museumstudies, also seeking to explain that insight in the inclusiveness of 'universal' museums in the first half of the 19th century can be helpful to develop and understand a vision on globalism and museums today. Next to her work as a scholar, lecturer and exhibition maker she publishes on exhibitions in 'het Financieele Dagblad' (Dutch Financial Time)
BA courses: guest lectures on reception of Islamic art & culture, f.i. Presenting Under-Represented Histories (coördination Prof. dr. Mia Lerm Hayes Art History dept.)
Archaeology, Museums and the Public (in collaboration with VU) coördination dr. Gert Jan van Wijngaarden
MA Museum Studies:
MA theses
Museum Concepts & Narratives (2015-2016)
Museums and the Mobility of Artefacts (2015-2016)
International MA Classes: Heritage, Memory & Museums- UvA MA class in National Museum of Jordan Amman, March 2015
Excursions:
Istanbul november 2014: Nationalism and Cosmopolitanism in Istanbul heritage & museums (with MA Heritage Studies
Jeruzalem nov. 2013: 'Competing Narratives in Israels heritage sites and museums' (with MA Heritage Studies)
Londen okt. 2012: 'Filantropie, Mecenaat en de hedendaagse financiële crisis in de cultuurwereld', met afsluitende round table Nederlandse cultuurfondsen.
New York, okt. 2009: 'Community & Participation'.
St. Peterburg, mei 2008, 'Dutch Travellers and Russian Collections', i.s.m. NIP
Research Seminar 'Signalementen':
2008-2009: De Artis Bibliotheek. Een onderzoek naar de mogelijkheden voor musealisering met behoud van functie.
2009-2010: Gipsen Afgietsels. Een 20ste eeuwse waarderingsgeschiedenis en een 21ste eeuwse come back.
2010-2011: 'Verzamelen, Ordenen en Presenteren van Islam in Westerse Musea'- begin van cultuurhistorische biografieën van collecties Rijksmuseum Amsterdam en Tropenmuseum A'dam
Publications
'Antiquity & Conflict: Some Historical Remarks on a Matter of Selection', in: Kila, J. and J.A. Zeidler: Cultural Heritage in the Crosshairs Brill, Leiden/Boston 2013 [peer reviewed]
Exhibiting the Past. Caspar Reuvens and the Museums of Antiquity in Europe (1800-1840), with a forword of Ian Jenkins, Brepols, Turnhout 2012 [peer reviewed]
Relevant articles:
'Once Were Romans. Augustus' 2000ste sterfjaar in Rome en Parijs' to be published 2015,
'Schrijven met Licht. Fotografie uit het Midden-Oosten', in De internet Gids, 29 maart 2013
'Mercantile Spirit and Artistic Appreciation. A museum historical approach to collections of Islamic Art and Culture' , to be published 2014/2015 ( Collecting the Muslim World)
'Het Museum van de 21 ste eeuw en de Cultuurgeschiedenis van de Oudheid', in Allard Pierson Magazine, okt. 2012
Fragments & Frictions, 'Enkele gedachten over een cultuurhistorische bestudering van oudheden' (reflections on a culturalhistorical approach to antiquity) Reflections on an exhibition in 2010. Erfgoedlab # '2, Allard Pierson Museum, nov. 2011
'Een Museum van Oudheden in Amsterdam', in: l'Oeuil excellent , Mededelingenblad Allard Pierson Museum 98-99 april, speciale editie: Feestbundel Robert Lunsingh Scheurleer 2009, 44-47
'Museumarcheologie: nieuw perspectief voor oude verzamelingen', met co-auteur Gert-Jan van Wijngaarden, Tijdschrift Mediterrane Archeologie 41, 2009
'The Urge to exhibit. The Egyptian and Etruscan Museumsin the Vatican at the Dawn of a Nationalist Era in Europe (1815-1840)', in: Fragmenta (Koninklijk Nederlands Instituut Rome) Brepols, (1) 2008, 37-62 ( See PdF via UvA DARE (http://dare.uva.nl/record/294283)
'Omwille van 'de algemeene beschaving der natie'. Caspar Reuvens en het onderwijs in de archeologie', in: Cordfunke, E.H.P. (et al) Loffelijke verdiensten van de archeologie'. C.J.C. Reuvens als grondlegger van de moderne Nederlandse archeologie , Verloren, Hilversum 2007, 73-90.
'Een Rijksmuseum in wording. Het Archaeologisch Cabinet in Leiden onder het directoraat van Caspar Reuvens (1818-1835)', in: De Negentiende Eeuw , jrg.27, nr.4, dec. 2003.
'On the exhibition plans of Greek sculpture at Leiden ', Pharos, Journal of the Netherlands Institute in Athens X (2002), 157-167.
The East & Europe, Research Group at ARTES UvA
announced and past lectures (to be published)
2015:
January 7th: 'Inconvenience and ignorance. Islam in Dutch Museums of Art and Antiquity', in the symposium 'Reconciliation and Restitution', on the occasion of the honorary doctorate of Charlotte van Rappard, Allard Pierson Museum Amsterdam
January 28th:'Islam as an Issue. Dillemma's in 19th century Museums of Antiquity, Amsterdam Centre Middle Eastern Studies Research Convention Program, UvA
March 14th-19th: MA Class Museum & Heritage Studies in Amman (Ministry of Antiquities), Jordan
November 20th: The long 19th century and the exhibition of antique sculpture, in 'Exposer le sculpture', Musée Rodin, Paris
2016:
The East & Europe, conference adjacant to the exhibition 'Encounters with the Orient', UvA Special Collections/ Allard Pierson Museum Amsterdam (organisation and lecture on appreciation Islam in Museum collections)
past:
'Schrijven met Licht. Fotografie uit het Midden Oosten', De internet-Gids 29-3-2013