You will join a team of scholars from the Netherlands, Italy and Suriname, which will explore Botanic Gardens as colonial university heritage. In the last decade, a variety of Botanic Gardens, like universities more broadly, have grappled with their colonial legacies and investigated to what extent they shaped and were shaped by European colonialism. Working with archival materials in the Netherlands and Suriname, you will conduct research into the colonial history of the Utrecht University Botanic Gardens and explore in what ways this institution has contributed to colonial science, including collecting practices and botanical explorations. You will also explore the possible relationship between the UU Botanic Gardens and private traders who introduced plants from all over the world into the early modern and modern Dutch homes, including plants from Suriname and South Africa.

Deadline: 1st April 2025

Contract type: Fixed-term, Full-time

Location: Utrecht, The Netherlands

Salary: €4,537