Research proposal NWA-NWO
Duration: 1st January 2026- 31st December 2031
The Netherlands and former Dutch colonies are home to numerous trauma landscapes: places connected to persecution, oppression, war, slavery, or environmental damage. Think of concentration or transit camps from WWII, plantations in former colonies, references to colonialism, and the gas extraction area in Groningen. These places are associated with collective traumas from the past that still resonate today. How can we analyse past and present and overcome the trauma for the future.
Places of trauma
A wide variety of places can be identified as traumascapes, so how to identify these places. Some of these places have been forgotten, disappeared, or never recognized as significant, say Professor of Landscape Archaeology Jan Kolen and member of the steering committee of LDE Global Heritage and Development (Leiden University) and Assistant Professor of Digital Archaeology Hayley Mickleburgh (University of Amsterdam), who jointly lead the project.
Research to trauma landscapes helps us understand how groups relate to the past and deal with multiple traumas and multifocal narratives. Research is conducted not only on places people have memories of, but also on landscapes where nature itself was targeted for damage or destruction. Furthermore, the team is researching landscapes where the state has intervened due to the exploitation of natural resources, such as gas extraction in Groningen. In these regions, the feeling or marginalization caused by the discussion on repairment of dwelling and monuments. The compensation of nature is not even recognized. Research is also being conducted on trauma landscapes related to colonial history, such as the large-scale deforestation on Bonaire during the colonial period.
Interdisciplinary research
In the six-year project, archaeologists, historians, geographers, landscape architects, psychologists, neuroscientists, and civil society organizations work closely together, using various methods to analyse the past, the current situation and how to deal with this in the future to better understand each other's feelings and perspectives and use co creative methods and tools. In this way, the research team aims to make trauma sites more accessible and inclusive.
Future of traumascapes
Based on insights from the past, we may be able to deal with these kinds of places differently in the future once a conflict has ended. In this research proposal, we want to investigate how we can deal with the negative past, how groups were at conflict and how to overcome. They experience landscapes very differently and want to deal with them differently, from preserving to destroying." We hope to bring these people closer together and offer alternatives through science. The debate doesn't always have to be polarized.
Announcements:
https://www.tudelft.nl/2025/bk/bouwkunde-betrokken-bij-drienwa-
projecten-in-orc-ronde-2024
https://www.eur.nl/nieuws/eur-onderdeel-van-nwa-orc-subsidie-voor-traumascapes-project
involved partners:
Jan Kolen
Hayley Mickleburgh
Maaike de Waal
Gerdy Verschuure
Eric Luiten
Stijn Reijnders
Robbert-Jan Adriaansen
Naomi Oosterman
Tina van der Vlies
And others