Dr. Peter van Dam is a Senior Lecturer in history at the University of Amsterdam and the academic director of the Research Master in History. His research explores how citizens have translated their concerns into initiatives to shape their societies. He has been particularly interested in the intersection between religion and civil society. His current research focuses on the intertwined histories of consumer societies and sustainability.
He coordinates the research group 'Environment & Society: contestation & governance', which explores how we have thought about the relations between humans and nature, and how people campaigned and negotiated around environmental issues and climate change.
Selected publications
- 'The Age of Interdependence: Varieties of Sustainability in the Low Countries during the Twentieth Century' (2022) [special issue BMGN/LCHR].
- 'Trajectories of Global Solidarity: Fair Trade Activism Since the 1960s' (2019) [forum Contemporary European History]
- Wereldverbeteraars: een geschiedenis van fair trade (Amsterdam 2018)
- Een calvinistisch land? Religie in Nederland (Amsterdam 2018)
- “In search of the citizen-consumer: fair trade activism in the Netherlands since the 1960s”, BMGN – Low Countries Review 132 (2017) 3, 139-166
- 'The Rise of Consumer Society' (2017) [met Joost Jonker, special issue BMGN/LCHR]
- Achter de zuilen. Op zoek naar religie in naoorlogs Nederland (Amsterdam 2014) [uitgegeven met James Kennedy en Friso Wielenga]
- Onbehagen in de polder. Nederland in conflict sinds 1795 (Amsterdam 2014) [uitgegeven met Bram Mellink en Jouke Turpijn].
- "Vervlochten geschiedenis. Hoe histoire croisée de natiestaat bedwingt", Tijdschrift voor Geschiedenis 125 (2012) 1, 97-109.
- Staat van verzuiling. Over een Nederlandse mythe (Amsterdam 2011).
- Religion und Zivilgesellschaft. Christliche Traditionen in der niederländischen und deutschen Arbeiterbewegung (Münster 2010).
(See 'Publications' for a complete overview of published work)
Research and Education
Main topics:
- Sustainabilty and Sustainable Consumption
- History of Consumer Society
- Transnational civil society
- Religion in Western Europe since 1789
- Theory and methods of history