Jury prize for 'Literatuur, landschap en ecologie'

All things of value are defenseless ("Alles van waarde is weerloos"): this line from Lucebert's famous poem is sometimes quoted when talking about the humanities. According to the jury, Marrigje Paijmans and Feike Dietz's course Literature, Landscape and Ecology makes the humanities resilient. The course questions important crises of our time and does so in a trans-historical approach, in which past and present are inextricably linked. In this way, the course questions its own field while contributing to the development of knowledge in areas traditionally associated with other faculties.

The award-winning course also succeeds in engaging students by having them bring their own material, and having them do a presentation at their own conference. In this way, students also take ownership of this exploration of the boundaries - or lack thereof - of the discipline.

Audience Award goes to Fashion, Culture and Media

The course Fashion, Culture and Media, taught by Marie-Aude Baronian, received the most votes for the Audience Award. Fashion is ubiquitous in our lives, but it is not the first subject one thinks of as an academic subject. By examining it as an interdisciplinary field, analysing it critically, seeing how it relates to history, media and politics, as well as to one's own daily life, Baronian manages to give much depth to what is often considered a superficial subject. The comments of those who nominated the course for the Education Award show a great appreciation for the originality and versatility with which Marie-Aude Baronian has given different humanities perspectives to the subject of fashion.

The nominees

Six courses had a chance to win the Education Award 2024. The shortlist was chosen from 30 courses nominated by students and staff. In addition to the winning courses, these were:

• Critique(s) of Violence - Daniel Loick
• Historical Sources - Shana Zaia and Konstantin Klein
• Islamic Esotericism and its Medieval Legacies - Liana Saif
• Authors in Focus: Contemporary American Writers - Marc Farrant

De jury consisted of:

• Carlos Reijnen - Director College of Humanities (chair)
• Eva Breedveld - Teaching & Learning Centre
• Jan Teurlings - lecturer and Works Council member
• Selin Stefanova - member of the Faculty Student Council

Watch the videos on the other nominated courses below.