David de Boer is a lecturer and postdoctoral researcher. His research focuses on migration and cultural memory in the early modern world. Taking a long-term perspective, he is interested in building bridges between early modern and modern studies as well as between European and global history.

After obtaining his BA and MA in history at Utrecht University, David pursued his PhD at the University of Konstanz and Leiden University (joint doctoral program). He was a visiting scholar at the European University Institute, the Leibniz Institute of European History, Harvard University, and UCLA. Before joining UvA he lectured at Leiden University and Utrecht University.

New publications:

The Early Modern Dutch Press in an Age of Religious Persecution: The Making of Humanitarianism (Oxford: Oxford University Press, in press, 2023) open access.

Refugee Politics in Early Modern Europe, edited with Geert Janssen (London: Bloomsbury, in press, 2023) open access.

Rebellion in Early Modern Diplomacy, edited with Monika Barget (Milton Park: Routledge, in press, 2023).

De Vluchtelingenrepubliek: Een Migratiegeschiedenis van Nederland, edited with Geert Janssen (Amsterdam: Uitgeverij Prometheus, in press, 2022) open access.

Revolts and Political Violence in Early Modern Imagery, edited with Malte Griesse and Monika Barget (Leiden, Boston: Brill, 2021) introduction in open access.

David de Boer investigates how people in the past thought about moral obligation, created transnational solidarity networks, and managed migration in a globalizing world.

He is currently developing a research project on migration narratives and the global governance of human mobility between ca. 1650 and 1900. Comparing six migration hubs in the British Empire, the Dutch Empire, and Prussia, it traces how migrants, diplomats, and political stakeholders universalized and transferred local migration narratives to manage human mobility in imperial and metropolitan settings. Investigating the news media, diplomatic correspondence, and state papers of these expansionist polities, the project aims to deepen our understanding of the stories that created our global migration debate.