Jo Tollebeek, born in Mechelen, Belgium, in 1960. Ph.D. from the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven. Professor of Cultural History since 1750 at the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven.
KB Fellow (1 September 2010 – 31 January 2011)
European Intellectual History of the Nineteenth Century
In many ways modern scientific disciplines began to take shape during the 19th century in both the humanities and the social sciences. This formation can be looked at from different angles. What was the political and social context that allowed these disciplines to arise? In what sense was professionalism an issue and how did the process work out? Or which epistemological changes were at the basis of these new sciences? These themes are all subject to enquiry. However, the genesis of modern science can also be looked at from a different perspective: that of the scientific infrastructure – libraries and collections, periodicals and editions of sources, biographical dictionaries, repertories, catalogues and encyclopaedia. In short, items that have not only given modern science a scholarly, but also an almost tangible character. This raises a number of questions: which traditions have lived on in this ‘new’ infrastructure? Who were the originators of this infrastructure? In what sense were these transnational enterprises?
You can follow the progress of Jo Tollebeek on his weekly blog (in Dutch).
J. Tollebeek and L. Nys, The City on the Hill. A History of Leuven University, 1968-2005 (Leuven: Leuven University Press, 2006).
J. Tollebeek, Fredericq & Zonen, Een antropologie van de moderne geschiedwetenschap (Amsterdam: Bert Bakker, 2008).
J. Tollebeek, G. Buelens, G. Deneckere, Ch. Kesteloot and S. de Schaepdrijver (eds.), België, een parcours van herinnering, vol. 1: Plaatsen van geschiedenis en expansie, and vol. 2: Plaatsen van tweedracht, crisis en nostalgie (Amsterdam: Bert Bakker, 2008).
http://www.arts.kuleuven.be/culturalhistory/index.html