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The Netherlands: Thirty Years of Crisis: The Disputed Value of Dutch Arts and Humanities Research 1982–2012

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Abstract

Dutch humanities has been in a crisis. In the period this chapter covers there were no less than three Grand National Commissions concerned with the Dutch humanities survival. At the heart of this crisis has lain a fundamental tension in the public value of arts and humanities, dating back to the 1980s where universities were churning out many more humanities graduates than the labour market could reasonably absorb. But Dutch humanities research was in some areas an almost unique knowledge repository carrying national curatorial responsibility. Policy-makers were not always quick to recognise the ways in which publics were becoming increasingly enmeshed into academic research practices. This chapter illustrates how the search to deal with tensions drives an institutionalisation process that affects Dutch humanities research to this day.

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Benneworth, P., Gulbrandsen, M., Hazelkorn, E. (2016). The Netherlands: Thirty Years of Crisis: The Disputed Value of Dutch Arts and Humanities Research 1982–2012. In: The Impact and Future of Arts and Humanities Research. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-40899-0_5

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