News | A brief interview with NICA’s director, Pepita Hesselberth
As of the 1st of January 2021, the Netherlands Institute for Cultural Analysis (NICA) is relocated to Leiden University. NICA is the Dutch national research school dedicated to the academic study of contemporary culture from an interdisciplinary, theoretical and critical perspective. The school offers education for research master students and PhD-candidates, and it functions as a professional network of affiliated scholars in all stages of their careers. The new executive team of NICA consists of Pepita Hesselberth (director), Tessa de Zeeuw (manager) and Kim Sommer (office manager). Please find a short interview with the new director below.
An intellectual home
I I have always considered NICA to be my intellectual home in the Netherlands, even well before I became its director. What interests me about the school is that it brings together researchers from many different disciplines and research areas that are often already quite interdisciplinary to begin with (critical theory, continental philosophy, literature, art, media, gender and critical race theory, just to name a few). When I talk about an intellectual home, I am also referring to an ambition: I would like NICA to offer a safe environment for researchers in all phases in their career (from ResMA- and PhD-students to professors), offering them a space to try out new ideas, to set an agenda, and to be able to critically examine contemporary culture in all its complexity. Safe, here, does not necessarily mean uncritical or unanimous. Quite to the contrary: it means to enter into a dialogue, to be challenged, to exchange ideas, to face the complexity of things, to challenge and stimulate each other’s thinking, so that we can learn to understand and analyze our contemporary culture better.
What are NICA’s ambitions (now that it has moved to Leiden)?
In the first place, we wish to continue the marvelous work that is already being done at NICA: to offer (core) courses for ResMA students, to help facilitate conferences, seminars and masterclasses organized for and by our PhDs and colleagues in the field, and to enable our research and researchers to gain visibility and momentum in a national context. One the goals we have set ourselves for the future is to work towards a better distribution of the ResMA and PhD-education across the country, to look into the possibilities for collaborations between affiliated faculties in this regard, so that we can do our name as a national research school, with Leiden as the central hub for the next five years, justice.
What’s in it for the ResMa- and PhD-students, what’s in it for affiliated staff?
Especially for young researchers and PhD’s, it is extremely important to be able to present their work in progress, to be able to engage in a discussion about their work, to develop the necessary skills to do the same within an international environment, and above all, to build a network on which they can call in the future. Another clear focus in the coming years, therefore, will be to revitalize the ResMA and PhD councils, to set up a PhD mentorship, and—in addition to broadening the scope and reach of our ResMA education—to facilitate more targeted education and events for PhDs.
National? How about international?
That’s right. We naturally hope that that the diverse range of events, activities and opportunities that NICA offers thus far gains the international visibility it deserves. But indeed, one of our aims is to look into the possibilities for embedding NICA more firmly in the international consortia of which it takes part. International collaborations are on the agenda!
Anything else?
What I really enjoy about NICA is its bottom-up working: it’s on account of the engagement and initiatives of our academic community that we can offer such a wonderful and diverse program at NICA. What makes NICA research stand out, is that it is often a little ‘quirky’; it is research with a high-risk high-gain character; it is contemporary, which means that it always runs the risk of being overhauled by time. Nica brings together research on topics that are important to us because they touch on the social, economic, political and societal heart of our existence, but also: into matters that move us, that make us think. It is our hope and aim to continue to facilitate such research and thinking in the years to come, to find new and strengthening existing partnerships at local, national and international level. And I know that I also speak on behalf of Tessa and Kim when I say: we are looking forward to it! Do not hesitate to reach out and get in touch!
Banner: Dubbelportret – John Hesselberth