The 2025 Erasmus Lectures: "The Early Modern Making of the Refugee: Agents of Humanitarianism"
Date and Time
Location
Agents of Humanitarianism
The growing numbers of displaced minorities in early modern Europe coincided with the rise of support groups that advocated refugee protection, coordinated charitable relief, and shaped public discourse through emerging media. This lecture situates the Dutch Republic at the heart of these transnational solidarity networks, assessing the agency of religious minorities and other stakeholders. In doing so, it interrogates the connections between early modern practices of refugee aid and the development of modern humanitarian cultures.
The 2025 Erasmus Lectures in the History and Civilization of The Netherlands and Flanders, Harvard University.
Speaker: Geert Janssen, University of Amsterdam.
Sponsors: Erasmus Lectureship in the History and Civilization of The Netherlands and Flanders and the Early Modern Workshop in the Department of History, Harvard University.