معرفی
Nathanje Dijkstra is a Cultural History Researcher and PhD Candidate at Utrecht University's Department of History and Art History within the Faculty of Humanities. Based at the Research Institute for History and Art History, she works from Drift 6 in Utrecht and specializes in Body History, History and Theory, and Disability Studies.
Dr. Dijkstra began her PhD research in September 2017 with funding from the Dutch Organization for Scientific Research (NWO). She completed her Research Master's in History at the University of Amsterdam in 2015 and has worked as a junior researcher for Dr. Willemijn Ruberg and as a lecturer in History and Language and Culture Studies Bachelor's programmes.
Her research examines how incapacity for work was historically constructed through the implementation of the Ongevallenwet (Accidents Act), the first Dutch social security law (1901-1967). Rather than treating disability as an individual problem, she analyzes it as a socially constructed classification produced through interactions between government officials, medical experts, and disabled workers. Her work challenges traditional welfare state historiography by revealing how classifications like disability are not discovered but actively created.
Dr. Dijkstra's publications span cultural history, disability studies, and the history of social security systems, with recent work applying praxiographic approaches to historical disability research. Her scholarship connects 19th century phenomena like freak shows to modern social security systems, demonstrating historical continuities in how society classifies bodily differences.
She actively contributes to teaching in Utrecht University's History and Language and Cultural Studies Bachelor's programs, bringing her research expertise into the classroom. Her work is affiliated with Utrecht University's Institutions for Open Societies (IOS) initiative, specifically within the 'Future of Work' research theme.
