Willem de Haan

Willem de Haan serves as a Visiting Professor in the Department of Criminology within the Faculty of Law at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. His academic profile reflects a unique interdisciplinary trajectory, connecting criminological theory with historical and cultural studies through the lens of the Holocaust and tango music/dance.

Research Interests:

• Criminology and Penal Theory: Focusing on redress, punishment, and penal abolition, as evidenced in his 2023 book "The Politics of Redress".
• Corporate Crime: Investigating legal harassment against researchers studying corporate misconduct, as in his 2022 chapter on lawsuits silencing research.
• Holocaust Studies: Exploring the cultural dimensions of the Holocaust, especially the myth of the "Tango of Death" in concentration camps, detailed in his 2022 book and 2021 chapter.
• Cultural Sociology: Analyzing tango dance in contemporary contexts, including during the pandemic (2021).
• Social Movements: Engaging with movements like Black Lives Matter and their implications for social order and comparative analysis.

His publication record reveals a consistent pattern of interdisciplinary scholarship merging criminology with history, musicology, and cultural studies. Key themes include the weaponization of law in corporate contexts, the memorialization of Holocaust experiences through art, and the resilience of cultural practices under duress, with recurring connections between social order theory and historical trauma.

Scientific Awards:

• No specific awards, fellowships, or medals were mentioned in the provided information.

Academic Supervision and Activities:

Professor de Haan has supervised one PhD thesis. His academic activities include invited lectures on denialism and indifference (2015), Dutch corporate complicity in Argentine human rights violations during the 1976-1983 dictatorship (2014), and international crimes from historical perspectives (2014). No research grants are explicitly documented in the available materials.