Lecturing on reality television
At a symposium on the “guilty pleasures” of reality television, organized by Studium Generale Universiteit Utrecht and student association Alcmaeon on 2 April 2008, Jaap Kooijman presented a historical overview of the genres that eventually led to the reality television formats we know today. Rather than perceiving programs such as Big Brother and Idols merely as signs of contemporary culture, implying that current times are more “superficial” and “shallow” than before, Kooijman follows the historical traces of reality television back to television genres such as candid camera, news, talk shows, crime shows, documentary, and more. Other speakers at the conference included social psychologist Wilco van Dijk and Bart Spring in ‘t Veld, the first winner of the very first Big Brother, broadcast in the Netherlands in 1999.
tags Big Brother, Reality television, Studium Generale, Symposium posted in Lecture
Timing could not be better (or worse). On 27 March 2008, just one hour after the notorious internet film by Geert Wilders was released online, the debate on Fitna started in SPUI25. To jumpstart the discussion, statements were made by Frank van Vree, Jaap Kooijman, Herman Pleij, and Jeroen Bons. Rather than focusing (too much) on the film itself, the debate resulted in the discussion of the responsibility of the media professionals, politicians, and academics to move beyond the media hype and address the issues at hand. In a strongly polarized political and public debate, there is little room for nuance, not in the form of denying political realities, but as an attempt to open up rather than close the debate.
As part of the Amsterdam Museum Night (3 November 2007), a debate took place at SMBA about contemporary iconoclasm, focusing on the use of images in the public domain by highly diverse social groups such as Christians, Muslims, and feminists. How does iconoclasm relate to image censorship and normative standards? Can we actually speak of iconoclasm in the age of information? Moderated by Pieter Hilhorst, the panel included Afshin Ellian (professor of law, philosopher, and poet), Yves DeMaeseneer (theologian connected to the Leuven university), Stine Jensen (literature studies and author connected to the Free University, Amsterdam), Jaap Kooijman (Media and Culture studies connected to the University of Amsterdam), Sven Lütticken (art critic connected to the Free University, Amsterdam) and Peter Jan Margry (historian/antropologist connected to the Meertens Instituut). Click 
On 18 June 2007, a one-day symposium to commemorate the 60th anniverary of the first Dutch chair in American Studies, the 60th anniversary of the Marshall Plan in the Netherlands, and the 30th anniversary of the Netherlands American Studies Association (NASA) was held at the Agnietenkapel of the Universiteit van Amsterdam, where, 30 years earlier, the founding meeting of the NASA took place. To commemorate these historic occasions, we discussed the role of American Studies in the Netherlands with current (senior and junior) scholars and current American Studies students. The presentations focused on the questions how American Studies can contribute to the public debate on social-political and cultural issues such as multiculturalism and how American Studies relates to other disciplines within the humanites and the social sciences. In addition, one session focused on an exciting Dutch translation of Walt Whitman’s Leaves of Grass (Grasbladen edited by Jacob Groot and Kees ‘t Hart). In this way, the broad range of different disciplinary backgrounds that constitute American Studies was adequately represented. The symposium was organized by Jaap Kooijman, Rob Kroes, Marja Roholl, and the students of the VASA, the student association of the Amsterdam students of American Studies.
