Anne-Isabelle Richard is a university lecturer at the Institute for History.

More information about Anne-Isabelle Richard

Profile

Anne-Isabelle Richard’s research interests are European and world history from a transnational and trans-imperial perspective. Focusing on the concept of regions, she is particularly interested in the role of civil society and how ideas about alternatives to the nation state were negotiated in day-to-day practice from the late nineteenth century onward. Richard is co-editor-in-chief of the journal Itinerario (Cambridge University Press) and part of the editorial board of the Revue Monde(s) (Presses Universitaires de Rennes). She co-chairs the Humanities Advisory Table of the Dutch Research Council (NWO) and is the co-chair of the steering committee of the European Network in Universal and Global History (ENIUGH). Her work has been published in outlets such as The Journal of Global History, Transactions of the Royal Historical Society, The European Review of History and contributed to the Cambridge History of the European Union. For a wider audience she co-edited Maps that Made History.

Research

My research interests are at the intersection of global and European history, and privilege transnational and transimperial perspectives. My work argues for a global turn in European history and, equally, the incorporation of Europe in colonial and global history. I focus on ideas of imperial, regional and global construction and belonging from the late nineteenth century onward. I am particularly interested in the role of civil society actors and how ideas about alternatives to the nation state are negotiated in day-to-day practice.
I am currently starting a new research project on regional universities across the world in the 20^th century.
In 2016 I received an NWO Veni grant for my research project: ‘Eurafrica. African perspectives, 1917-1970s’. I analysed the history of the interaction between actors from these two continents relating to the concept of Eurafrica. The idea of Eurafrica suggested that Europe and Africa were interdependent and complementary continents. It has generally been examined from European, and particularly French, perspectives. It is necessary to also examine the other side of the Eurafrican idea and analyse how African actors, in particular various civil society actors from West Africa, engaged with, or rejected this idea.
In the past I have worked on civil society networks surrounding various international organisations such as the League of Nations, on anti-colonial, European and socialist networks in the post-1945 period, and on the influence of colonialism on the European movement in France and the Netherlands, two 'imperial nation-states', in the interwar period, which is the topic of the book manuscript I am finishing.
Conceptually I am interested in themes such as transnationalism, civil society, empire, decolonization, regionalism and regionalization.

I currently co-supervise the PhD thesis of Peter Postma, ‘Nothing Matters but the Future.’ Dutch Multinationals and their Visions of the Netherlands in a Changing World Order (1938-1948). I welcome enquiries of prospective PhD students on topics related to the topics mentioned above (European and global history, French history, African international history, European imperialism, decolonization). Please see also the Graduate School of Humanities.

Other positions

Co-chair Humanities Advisory Table NWO
Co-editor in Chief Itinerario. Journal of Imperial and Global Interactions (CUP)
Member editorial board Revue Monde(s) Histoire, Espace, Relations (PUR)
Huizinga, National Research School Cultural History, Programme Team

Conferences and workshops

Voices of Resistance in and against Dutch Empire, 12-13 September 2024, Utrecht University.

Seventh European Congress on World and Global History (ENIUGH). Leiden University, 29 June-1 July 2023.

Global History in the 2020s, International Summer School, Leiden University 27-29 June 2023.

Global Regionalism. Leiden University, 27-28 January 2017.

When the nation is not enough. Democratic rights on the global stage, 1870-1970. Leiden University, 14-16 January 2016.

Visions of Empire in Dutch History. From the early modern period to the 21^st century. Leiden University, 29-30 September 2016.

Contemporary History and International Relations Research Seminar (CHIRRS) at Leiden University (2016-2021).

Teaching activities

My teaching experience reflects my joint interest in European and world history, having taught and supervised in these fields at the University of Cambridge, the European University Institute in Florence and Utrecht University. At Leiden I have taught courses on European (integration) history from a global perspective, on Euroscepticism, Regionalism, African international history and on methodology at MA and BA level. For the National Research School Cultural History, the Huizinga Institute, I teach a course on Global History for MRes and PhD students. I have also organised summerschools for PhD and MRes students on Global History and Globalising European history.

Curriculum vitae

I have a Ph.D. in history from the University of Cambridge and an M.A. in History and an LL.M. from the University of Leiden, in the Netherlands. I have also studied at the University of Edinburgh, at University College London, and at Yale University as a Fulbright Scholar. Previously, I was a Max Weber postdoctoral fellow at the European University Institute in Florence, Italy and held a NWO Rubicon research grant at Utrecht University in the Netherlands. 2017-22 I held a NWO Veni grant at Leiden University.

Grants 

• Leiden University Centre for Digital Humanities (2022)
• Jean Monnet Module: From Multi- to Interdisciplinarity: Europe in the World (2019-2022)
• NWO Veni Grant (2017-2022)
• NWO Rubicon Grant (2011-2013)
• Max Weber Fellowship (2010-2011)
• VSBfonds Scholarship (2007-2009)
• Entente Cordiale Scholarship (2007-2008)
• AHRC Doctoral Award (2006-2009)
• Prins Bernard Cultuurfondsbeurs (2006)
• Fulbright Scholarship (2004-2005)
• NWO Talentenbeurs (2004-2005)

Activities