My main research interest is in narratives of Europe and in “Europe” as narrative. I seek to analyze what stories of and for Europe cultural projects and objects construct and what political implications these stories have. I am specifically interested in representations of “European culture” and “European heritage” and in the stories about Europe that these representations convey. From a postcolonial perspective, I study how “European culture” and “European heritage” are conceptualized by institutional actors, such as in the European Commission-funded House of European History (2017) or by Macron in his speech “For the Renewal of Europe” (2019). I am interested in how these cultural notions function as mechanisms of inclusion and in how they are tied to the socio-political notions of citizenship and belonging. I also investigate how literature and art engages with and critically responds to dominant narratives about European culture and heritage. In short, I am interested in the stories about Europe that circulate and compete within the European public sphere and in how these stories contribute to Europe as an ‘imagined community’.

More information about Astrid Van Weyenberg

Research

Narratives of Europe  / “Europe” as narrative
My main research interest is in narratives of Europe and in “Europe” as narrative. I seek to analyze what stories of and for Europe cultural projects and objects construct and what political implications these stories have. I am specifically interested in representations of “European culture” and “European heritage” and in the stories about Europe that these representations convey. From a postcolonial perspective, I study how “European culture” and “European heritage” are conceptualized by institutional actors, such as in the European Commission-funded House of European History (2017) or by Macron in his speech “For the Renewal of Europe” (2019). I am interested in how these cultural notions function as mechanisms of inclusion and in how they are tied to the socio-political notions of citizenship and belonging. I also investigate how literature and art engages with and critically responds to dominant narratives about European culture and heritage. In short, I am interested in the stories about Europe that circulate and compete within the European public sphere and in how these stories contribute to Europe as an ‘imagined community’. Publications in this area are:

• “Adapting European heritage: Bernardine Evaristo’s Soul Tourists (2005) and Omar Victor Diop’s Project Diaspora (2014).” Continuum (2024): 1-15.
• “Heritage and the making of ‘Europe.’” Special Issue Journal of European Studies 52 (3–4). Eds. Sabine Volk, Margriet van der Waal and Astrid Van Weyenberg, (2022):.
• “(Re)Staging European Heritage in Tom Lanoye’s Fort Europa,” with Didi Spaans, European Heritage and Citizenship. Journal of European Studies 52(3-4): 272-288. Eds. Sabine Volk, Margriet van der Waal and Astrid Van Weyenberg,
• Narrating “Europe”: A Contested Imagined Community. Special Issue Politique européenne. Eds. Alvaro Oleart and Astrid Van Weyenberg, 2020. 
• “European History on Display,” Narrating “Europe”: A Contested Imagined Community. Special Issue Politique européenne. Eds. Alvaro Oleart and Astrid Van Weyenberg, 2020. 

Classical Reception Studies 
Another area of interest is the reception of Greek tragedies in African drama. About this, I wrote my book The Politics of Adaptation: Contemporary African Drama and Greek Tragedy (Brill, 2013), in which I analyse how African reworkings of Greek tragedies perform a cultural politics directed at the Europe that has traditionally considered Greece as its property, foundation and legitimization. I additionally discuss how these adaptations invite us to reconsider how we think about the genre of tragedy and about the cultural process of adaptation. Other publications in this area are:

• “From Black Athena to Black Dionysus and beyond? Some thoughts on analysing African adaptations of Greek tragedy,” World Language(s) and World Literature(s). Eds. Theo D’haen & Iannis Goerlandt. Amsterdam/New York: John Benjamins, 2015.
• “African Antigones: Pasts, Presents, Futures,” The Returns of Antigone. Eds. Tina Chanter & Sean Kirkland. New York: State University of New York Press, 2014: 261-280.
• “Wole Soyinka's Yoruba Tragedy: Performing Politics,” African Athena: New Agendas Eds. Daniel Orrells, Gurminder Bhambra & Tessa Roynon. Oxford UP, 2011: 326-342.  
• “Revolutionary Muse: Fémi Òsófisan’s Tègònni: an African Antigone,” Interrogating Antigone in Postmodern Philosophy and Criticism. Eds. Steve Wilmer & Audrone Zukauskaite. Oxford: Oxford UP. 2010: 366-378. 

Teaching

I teach various courses on literary studies and cultural analysis within the Faculty of Humanities and I also regularly teach for the Netherlands Research School for Literary Studies (OSL). I have collaborated with colleagues on different teaching innovation projects. With Yasco Horsman I developed the Science Communication trajectory that is now part of the BA Film and Literary Studies; more information can be found here. With Nanne Timmer I set up the faculty-broad (R)MA seminar Leiden Elective Academic Periodical, in which students prepare an article for publication in the Graduate Journal LEAP, founded in 2021. Have a look at the LinkedIn page of LEAP here. With the financial help of the LUF/Gratama foundation and together with Nathalie Muffels, I developed the Activating Podcast Method, which is explained for colleagues in this video, made by Thomas Vorisek.

I received my Senior Teaching Qualification in 2024 and I am a Fellow at the Leiden Teachers Academy since 2022.  I was very happy to win the Faculty Teaching Award in 2022.  

Currently, I also work as one of the education coaches of the Faculty, organizing intervision sessions and acting as a sparring partner for starting lecturers. You can read about what we have to offer here and colleagues can e-mail us with any queries to do with their teaching via onderwijscoaches@hum.leidenuniv.nl.

Activities