Daný van Dam is a university lecturer at the Leiden University Centre for the Arts in Society.

More information about Daný van Dam

Fields of interest

My main area of interest is neo-Victorian studies: critical returns, especially through literature and film, to the Victorian past and its traces in the present. Within that, I focus specifically on postcolonial neo-Victorianism, the inheritance of the Victorian empire in present-day art and culture, and on neo-Victorianism’s representation of minority identities more broadly. A second area of interest concerns minority identities in science fiction.

Research

My current research builds on my work in postcolonial neo-Victorianism and expands this into historical fiction about other time periods, for example by looking at the (in)visibility of race in English-language novels about the Dutch Golden Age.

Teaching

I teach in the BA English and the BA International Studies. I am also involved in the North American Studies programme and the new minor on Disinformation and Strategic Communication in Global Media. Some courses I have (co)taught are:

• Literature 4B: British Literature: The Nineteenth Century (2023)
• Literature 5A: American Literature, 1917-present (2021, 2022)
• Thesis seminar International Studies (2021, 2022)
• Thematic Seminar: Posthumanism in Science Fiction (2022, 2023)
• Disinformation and Digital Media in a Global Context (coordinator) (2022)

I am also available for thesis supervision at different levels. I am happy to discuss projects engaging with topics such as: neo-Victorianism, Victorian literature and culture, adaptation (including rewritings, prequels/sequels, comics, film/series, and other art forms), postcolonialism/race/gender/intersectionality in contemporary fiction/film, postmodernism, (popular) historical fiction/film.

Before coming to Leiden, I taught courses on postcolonial and ‘world’ literature, on literary theory, and on nineteenth-century literature, as well as academic skills courses.

Publication

Postcolonial (Neo-)Victorianism and the (Digital) Archive: A Response to Adrian S. Wisnicki’s “The Meaning of Undisciplining the Victorian Classroom” (2024)

Curriculum Vitae

2021-present: University Lecturer English and International Studies, Leiden University

2021: Lecturer English, VU Amsterdam

2019-2021: Lecturer English, University of Amsterdam

2019-2020: Lecturer Cultural Studies, Open University

2017-2019: Lecturer Literary Studies, Utrecht University

2017: EFL teacher, ONCAMPUS Amsterdam

2013-2016: PhD researcher English Literature, Cardiff University

2010-2013: Research Master Art and Literature, Leiden University

2003-2010: BA History, Leiden University

2006-2009: BA English, Leiden University

Grants

2022 Johanna van Nijland grant

2013-2016 Cardiff University President’s Scholarship

Ancillary Activities

British Association for Victorian Studies (BAVS) European Representative (2017-present)

Publications