Mentionsy

Historians in conversation - Jessica Roitman

How do historians build their career, what motivates them and how they deal with professional and personal challenges? What shapes their professional path? Dr Michael Green from the Faculty of Philosophy and History welcomes you to his podcast, where he will be inviting interesting guests to explore their stories.

Prof. Jessica Roitman is professor of Jewish Studies at the Vrije University of Amsterdam. She studied in the US and has a PhD from Leiden University in the Netherlands. Her current research revolves around the Jewish presence in the Dutch colonies overseas. Although she was appointed professor of Jewish Studies two years ago, due to the pandemic, she only held her inaugural lecture on 29 March 2023. My conversation with Jessica Roitman takes place shortly after the inaugural lecture and is focusing on the long professional path that led her to this accomplishment. We discuss the specificities of the American higher education system, the arrival to the Netherlands and adaptation to the local milieu, the ups and downs of an academic work and finally the determining factors that shape a good scholar.
Watch Jessica Roitman’s inaugural lecture here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oYVoSi9G9aQ&t=1s 

Her recent publications: 
"Politically Correct Consensus Is Not For Me: An Interview with Gert Oostindie" (with Wouter Veenendaal) in Itinerario 
"Worlds Apart: Island Identities and Colonial Configurations in the Dutch Caribbean" (with Wouter Veenendaal) in Island Studies