I am happy to introduce myself as the Genealogies of Knowledge project’s new Ph.D. Student. At my alma mater, KU Leuven, I was trained as a linguist and literary scholar, specialising in the Dutch and English languages. During my early educational years, I developed a keen interest in poetry and rhetorical narratology, research fields which I tended to approach through the lens of contemporary philosophy. After obtaining my Master’s degree in Western Literature, I worked as a research assistant for the Leuven-based MDRN research lab, where I was exposed to the literary production of the modernist period.
And then I came here, to Manchester’s CTIS, where I am given the opportunity to mine the Genealogies of Knowledge Corpus under the supervision of Prof Perez-Gonzalez and Prof Baker. Currently, I am investigating the trajectory of key concepts relating to the body politic (community, democracy, etc.), as they are negotiated in late twentieth century continental philosophy and online alternative media. In doing so, I am especially attentive to matters of metaphor and traces of translation, and especially fortunate to see myself surrounded by an engaging research group and an inviting scholarly community.
Jan
