James Kennedy of the Hope College faculty has again been featured nationally in the Netherlands for his research on that country's modern history.
James Kennedy of the Hope College faculty has again been featured nationally in the Netherlands for his research on that country's modern history.
Kennedy, who is a research fellow with the A.C.
Van Raalte Institute and an assistant professor of history,
was interviewed in the Netherlands on Sunday, Sept. 26, on
the program "Buitenhof," which he described as the Dutch
equivalent of "Meet the Press" or "Face the Nation." The
20-minute segment concerned his assertion that politics is
dead in the Netherlands, a result of a good economy coupled
with "everyone in agreement on major policy issues and norms
and values."
In 1997 he was featured in the national magazine
"Elsevier" because of the impact of his book "Building New
Babylon: The Netherlands in the Sixties," a cultural
history of the postwar period in the Netherlands.
Concerning his book, the magazine said, "In the year 1997 it
is almost impossible to write on the sixties without
referring to Kennedy."
Kennedy's appearance on "Buitenhof" coincided with
his trip to the Netherlands for the Sept. 23-24 conference
"Regulating Morality: A Comparison of the Role of the State
in Mastering the Mores in the Netherlands and the United
States." He delivered a keynote address on Thursday, Sept.
23, concerning "The Cultural Climate as Explanation for the
Differences in the Netherlands and the United States," which
included observations related to the "Buitenhof" topic.
Kennedy has been a member of the Hope faculty
since 1997. He is currently working on Dutch views of death
and dying since World War II.