Peter Vermeersch
Professor of politics and Central and Eastern European Studies, KU Leuven, Belgium
I'm a scholar working on minority politics in Central and Eastern Europe, nationalism, ethnic movements, democratisation, and restorative justice. I've written about post-conflict processes and the politics of memory in Southeastern Europe and the plight of the Roma in Central Europe. My PhD in Political Science (2002) is from KU Leuven, and I have MA degrees in Slavic Languages, Eastern European Studies and Cultural Studies. In 2007 and 2008, I was a visiting fellow at Harvard University. In addition to my academic work, I occasionally publish essays, poetry, and books of narrative non-fiction. I'm based at the Faculty of Social Sciences of the University of Leuven (KU Leuven) in Belgium, where I'm a senior faculty member of the research unit LINES.
Photo credit: Peter Vermeersch by Michiel Hendryckx, February 2019
Featured papers and essays
Recent peer reviewed publications
Populist memory politics and the performance of victimhood: analyzing the political exploitation of historical injustice in Central Europe. Government and Opposition (2023) (with Jens Meijen)
Read this articleMore light. The Sociological Review Magazine (2023)
Read this short storyArtefacts of national subversion: the flag as a critical presence – or a disturbing absence – in contemporary visual art. Ethnologie française (2023) (with Ana Dević)
Read this articleNarratives of change and repair: how the study of storytelling in the social sciences can inspire peacebuilding research. Peacebuilding (2023)
Read this articleSexual violence against men in conflict situations: between taboo and reality. Leuven Transitional Justice Blog (2022) (with Heleen Touquet and Stephan Parmentier)
Read this article
From the archives
Out of the Margins: Reflections on Roma Youth Development. In: Roma Minority Youth across Cultural Contexts: Taking a Positive Approach to Research, Policy, and Practice. Dimitrova, R., Sam, D.L., and Ferrer-Wreder, L. (Eds.). Oxford University Press (2021).
Read this chapterReframing the Roma: EU Initiatives and the politics of reinterpretation. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies 38 (8), 2012, 1195-1212.
Read this articleNational minorities and international change: being Ukrainian in contemporary Poland. Europe-Asia Studies 61 (3), 2009, 435-465.
Read this articleNachtreizigers (2016), gepubliceerd in De Correspondent en opgenomen in De wereld in jezelf: de Nederlandse en Vlaamse literatuur van de 21ste eeuw in 60 essays.
Listen to this audio essay
More peer reviewed work
Henrard K. and P. Vermeersch. 2020. Nationalism with a human face? European human rights judgments and the reinvention of nationalist politics. Nationalities Papers. 48(5), 809-825.
Vermeersch P. 2019. Victimhood as victory: the role of memory politics in the process of de-Europeanization in East Central Europe. Global Discourse: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Current Affairs. 9 (1), 113-130.
Van Baar H. & P. Vermeersch. 2017. The limits of operational representations. Intersections: East European Journal of Society and Politics. 3(4), 120-139.
Dejaeghere Y. and P. Vermeersch. 2017. Incident-driven democray at Europe's edge: The case of Bosnia-Herzegovina. European Review. 25(4), 608-622.
Vermeersch P. 2017. How does the EU matter for the Roma? Transnational Roma activism and EU social policy. Problems of Post-Communism. 64(5), 219-227.
Vermeersch P. 2017. The Plight of Eastern Europe's Roma. In: The Routledge Handbook of East European Politics. Fagan, A., Kopecky, P. (eds.) Routledge.
Touquet H. & P. Vermeersch. 2016. Changing frames of reconciliation: The politics of peace-building in the former Yugoslavia. East European Politics and Societies. 30(1), 55-73.
Books
Aantekeningen bij een moord (De Bezige Bij, 2019)
Hoe voelt het slachtoffer te zijn, of nabestaande? Wat doe je iemand aan als je hem straft? Helpt het? Aantekeningen bij een moord geeft aan de hand van een concrete moord en een rechtszaak een indringende blik op geweld en rechtspraak.
* * *
"Een doortastend, wetenschappelijk onderbouwd en toch emotioneel, zelfs intiem non-fictiewerk." — Annelies Verbeke, De Lage Landen"[Dit boek toont] hoe isolerend het kan zijn om alleen je eigen blik te hebben, maar ook hoe verbindend het kan zijn om ergens met andere ogen naar te kijken." — Nina Polak
Ex. Over een land dat zoek is
(De Bezige bij, 2014)
Een uniek beeld van twee decennia recente geschiedenis op de Balkan, verteld met bijzondere aandacht voor het onverwachte detail. De helden zijn gewone mensen met ongewone verhalen. In dit prachtige, maar versplinterde gebied groeit het verlangen naar een prille, nieuwe liefde
* * *
"wervelende, melancholische, dan weer hoopvol stemmende tocht door een even aangetast, verwond als vitaal deel van Europa." — Manon Uphoff, NRC"Een hoogstpersoonlijk geschiedenisboek. Een subtiele mix van reisimpressies, gloedvolle essayistiek en poëtische mijmeringen over de Balkan" — Juryverslag Provinciale Prijs Letterkunde voor Proza 2016
The Romani Movement (Berghahn Books, 2007)
In this study, Peter Vermeersch examines the recent attempts of the Roma in Central Europe and their supporters to form a political movement and to influence domestic and international politics. On the basis of first-hand observation and interviews with activists and politicians in the Czech Republic, Hungary and Slovakia, he analyzes connections between the evolving state policies towards the Roma and the recent history of Romani mobilization.
* * *
"This book is invaluable for the analytical insights it brings to bear and as a rich source of empirical information on recent Romani mobilisation in Central Europe. This comprehensive, thoroughly researched and enlightening study, assisting better understanding and effectiveness of this process, is to be warmly welcomed." — Romani Studies