Carolien Stolte awarded Veni grant
Carolien Stolte lectures at the Institute for History within the Faculty of Humanities in Leiden. She intends to use her Veni grant to research the international networks of Indian activists during the period of decolonisation. We spoke to Carolien about her reaction.
Carolien, congratulations on your Veni! When did you find out you’d been awarded the grant?
I heard the news when I was literally just about to leave on a trip. I would have liked to have celebrated the results first with my colleagues, who have been there throughout the whole procedure, but on the other hand it’s an amazing start to the summer!
What exactly are you going to do with the funding?
I’m going to use the Veni to research the international networks of Indian activists during decolonisation. Surprisingly, those networks were not significantly influenced by either the dividing lines of the Cold War or their own country’s diplomatic relations, which offers a new perspective on the possibilities in this period.
Brief summary of the research project
Southern route: Indian activists and the Afro-Asian movement in the early Cold War
Why did an Indian feminist and an Algerian poet meet in Cairo in the 1950s? Why did a Ghanaian union leader train his Indian colleagues in how to organise? This project focuses on Indian activists in the Afro-Asian movement, which emerged during decolonisation and in the early stages of the Cold War.
A total of 16 young researchers at Leiden have received a Veni grant. Each year, the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO) awards Veni subsidies to young researchers, often to those who have recently completed their PhDs. Successful applicants receive a maximum of €250,000 to carry out research inspired by their curiosity. In combination with Vidi and Vici, the Veni forms part of NWO’s Innovational Research Incentives Scheme.