Stengs, prof. dr. I.L. (Irene)
Research group
Ethnology and Oral CultureBiography
Irene Stengs (b. 1959) is a Senior Ethnology Researcher at the Meertens Institute and an endowed professor of the Anthropology of Ritual and Popular Culture at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. She studied Cultural Anthropology at the University of Amsterdam and received her PhD in 2003 for a study on the worship of the monarchy in Thailand. Her current research in both the Netherlands and Thailand focuses in particular on popular religiousness, material culture, the dynamics of contemporary commemorative culture and the relationship between heritage making, identity politics and emotions. Central to this is the social significance of rituals, especially at times of crisis. The coronavirus pandemic, which saw many rituals unable to take place and new rituals emerge at the same time, once again highlighted the extent to which social and personal existence are constantly interwoven with rituals on many different levels – a dimension that, under normal circumstances, largely goes unnoticed.
Stengs was Principal Investigator of the international Humanities in the European Research Area (HERA) research project HERILIGION, which focused on the Heritagisation of religion and sacralisation of heritage in Europe (2016-2020). She is team leader of the Ethnology research group.
Key publications
- Worshipping the Great Modernizer. King Chulalongkorn, Patron Saint of the Thai Middle Class (NUS/WUP 2009).
- Gepopulairiseerde cultuur, ritueel en het maken van erfgoed. Inaugural speech on accepting endowed professorship (available to download here), 9 November 2018, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam.
- The Secular Sacred. Emotions of Belonging and the Perils of Nation and Religion (Palgrave 2020, co-editors Markus Balkenhol, Ernst v.d. Hemel).
- Managing Sacralities. Competing and Converging Claims of Religious Heritage (Berghahn 2022), co-editors Ernst v.d. Hemel, Oscar Salemink).
- ‘Branching into Heritage. The Genesis of the Anne Frank Tree and its Multiplications’ (2023) Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute 29(2), 2023: 363–382.
Publications
- contribution to journal (article)
- contribution to journal (review)
- contribution to edited volume
- contribution to conference
- working paper
- book (author)
- book (editor)
- conference participation
- public engagement
- non textual