Prof. dr. Peter van Dam is professor of Dutch history at the University of Amsterdam. Inspired by social, environmental, and political history, he investigates how people attempt to change their relationships with each other and the environment. The handling of food and energy are central to this work. In his latest book, Fair Trade: Humanitarianism in the Age of Postcolonial Globalization, he analyzes how activists from around the world have tried to make trade more sustainable. His current research focuses on attempts to limit the impact that people have on the environment by moderating consumption.
Peter van Dam coordinates the research group 'Environment & Society: contestation & governance', which explores how we have thought about the relations between humans and nature, and how people campaigned and negotiated around environmental issues and climate change. He is also a co-founder of Seven, the UvA's climate institute.
Selected publications
- Fair Trade: Humanitarianism in the Age of Postcolonial Globalization (Cambridge 2025)
- 'The Age of Interdependence: Varieties of Sustainability in the Low Countries during the Twentieth Century' (2022) [special issue BMGN/LCHR].
- 'Trajectories of Global Solidarity: Fair Trade Activism Since the 1960s' (2019) [forum Contemporary European History]
- Wereldverbeteraars: een geschiedenis van fair trade (Amsterdam 2018)
- Een calvinistisch land? Religie in Nederland (Amsterdam 2018)
- “In search of the citizen-consumer: fair trade activism in the Netherlands since the 1960s”, BMGN – Low Countries Review 132 (2017) 3, 139-166
- 'The Rise of Consumer Society' (2017) [met Joost Jonker, special issue BMGN/LCHR]
- Achter de zuilen. Op zoek naar religie in naoorlogs Nederland (Amsterdam 2014) [uitgegeven met James Kennedy en Friso Wielenga]
- Onbehagen in de polder. Nederland in conflict sinds 1795 (Amsterdam 2014) [uitgegeven met Bram Mellink en Jouke Turpijn].
- "Vervlochten geschiedenis. Hoe histoire croisée de natiestaat bedwingt", Tijdschrift voor Geschiedenis 125 (2012) 1, 97-109.
- Staat van verzuiling. Over een Nederlandse mythe (Amsterdam 2011).
- Religion und Zivilgesellschaft. Christliche Traditionen in der niederländischen und deutschen Arbeiterbewegung (Münster 2010).
(See 'Publications' for a complete overview of published work)
Research and Education
Main topics:
- History of the Netherlands
- History of food and energy
- Environmental & climate activism
- Theory and methods of historiography
- Religion in Western Europe since 1789