Daan Jansen
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daancjansen.bsky.social
Daan Jansen
@daancjansen.bsky.social
82 followers 82 following 22 posts
Animal historian working with rats 🐀 in early modern cities

University of York

I try to be creative too: artist, writer, videomaker and more
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daancjansen.bsky.social
York is talking pests, vermin, weeds and germs next april! If you know anyone interested in historical approaches to these maligned beings, please send them this CFP (or apply yourself!)
frankietaylor317.bsky.social Francis Taylor @frankietaylor317.bsky.social · 9d
It's been a pleasure being on the great organising team at York and Northumbria for next year's NEHN meeting - a collaborative worksop on the many histories of 'unwanted life'. Do see the CFP below, and send in a submission if it appeals!
December 9, 2025 at 10:18 AM
daancjansen.bsky.social
A little while ago my very first publication came out - a chapter in a book on life in Amsterdam through the ages. It's based on a bit of my master's research on dogs in the Dutch capital. It explores methods of uncovering animal history and shows a glimpse of dogs' lives. Open access is pending!
Front cover of "Amsterdam Diaries, Life Writing and Identity: Urban Lives" First page of my chapter, titled "fetching dogs from depositions"
November 30, 2025 at 11:01 AM
daancjansen.bsky.social
The move to a new desk begins...
A small wood carving of a murid sits on an otherwise empty desk
October 1, 2025 at 11:54 AM
daancjansen.bsky.social
After two weeks of travel I'm finally reunited with my rats :D
Gilgamesh the rat and me the human making eye contact
August 31, 2025 at 7:19 PM
daancjansen.bsky.social
Dutch insurance advertisements used to hit different (translations in the alt texts)
A print depicting a man reading in a train with a ghostly devil next to him. The text reads "Danger forever remains your invisible travelling partner. Insure yourself against travel accidents with Fatum" (my translation) A print depicting a city in disarray: a bus drives into a pit, a car hits a lamp post, a piano is about to fall onto a pram, a man is falling out of a window, and many more disasters. Above it all hangs a bloody sword marked "accidents". The print is captioned "this sword hangs over all your heads! Insure yourself in a timely fashion with the M-Z" (my translations)
August 28, 2025 at 11:54 AM
daancjansen.bsky.social
No sleep till Breukelen
A screenshot of google maps showing a train ride of 11+ hrs passing by the Dutch town Breukelen, which gives its name to Brooklyn, NY
August 26, 2025 at 7:52 PM
Reposted by Daan Jansen
melinabuns.bsky.social
excited to share the call for the workshop

EXTRACTIVE NATURES / NATURES OF EXTRACTION

happening at @uobrisceh.bsky.social on 6-7 Nov 2025,

made possible by the @britishacademy.bsky.social

deadline: 10 September!

full call below ⤵

#envhist #envhum
URL and ALT text to follow.
August 21, 2025 at 8:33 AM
daancjansen.bsky.social
All geared up for a weedy, verminy and ratty discussion at session 12-06 this afternoon at #ESEH2025 🌱🐀🐾
Title page for a rat presentation, titled "Rats! Changing perceptions of (Early) Modern Britain and NL". The image depicts a medieval miniscule of rats rowing a boat
August 22, 2025 at 7:13 AM
daancjansen.bsky.social
Rapt multispecies audience this morning at the histories of soils and pesticides session at #ESEH2025
August 21, 2025 at 7:29 AM
daancjansen.bsky.social
Great roundtable session on early modern art as sources for climate change! Tons of thoughts on its applicability to other "invisible" environmental processes, like invasive species 🤔 #eseh2025
August 20, 2025 at 10:21 AM
daancjansen.bsky.social
An amazing pair of keynotes to kick off #ESEH2025 excited for the rest of the conference!
August 19, 2025 at 9:07 AM
daancjansen.bsky.social
Last month was the @archaeorattus.bsky.social project's annual meeting and we realised that we're halfway through the project!

Read all about it on our blog! sites.google.com/york.ac.uk/r...
August 14, 2025 at 4:07 PM
Reposted by Daan Jansen
katybennett.bsky.social
Call for Papers @imc-leeds.bsky.social 2026 ‼️ The 'Loyalty in the Medieval World' network welcomes papers which explore the intersections between the concept of ‘loyalty’ and the conference theme of ‘temporalities’, c.500-1500! Get in touch by 15 September
The ‘Loyalty in the Medieval World’ network welcomes proposals which explore the intersections between the concept of ‘loyalty’ and the IMC 2026 theme of ‘temporalities’. Was there a shift in how the concept of loyalty was used and perceived by people across the Middle Ages? To what extent, if at all, were bonds of loyalty an archaic predecessor to the coercive potential of a centralising medieval ‘state’? How did the language (e.g. treue, fides, leal), theories, and practices of loyalty change or stay the same in the medieval period? What can the study of loyalty do for the historian of medieval political society? Submissions could reflect on: • Emotional frameworks of loyalty • Political frameworks of loyalty • Ethical and legal frameworks of loyalty • The theory and practice of loyal behaviour • Loyalty and identity • Loyalty and power • Horizontal loyalties and solidarities • The material culture of loyalty • Contested and/or multiple loyalties • Disloyalty , such as women, children, exiles, and migrants. Please send a paper title, affiliation, and abstract of up to 150 words to Eleanor Bailey ejbailey98@outlook.com, Katy Bennett katy.bennett@york.ac.uk, AND Jenny McHugh j.mchugh@lancaster.ac.uk. Deadline 15th September.
August 6, 2025 at 12:09 PM
daancjansen.bsky.social
Rat-nap
July 13, 2025 at 11:38 PM
daancjansen.bsky.social
Back home with my boys 🐀🐀❤️
Enkidu (a rat) napping in a hammock, his brother's butt is in the background
June 18, 2025 at 3:42 PM
daancjansen.bsky.social
From Zeeland to Scotland, Middelburg to St Andrews, conference to conference to learn all about histories of animal-borne diseases
Conference programme booklet on a notebook
June 16, 2025 at 4:09 PM
daancjansen.bsky.social
I got to speak about rat history with some amazing people at the RIAS-DEHN conference in Middelburg this week! (Thanks to @chrmeijer.bsky.social for the photo!)
June 14, 2025 at 2:42 PM
daancjansen.bsky.social
It's #worldratday! To celebrate, I wrote a pretty fun post for the @archaeorattus.bsky.social project blog about #rats nibbling on #archive material. Check it out! sites.google.com/york.ac.uk/r...
RATTUS Project - Blog
sites.google.com
April 4, 2025 at 6:48 PM
daancjansen.bsky.social
My beautiful sign and I have become the face of #antifa in English rightwing media this weekend after a peaceful protest against #ReformUK in #York! I couldn't be more proud :)
A screenshot of a news broadcast featuring a photo a group of protesters, with me prominently in the centre holding a sign that says "Rich Tice? I'd rather have head lice"
February 3, 2025 at 5:21 PM
daancjansen.bsky.social
Today marks one year since I moved to the UK to start my ratty PhD journey! Since you can't do a PhD alone, I finally decided to get a friend! Meet Gilgamesh! (Don't worry, he has a brother - bonus points if you can guess his name) #rats
An adorable young rat peeks out of a hoodie
January 4, 2025 at 4:37 PM
daancjansen.bsky.social
I think it’s time I finally introduce myself on these blue skies. I’m Daan, a PhD candidate in Rat History at the RATTUS project in York! If you’d like to know more about me, check out this post on the RATTUS blog: the-rattus-project.blogspot.com/2024/11/meet...
Meet the Team - Daan
Hello! I’m Daan, the resident historian (and only PhD-student) on the RATTUS project. I studied history at the VU in Amsterdam, focusing on ...
the-rattus-project.blogspot.com
December 6, 2024 at 9:56 PM