**2. Ritual Studies in The Netherlands**

As said at the start, we as the editors and most of the authors in this issue are based in the Netherlands, in which ritual studies is a small but dynamic field of research. The situation of ritual studies in the Netherlands concerns a relatively small and rather wellorganized area of all kinds of partnerships and platforms of cooperation. At the same time, research in ritual studies is diffuse because it is fragmented across more than ten universities and as many faculties, departments, and research institutes.

We start with the multidisciplinary platforms and networks that bundle the research. First, we must consider the Institute of Ritual and Liturgical Studies (IRILIS)2, currently coordinated by the Protestant Theological University (PThU) in Amsterdam. The primary participants of this network organization include the PThU, the Humanities and Theology Schools of Tilburg University, the Center for Religion and Heritage of the Faculty of Theology and Religious Studies of Groningen University, the Center for Thanatology and the Benedictine Center for Liturgical Studies, both at Radboud University in Nijmegen, and the University of Humanistic Studies in Utrecht. The IRILIS mainly manifests and profiles itself through a series of publications, of which *Netherlands Studies in Ritual and Liturgy* and *Liturgia Condenda* are the most important. The IRILIS is currently working on a large international handbook project on disaster rituals.

Each participant of the IRILIS brings their own expertise and profile in ritual studies. The PThU3 researches liturgical rituals mainly in the context of practical theology (with researchers including Marcel Barnard Mirella Klomp). Recent themes have included meals and food, the Passion, and youth culture. The Tilburg School of Humanities and Digital Culture<sup>4</sup> focuses on current funeral rituals, rituals in care centers like hospices, online rituals, rituals of victimhood, space, and place, rituals and religious diversity, absent rituals, and, in particular, ritual music, such as music in cremations and the popularity of passions and requiems (researchers include Martin Hoondert, Albertina Nugteren, Janieke Bruin-Mollenhorst, Paul Post, and Herman Beck). The Tilburg School of Humanities and Digital

<sup>1</sup> In 2005, there were 93,924 pilgrims who officially registered their pilgrimage in the pilgrims' office in Santiago de Compostela; in 2019, this number reached 347,578 (Oficina Peregrino).

<sup>2</sup> https://www.pthu.nl/irilis/ (accessed on 8 October 2020).

<sup>3</sup> https://www.pthu.nl/ (accessed on 8 October 2020).

<sup>4</sup> https://www.pthu.nl/irilis/ (accessed on 8 October 2020).

Culture has initiated two platforms for cooperation between academics and experts or professionals outside of academia. The Funerary Academy5 is a platform of researchers and professionals in the funeral industry, and the Camino Academy6 has initiated research in the field of pilgrimage, with a specific focus on the route to Santiago de Compostela.

Within the Tilburg School of Catholic Theology7, the emphasis is more on liturgy, theology, and ritual through a sociology of religion perspective (with researchers including Sam Goyvaerts and William Arfman). The Groningen Center for Religion and Heritage8 focuses on the interplay of religion and heritage from a theoretical and practical perspective (with researchers including Todd Weir and Andrew Irving). Their projects focus on material culture, such as church buildings.

The Nijmegen Center for Thanatology9 (led by Eric Venbrux) conducts research into the socio-cultural and religious aspects of death, dying, and bereavement. Particular attention is paid to the processes of change in the funeral culture through comparative research.

At the University of Humanistic Studies10 (Utrecht), Joanna Wojtkowiak conducts research into the psychological, spiritual, and existential aspects of rituals, and life cycle rituals in particular. The University of Humanistic Studies offers an education program for celebrants who are trained in ritual practices in secular and/or non-institutional religious settings.

The (European) ethnology research group of the Meertens Institute11, which is part of the Humanities cluster of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences in Amsterdam (with researchers including Peter Jan Margry, Irene Stengs, and Ernst van den Hemel), has initiated projects that focus on the culture of everyday life, identity and heritage, new forms of religiosity, the framing of rituals, healing practices, and the culture of remembrance in the public domain. A great deal of research is currently taking place within the context of the HERILIGION program, which refers to the heritagization of religion and sacralization of heritage.12 At Utrecht University, there is another influential research group led by the anthropologist of religion Birgit Meyer. Meyer conducts research on popular culture and heritage, material and visual culture, religious and ritual sounds, food practices, religious buildings, and space. After the conclusion of the international research program Iconic Religion13, the project *Religious Matters in an Entangled World* was initiated.14

In Rotterdam (Erasmus University) at the School of History, Culture and Communication, the research group led by Stijn Reijnders15 has been working on projects at the intersection of media, culture, and communication for years. The focus here has been on "locating imagination" through research into tourism and place-oriented practices. These projects concern cultural heritage, food culture, the significance of battlefield tours for the military, and the attraction of film locations.

In addition to universities and academic centers, there are universities of applied sciences where interesting research on rituals is conducted from a practical perspective. We find it important to mention the Breda University of Applied Sciences, where Rami Isaac conducts research into tourism and memorial culture, dark tourism, and risky traveling. There is also the Reinwardt Academy in Amsterdam that trains heritage and museum professionals. This academy is currently conducting a research program on "emotion networks" and dealing with the past led by Hesther Dibbits. Hogeschool Windesheim in

<sup>5</sup> https://www.totzover.nl/funeraire-academie/ (accessed on 8 October 2020).

<sup>6</sup> https://www.caminoacademie.nl/ (accessed on 8 October 2020).

<sup>7</sup> https://www.tilburguniversity.edu/nl/over/schools/theologie (accessed on 8 October 2020)

<sup>8</sup> https://www.rug.nl/research/centre-for-religious-studies/centre-religion-heritage/?lang=en (accessed on 8 October 2020).

<sup>9</sup> https://www.ru.nl/ct/english/ (accessed on 8 October 2020).

<sup>10</sup> https://www.uvh.nl/ (accessed on 8 October 2020).

<sup>11</sup> https://www.meertens.knaw.nl/cms/nl/ (accessed on 8 October 2020).

<sup>12</sup> https://heriligion.eu/ (accessed on 8 October 2020).

<sup>13</sup> http://heranet.info/projects/hera-2012-cultural-encounters/iconic-religion-how-imaginaries-of-religious-encounter-structure/ (accessed on 8 October 2020).

<sup>14</sup> https://religiousmatters.nl/ (accessed on 8 October 2020).

<sup>15</sup> https://www.eur.nl/people/stijn-reijnders (accessed on 8 October 2020).

Zwolle (with the researcher André Mulder16) also conducts research into ritual counselors and rituals in healthcare.

Death Research in the Netherlands (Dood Onderzoek Nederland, DONE) is a growing national network of researchers in death studies.17 Senior and junior researchers from almost all Dutch universities have regular meetings, organize seminars, and cooperate in research projects regarding death, dying, bereavement, and grief.

If we now take stock and look at what ritual studies in the Netherlands focus on, certain emphases emerge. In general, almost all research in the domain of ritual studies in the Netherlands is about dynamics and change, the role of emerging rituals, and the ways in which ritual repertoires can be rooted in an ever-changing and fragmented culture. Cultural, religious, and ritual diversity and the search for identity are common keywords in this research. We also note that research into e-rituals is relatively scarce (van der Beek et al. 2019). We may expect that the COVID-19 pandemic and the sudden boom of all kinds of rituals online may be an incentive to study this area in the near future.
