Department of Literature & Art

Source: https://www.maastrichtuniversity.nl/about-um/faculties/arts-and-social-sciences/departments/department-literature-art Parent: https://www.maastrichtuniversity.nl/

Teaching

The Literature and Art department delivers teaching capacity to the educational programmes at the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences (FASoS), most notably the BA and MA in Arts and Culture, the BA in Digital Society, and the MA in Media Studies: Digital Cultures. It also offers a wide range of courses in the liberal arts programme at University College Maastricht. Additionally, department members contribute to the operation of The Plant, the FASoS digital laboratory that offers resources, expertise, and workshops to all BA and MA programmes. Our teaching emphasizes various methods of analysis, such as narrative, discourse, and visual analysis, (digital) ethnography, and design thinking. Several colleagues are committed to the development of open educational resources.

Head of the department of Literature and Art (Letteren en Kunst): Prof. Dr. Aagje Swinnen\ Academic secretary: Dr. Costas Papadopoulos.

Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences\ Department of Literature & Art

Grote Gracht 90-92\ 6211 SZ Maastricht\ +31 43 388 3317/ 3314\

Teaching highlights

Best tutor team Digital Society

The student representatives created the FASoS Teaching awards to highlight the hard work tutors put in to create the best learning environment. The awards were presented during the Teaching & Learning Festival 2025. Congratulations to the tutor team of the course Critical Making with Felix Bui, Dr. Costas Papadopoulos, and Anna Villarica.

Best tutor Digital Society

Anna Villarica has been awarded the title best tutor 2024/2025 for Digital Society.

#open eductional resource Dariah Teach

Have a look at The #dariahTeach learning platform

Research

The colleagues in the Literature and Art Department have expertise across a wide range of disciplines, including art and literary studies, media and cultural studies, performance studies, digital humanities, heritage and museum studies, cultural industries and policy, gender and diversity studies, and sociolinguistics. Most are affiliated with the research program Arts, Media, and Culture (AMC), and many contribute to the Maastricht Center for Arts and Culture, Conservation, and Heritage (MACCH) and the Center for Gender and Diversity (CGD). The department is also affiliated with several national research schools, such as the Netherlands Research School of Gender Studies (NOG) and the Netherlands Research School for Media Studies.

Research highlights

REACCT research project on regenerative building practices

Christian Ernsten and Claartje Rasterhoff receive funding from CLICK NL for their REACCT research project on regenerative building practices.

Prof. Dr. Eliza Steinbock: The Critical Visitor

Eliza Steinbock is proud to announce the release of The Critical Visitor: Heritage Practices in Transition, available in both Dutch and English in a free downloadable pdf.

Outreach

Members of the Literature and Art department work closely with a wide range of societal partners, including museums, archives, care facilities, and hacker spaces, across the Maas–Rhine Euroregion, the Netherlands, and beyond. In advisory roles, they help shape cultural policy and actively participate in co-creative projects and citizen science initiatives, fostering meaningful exchange between academic research and society.

Pure 3D

Explore Pure 3D: A Virtual Research Environment for 3D Digital Humanities And Heritage.

Prof. Dr. Aagje Swinnen: Samendichten

De Culturele Apotheek is running a pilot project called ‘shared poetry’, inspired by the American Alzheimer’s Poetry Project. In this project, they are collaborating with Professor Aagje Swinnen (Maastricht University), an expert in the methodology.