News
Promotion Wout Vande Sompele (University of Antwerp)
On 11 March 2022, Posthumus-alumnus (cohort 2017) Wout Vande Sompele successfully defended his PhD thesis ‘Tussen landbouw en de markt. De rurale middenstand in Doel, 1614-1900’ at the Department of History of the University of Antwerp. Promotors were Professor Tim Soens and Professor Greet De Block (both University of Antwerp) In his thesis, Wout sheds new light on the social and economic situation of rural retailers thrugh a case study of the polder village Doel (Flanders, Belgium). It showed that the spatial and social organisation of the polder both were strong factors in the development of Doel into a particularly strong centre of craftsman, merchants and servicemen. Success could be achieved both through specialisation in craft or services, as well as through succesfully combining activities in the secundary and tertiary sectors. His doctoral research forms part of the larger project ‘Vijf Eeuwen Doel’ [Five centuries Doel].
The N.W. Posthumus Institute congratulates Wout with this achievement!