It is with great sadness that we inform you about the passing away of Kees van Rees, on Thursday 13 September 2018. The funeral took place on Saturday, 22 September in Amsterdam. Kees van Rees joined the Erasmus Research Centre of Media, Communication and Culture (ERMeCC) in 2008, after his retirement from the University of Tilburg
Kees graduated from the Free University of Amsterdam (1967) and obtained his PhD from Groningen University (1986). From 1967 to 1981 he taught at the Free University in the Faculty of Arts. He then joined the Department of Communication and Culture at Tilburg University where, from 1986 to 2007, he was Associate Professor of Sociology of Culture. He has been a visiting research fellow in the Department of Sociology at Princeton University (1999–2000; 2005–2007).
Kees’ research focused on the institutional analysis of the cultural field—the collection of organizations and agents performing particular tasks and pursuing specific interests in the production, distribution, and consumption of symbolic goods. More specifically, this approach asks how organizational forms and practices in the cultural field evolve with the aim to illuminate the dynamics of institutional change in a field-theoretic and institutional logics perspective.
Beyond his own writings and publications, Kees greatly contributed to the development of this approach, by initiating and codirecting several large-scale research programs funded by the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research, including The Impact of Conceptions of Literature on the Literary Field (1994-2003, with Gillis Dorleijn) and Cultural Canons and Cultural Competences (1997-2003, with Harry Ganzeboom and Dick Schram).
Beyond his own writings and publications, Kees greatly contributed to the development of this approach, by initiating and codirecting several large-scale research programs funded by the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research, including The Impact of Conceptions of Literature on the Literary Field (1994-2003, with Gillis Dorleijn) and Cultural Canons and Cultural Competences (1997-2003, with Harry Ganzeboom and Dick Schram).
Over the past decades, Kees has worked closely together with and/or served as mentor to many colleagues who are current members of ERMeCC or who used to be based at Erasmus University for a shorter or longer time, including Pauwke Berkers, Michael Berghman, Nel van Dijk, Koen van Eijck, Susanne Janssen, Wouter de Nooy, Vaughn Schmutz, Alex van Venrooij, and Marc Verboord. We all take pride in and praise ourselves extremely lucky that we had the opportunity to collaborate with Kees, because he was not only an inspiring scholar, but also a great mentor and a wonderful person.
Kees has also made an exceptional contribution to the international development of our field, by serving as the Editor-in-Chief of Poetics: Journal of Empirical Research on Culture, Media and the Arts between 1991 and 2009. He turned the journal from one focused on empirical literary studies into the journal it is today: the premier journal for empirical studies on culture, arts and media; dominant in the field of cultural sociology, top-ranking in sociology, but also respected in the adjacent fields of psychology of aesthetics, cultural economics, and communication science. Together with Associate Editor Paul DiMaggio, Kees managed to make Poetics a frontrunner: always in touch with the latest developments in the field, initiating exciting special issues, and giving the floor to new ideas that inspired many. Without Kees, Poetics would not be in the position it is in today, and it is fair to say that the field of cultural sociology as a whole would have looked different.
In recent years, Kees made another major contribution to the field, by serving as the editor of the 'Culture and the Arts' section of the International Encyclopaedia of the Social and Behavioural Sciences (2nd ed., Elsevier, 2015). He remained active as scholar until the very end; he passed away while reading a book chapter about the cultural impacts of globalization and enjoying a glass of red wine.
Kees was one of the friendliest, most generous, and wisest persons that one can meet in the academic field (which, as most of us know, can be a field of struggles, to refer to Bourdieu, one of Kees’ big sources of inspiration). He helped young scholars wherever he could, connected people, was always constructive, and showed genuine interest in the persons he met. Because he was such a kind man, it is hard to say goodbye. He will stay forever in our thoughts and hearts.
Koen van Eijck, Susanne Janssen and Marc Verboord