dr. PJBJ (Pieter) van den Heede

Biography

Pieter Van den Heede is a lecturer and researcher at the Department of History at Erasmus University Rotterdam.

In his research, he focuses on the study of historical culture (how people in past and present relate to the past), history didactics, public history and other forms of meta-reflection on history as a discipline. In addition, he is interested in the study of the Second World War.

In his dissertation 'Engaging with the Second World War through Digital Gaming' (2021), Pieter studied how digital entertainment games such as Call of Duty represent the war and the Holocaust, and how players reflect on playing these games. The PhD project was part of the Research Excellence Initiative (REI) ‘War! Popular Culture and European Heritage of Major Armed Conflicts’ (project leader Prof. Maria Grever) (2015-present). This interdisciplinary project was embedded at both the Center for Historical Culture (CHC) (History Department), and the Erasmus Research Center for Media, Commmunication and Culture (ERMeCC).

Pieter teaches courses on various topics, including the philosophy of history, historical culture, public history, Dutch history and digital humanities. He considers teaching to be one of his great joys in life.