Chair Casterman-Hamers

History and Philosophy of Sciences

Chair Casterman-Hamers: History and Philosophy of Sciences

The Chair Casterman-Hamers History and Philosophy of Sciences answers the need for a cross-disciplinary and university-wide education and research in History and Philosophy of Sciences by means of lectures, workshops and residencies.

The academic chair was initiated in 2013 by the scientists Cécile Casterman and Raymond Hamers, who in the late 1980s furthered ongoing research on antibodies in their lab, and discovered a new class of antibodies in camelid species: the alpaca antibody.

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The program is developed by VUB Crosstalks, in close collaboration with the chairholder. From 2025 – 2027 the chairholder is historian Benoît Henriet. Read more about his research domain.

BENOÎT HENRIET: BRIDGING HISTORY, ECOLOGY AND COLONIAL DYNAMICS

From 2025 – 2027 the chairholder of the Chair Casterman-Hamers is Benoît Henriet. Benoît Henriet is associate professor of History at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB) and a member of the research group SHOC (Social History of Capitalism), specializing in history from below, environmental history, and the microhistories of (post)colonial Central Africa. In 2022, he received an ERC Starting Grant for the project FORAGENCY: Foraging, Colonialism, and More-than-Human Agency in Central Africa, which officially began in October 2023. Together with two PhD students in History and two postdoctoral researchers in Anthropology, Benoît studies how humans and non-humans (animals, plants, landscapes) in Central Africa navigated and resisted colonialism and capitalism. Specifically, the team explores how local populations used hunting, fishing, and foraging to subvert colonial economic systems. And furthermore, how the relations between humans, other living beings and the ecosystems that they inhabit together shaped colonial dynamics.

To pursue this research, the team is conducting thematic sub-studies, focusing on the production and use of drugs and alcohol, hunting, fishing, and foraging for subsistence and trade, as well as the use of plants in healing practices. These studies will examine the ecological relationships between four colonial towns and their surrounding regions: Léopoldville (now Kinshasa), Brazzaville, Stanleyville (now Kisangani), and Usumbura (now Bujumbura).

ENGAGING BROADER AUDIENCES

In addition to producing academic outputs, Benoît seeks to engage wider audiences by contributing to ongoing discussions and innovations in the field of environmental humanities. In November 2024 for instance, the FORAGENCY team has launched the podcast Foraging, which showcases exciting research and creative endeavours at the crossroads of human sciences and the arts. This focus aligns seamlessly with his recent appointment as chairholder for the Chair Casterman-Hamers in History and Philosophy of Sciences. In this role, Benoît will bring environmental and ecological perspectives into the historical study of human-environment interactions, linking his research to broader questions about how these relationships challenge and reshape capitalist systems.

COMING UP: THE FORAGERS PROJECT

Starting in October 2025, Benoît will co-curate The Foragers: Engagements Beyond the Human, a series of events including lectures, debates, film screenings, and workshops. The series will culminate in an exhibition at Pilar, scheduled to run from April to May 2026. Stay tuned!