Gertjan Plets

Gertjan Plets is associate professor in Heritage Studies and Cultural History at Utrecht University, the Netherlands. In his work, he uses heritage as a lens to explore cultural politics and statecraft. He especially studies how museums and cultural property are mobilized in regions politically shaped by the energy sector (gas, oil, and mining) and how the past is used to normalize energy discourses and futures. In his work, he draws on his extensive ethnographic research in the Altai Republic...See more

Gertjan Plets is associate professor in Heritage Studies and Cultural History at Utrecht University, the Netherlands. In his work, he uses heritage as a lens to explore cultural politics and statecraft. He especially studies how museums and cultural property are mobilized in regions politically shaped by the energy sector (gas, oil, and mining) and how the past is used to normalize energy discourses and futures. In his work, he draws on his extensive ethnographic research in the Altai Republic (Russia) and Groningen (the Netherlands). See less