{"id":118081,"date":"2020-09-30T16:22:00","date_gmt":"2020-09-30T14:22:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/en\/?p=118081"},"modified":"2025-12-19T11:25:06","modified_gmt":"2025-12-19T10:25:06","slug":"this-book-doesnt-provide-answers-but-context-rather","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/en\/2020\/09\/30\/this-book-doesnt-provide-answers-but-context-rather\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018This book doesn\u2019t provide answers, but context rather\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

Martin de Jong (50) isn\u2019t the type to read one last academic article before bed. In his spare time, the Public Administration expert prefers a good history book or novel. One publication that recently inspired him is Frank Martin Snowden\u2019s Epidemics and Society<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n

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\n\t\n\n<\/svg>\n<\/span>\n\tImage by:<\/span>\n\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tRonald van den Heerik<\/a>\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>

Martin de Jong has a \u2018thing\u2019 for China. As a teenager, he read quite a few books about the country. He devoured Robert van Gulik\u2019s \u2018Judge Dee\u2019 detective series \u2013 about a Chinese civil servant at the Tang court \u2013 from start to finish. And by sheer coincidence, De Jong was asked to perform research into the collaboration between Chinese and Dutch universities while working as a doctoral candidate in Delft. Nine years on, we find De Jong married to a Chinese woman, with whom he has two children. He frequently visits the country \u2013 at least he used to. \u201cWe\u2019re considered dirty by now.\u201d By \u2018we\u2019, De Jong means all non-Chinese. He may have a Chinese wife, but since Covid first broke he is no longer allowed into the country. A measure that he finds efficient and unfair in equal measure.<\/p>\n\t

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Martin de Jong serves as Academic Director of the Erasmus Initiative \u2018Dynamics of Inclusive Prosperity\u2019: one of the university\u2019s flagship initiatives. De Jong also holds professorships at both Erasmus School of Law and Rotterdam School of Management. In addition, he is a part-time professor at the Fudan University\u2019s Institute for Global Public Policy in Shanghai.<\/p>\n\n\t<\/div>\n

Lockdown<\/h2>

As early as March 2020 \u2013 before the virus had even appeared on a lot of people\u2019s radar \u2013 he was convinced that the Netherlands would soon be dealing with its own Covid outbreak. De Jong, who serves as the Academic Director of the Erasmus Initiative \u2018Dynamics of Inclusive Prosperity\u2019, had witnessed via his doctoral candidates and family in China just how quickly the virus was able to spread. \u201cThings will be going south in the Netherlands too,\u201d he thought, \u201cand I need to tell people.\u201d He got in touch with the National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM), the Royal Marechaussee and Amsterdam Airport Schiphol and spoke with MPs from ChristenUnie, GroenLinks and Partij voor de Dieren (\u201cparties that you\u2019d expect to show an interest in this question\u201d). But his warnings fell on deaf ears. \u201cThat was very disconcerting.\u201d Unfortunately, the lockdown proved him right.<\/p>\n

This was followed by a period during which he hardly went outdoors. His only break from involuntary domesticity was collecting his children\u2019s homework \u2013 wearing a face mask, of course. He scoured LinkedIn and other websites to find as much information as possible about the new virus. Ultimately, he gained a handle on this abstract disease. He felt he could make a more effective risk assessment and started taking bike trips in the forest. Nowadays, De Jong can be found working on campus two days per week. He enjoys being back. \u201cYou can make do with memories of your colleagues for a while, but eventually you miss seeing them face to face.\u201d<\/p>\n

History<\/h2>

De Jong reads far fewer novels than he\u2019d like to. In his spare time and in the evenings, you can usually find him immersed in a history book. He has a lot of catching up to do. At secondary school, he didn\u2019t have History in his finals \u2013 which he regrets \u2018in a particular way\u2019. He would have like to have studied History, but shied away from this field for practical reasons. Or actually just one: he wanted to make a career. \u201cIf I had chosen History back then, I wouldn\u2019t be working as the director of a research centre today.\u201d<\/p>\n

As a History student, he would have had hundreds of fellow students \u2013 many of whom would have outclassed him. He opted for a degree in Public Administration: \u201cThat\u2019s where you found the \u2018mousy\u2019 types back then.\u201d His fellow students didn\u2019t really have fire in their belly, in his view. Looking back, he probably owes his own academic career to the rather un-spirited competition. \u201cIt wasn\u2019t a conscious choice, but it proved quite convenient that a lot of them aspired to an anonymous job in the bowels of some ministry.\u201d<\/p>\n\t

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Reading behaviour<\/strong><\/p>\n

Books read per year: 25<\/p>\n

Last-read book: Colin Jones, The Cambridge Illustrated History of France<\/em><\/p>\n

Favourite genre: History books<\/p>\n

Key motives for reading: A thirst for knowledge and to keep his command of the French language up to scratch<\/p>\n\n\t<\/div>\n

Passionate<\/h2>

As a Public Administration student, De Jong was interested in the deeper layers of his field. He read books about how public administration had been set up in other countries, as well as books of a more passionate nature. One of his all-time favourites was Alexandre Dumas\u2019s Camille<\/em>, about a man\u2019s doomed love affair with a courtesan. When the protagonist is ultimately able to get through to her, she is lying on her deathbed. De Jong is attracted to the scent of \u2018forbidden fruit\u2019 found in this kind of drama.<\/p>\n

Personally, his sense of justice is too strongly developed for him to dabble in anything improper. He has become shrewder in his dealings though \u2013 more tactical \u2013 but he prefers to leave it at that. Some of his colleagues have published books about how to strategise your actions. The people around them started to keep an eye out for predetermined manoeuvres \u2013 making it harder for them to effectively implement their strategies. If you admit to using strategies, \u2018people see behind you fairly quickly\u2019.<\/p>\n

Recognising patterns<\/h2>

De Jong is always thirsty for new knowledge. After his fears about Covid had subsided, he bought the book Epidemics and Society<\/em>, which shows how epidemics have been just as important in shaping our societies as economic developments, politics and war. Two decades ago, the US Ministry of Defense already warned people that in the next millennium, historians would discover that the idea that mankind had almost eliminated infectious disease would prove the greatest misconception of the twentieth century. \u201cThis book doesn\u2019t provide answers, but context rather. History keeps repeating itself. The fundamental themes never change \u2013 they merely present themselves in new guises.\u201d Whether you\u2019re performing academic research, playing chess or dealing with other people, it\u2019s important to recognise patterns. \u201cThis helps you quickly get to the heart of the matter. Recognising patterns enriches you.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\t

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De redactie<\/h2>\n\t\t\n\t\t
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