I do research in the field of social, cultural and philosophical developments in modern society. The main focus is on social organisations, their identity and their place in society, and on cultural developments and public philosophy. Currently, having returned to Holland, I am looking for interesting projects.
I have worked as sessional instructor at at Simon Fraser University, Burnaby (courses on social movements), and Royal Roads University, Colwood/Victoria (on philosophy of law), both traditional class-room instruction, as well as on-line courses.
I helped with monitoring cycling facilities in the city of Vancouver, and prepared proposals for improvements. I also wrote reports on bike safety issues, and initiated and guided the process of formulating a vision statement for the VACC-Vancouver/UBC committee.
Good to see that people are interested in the Dutch language, for whatever reasons. Gives me also an opportunity to play around with languages.
Since September 2005 I volunteer regularly at this bureau which helps people with all kinds of problems with the social welfare system, disability benefits, rental and landlord issues. It gave me a fast way to learn about the issues and problems in Canadian and BC society.
During the first half of 2005 I did a pilot study to find out how a quality mark for education on religion can be implemented. The idea is that education in religion at schools should at least describe different religions in a way that these religions recognise themselves, and should also treat the problematic aspects of different religions. The Dutch Parliament had preluded on such a quality mark recently. The project was then initiatied from the Council of Religions inorder to provide a viable certification that was supported by different religions. The recommandantions are now being implemented, see at the website of the Foundation Socires.
A research project on how the city can be a meeting-place for society. I want to combine insights form architecture, cityplanning and social sciences. Also I will add a lot of pictures
Summer 2004 I gave a workshop at the Christian Arts Seminar, the yearly conference of the Continental Art Centre. The theme of the conference was Multiculturalims. My contribution was a workshop with the title of Multiculturalism, Encounter, Art, a snake biting its own tail. I argued that a multicultural society is not possible because it blocks encounter, being the most fundamental characteristic of living in society. However, Art as a way of communicating, can bring about encounter despite all kinds of cultural barriers. A text version will be available later on.
An article for a publication on this issue by ICS and the GSEV; published 2003. In this article I argue how encounter is the modern social problem and how organisations and institutions can hinder or facilitate encounter. The article is in Dutch, and can be ordered here. Published as: "Christelijk maatschappelijke organisaties in het licht van
ontmoeting. In Govert Buijs e.a. Wat je zegt ben je zelf." Identiteit en christelijke organisaties. Zoetermeer: Boekencentrum, 2003, pp. 46-56.
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For the 2000 Congress of the Stichting Christelijk-Sociaal Congres (Foundation Christian-Social Congress) the study Getto's en Pleinen (Ghettos and Squares) was commissioned by the Stichting Socires. In co-operation with mr. Jos van Gennip, member of the Dutch Senate for the CDA some thirty Dutch social organisations, ranging form labour-unions to broadcasting corporations and sports organisations, were interviewed about their view on present day society and culture. In the analysis it is pointed out that (christian-)social organisations have to realise that modern society is not characterised by a one-dimensional cleavage (like capital and labour used to cause). Social organisations and institutions have to take seriously the patchwork biography of individuals and their basic ability to be self-supportive.
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In November 1998, the results of the project Identiteit als probleem (identity as a problem) were published. This research was commisioned by the Vrije Universiteit of Amsterdam, and the Convent of Christian-Social Organisations in the Netherlands. The main question of this research is whether it is still possible to have social organisations such as labour-unions which base themselves on a christian identity. In The Netherlands, there have been a number of social organisations (labour-unions, organisations of employers and of farmers) which were explicitly founded by Catholics and Protestants. At present, only the Dutch Labour-union CNV is left over as an independent organisation. Is this secularization at work, or are other processes at work? After all, the christian-social movement has had a tremendous influence on (Dutch) social laws. The results of the research are available in print: Identiteit als belofte. The book confronts the ideals of the founders of the christian-social movement in the late 19th century with the position of the movement in contemporary culture. Secularisation and consumerism have not taken away the need for organisations with a specific identity -- rather create new chalenges. What is more important, however, is that in a time when economic liberalism and social democracy join hands, the same bleak liberalism of the 19th century is back in power. Political debate is about State and Market; Society has disappeared from the discussion. The christian-social tradition contains the promise for a just society in which people will have identity: actually responsible person participating in society.
For several organisations I have organised conferences, ranging from small one day seminars to international conferences of up to 350 participants. In all these case I was also involved in developing the subject of the seminars. Most notable are the conferences for the folowing organisations.
A three yearly meeting of European christian social organisations. The idea for these conferences was a spin-off of the Christian Social Congress in The Netherlands. The organisation is a cooperation of the Stichting CSC, The Netherlands, ACW and MOC in Belgium, SSF in France and EZA and KSI in Germany. Conferences were held in Bratislava (2003), Bad Honnef (2000) and Brussels (1997). Since its foundation I am secretary of the organising group. Chairman of the organising group is Doekle Terpstra, Chairman of the Dutch Christian Labour Union.
A platform of some thirty christian social organisations in the Netherlands. This organisation has developed itself since 1991 into a more formalised organisation and since 2000 it meets on a yearly basis. I co-organised the conferences of 2002 and 2003 and did the research and writing of the Congress document Getto's en Pleinen (Ghetto's and Squares) in 2000, together with mr. J.J.A.M. van Gennip, member of the Dutch Senate for the CDA and chairman of Socires.
This program was developed for the Department of Philosophy, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. I coached and managed the students who were writing the programme within the specifications set by me and prof.dr. Wim de Jong.
The programme teaches the student sentential logic in both propositional and predicate logic. It gives the student feedback about the way he or she uses the rules of sentential logic, and it gives suggestions about how to proceed. System requirements are: Windows X98, 2000 or XP.
This is a screenshot the programme:
Hans Groen Producties designs your communications: be it written material such as books, magazine articles or copy-editing, be it a corporate logo or a website. Simplicity and clarity are the leading principles. Examples are to be found in the design galleries.
A good example of a complete product is Van dorpsboerderij tot Stadteland, a book about the countryside development initiated at the Eemlandhoeve, a farm in the middle of The Netherlands. I wrote the book, based on material provided by the owner, added interviews with important people around the farm, produced photographic material, and designed the book.
Corporate styles for Socires, The Foundation for Peace, and the Sweelinck Cantorij were developed. Further on, I am in charge of the design and typesetting of publications of the Eduardo Frei Foundation and of the Stichting Christelijk-Sociaal Congres.
I develop and maintain the webpresence of Socires, SID-Netherlands Chapter, European Social Weeks, and the Stichting Christelijk-Sociaal Congres.
© 1998-2008 j.f.groen
This page modified: 04 July 2008
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