Caroline Kreysel MA

PhD candidate

Area(s) of interest: Dutch History, Environmental History, History & Philosophy of Science and Technology

Cohort/Start PhD: 2023-2024

Soy Cycles: An Environmental History of Soybeans across the Atlantic Ocean (1950s-present)

Overarching project: Soy Stories (NWO project)

Athena Institute, Science Faculty, VU Amsterdam
Supervisors: Dr Evelien de Hoop (VU), Prof Erik van der Vleuten (Tu/e), Prof Jacqueline Broerse (VU), Dr Jonas Van Der Straeten (Tu/e).
Start PhD: March 2023

My PhD project investigates situated histories in the Netherlands and Brazil that became involved with soybeans. As humans move soybeans across the planet, soybeans permeate landscapes through their various material enunciations as a plantation crop, animal feed, a commodity, a nutrient, and a nitrogen-carrier. I investigate these histories of soy expansion through their more-than-human manifestations in different landscapes to understand how seemingly distant environments became entangled with each other and shaped each other’s histories while paying special attention to the nonhuman agents that constituted these histories. In addition, I collaborate with a variety of contemporary societal partners to investigate links between past and present and challenge my readings of the historical narratives I encounter.