Meggy Lennaerts MA

PhD candidate

Area(s) of interest: Dutch History, Early Modern History, Migration History & Diaspora

Cohort/Start PhD: 2021-2022

Border Managers and Border Dwellers: Intra-regional migration in the border region Groningen-East Frisia in the long durée, 1594-1914

University of Groningen
Promoto(es): Prof. R.M. Esser, Prof. B.A.M. Ramakers, Prof. A. Strübind
Aanstelling: February 2022

Overarching project: Grenzgänger: Niederländer in Ostfriesland – Sprache, Wirtschaft und Kultur seit der Frühen Neuzeit (2020-2026)

Through the lens of legal history, I study the function of the border between Groningen and East Frisia between 1594 and 1914 and how it affects border-crossing practices. How did border dwellers and migrants negotiate the different jurisdictions, and how did they use their agency to influence the border and border policy? By identifying four or five court cases in which migrants or the border played a role, I try to analyze how the border dwellers and migrants relate to the border and how they influence the border and its managers.