Jan Kok

My professorship is devoted to the study of the family and historical life courses, by promoting empirical research projects, elaborating concepts, and stimulating the development of new datasets and research methods. Currently, I am running a project on anthropometric history, in which the heights of late adolescent men from the Historical Sample of the Netherlands are linked to their early life histories and subsequent life courses. I am also co-editor- in-chief of the peer-reviewed journal History of the Family. An International Quarterly.

Research topics include:

• Anthropometric history: why have the Dutch become the tallest people in the world?
• Exploring 18th century population and land registers of colonial Ceylon
• The history of 'nonconformist' family formation: bridal pregnancy, illegitimacy, cohabitation, kin marriages and polyandry
• Church affiliation and life course transitions
• The history of adoption
• The history of internal migration: life-cycle service, dispersion of families, family migration et cetera