I.E. van der Molen (Inge) MA

As a PHD candidate, Inge van der Molen is conducting research on the reading practices of “bookish” teenagers in a post-digital media era. Under the supervision of Jeroen Dera and in collaboration with Rona Loeffen, she is working on the interdisciplinary research project “Anatomy of the #Bookish: Unraveling the Reading Life of Teenagers in an Evolving Mediascape.” As part of this project, she is examining the reading practices of teenagers within the school context.

The starting point for the research is the term “Bookishness” (Pressman, 2020), a concept that is further explored in the project. What diverse reading practices and reader identities actually fall under the term “bookish”? Using theoretical and empirical methods, the research aims to develop a multifaceted and nuanced framework of bookishness among Dutch teenagers aged 15–18. The various sub-studies include, among other things, a content analysis, a survey study, and a longitudinal diary study. In each case study, Inge focuses on the question: How do Dutch “bookish” teenagers integrate reading for school into the rest of their reading lives?

Inge holds an MA in Literary Studies (VU Amsterdam) and previously studied Dutch Language and Culture and the Philosophy of the Arts and Cultures at the University of Groningen.