Mieke Bal

Maria Gertrudis "Mieke" Bal (born 14 March 1946 in Heemstede) is a Dutch cultural theorist, video artist, and Professor Emeritus in Literary Theory at the University of Amsterdam. Previously she also was Academy Professor of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences and co-founder of the Amsterdam School for Cultural Analysis at the University of Amsterdam.

Bal attended the University of Amsterdam, where she obtained a M.A. in French in 1969. She continued her postgraduate studies in Amsterdam under supervision of Professor Jan Kamerbeek, but due to the untimely death of her supervisor in 1977 she was awarded her Ph.D. in French and Comparative Literature at Utrecht University.

Bal was Professor of Semiotics and Women’s Studies at Utrecht University (1987–1991) and Chair of the Section of Comparative Literature as well as Susan B. Anthony Professor of Women’s Studies at the University of Rochester (1987–1991). She remained associated with the University of Rochester as Visiting Professor of Visual and Cultural Studies (1991–1996) while filling the position of Professor of Literary Theory at the University of Amsterdam (1991–2011).

From 1993 to 1995 Bal was the Founding Director of the Amsterdam School for Cultural Analysis, a research institute and doctoral school devoted to the comparative and interdisciplinary study of culture.

In 2005 the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences awarded Bal with an Academy Professorship, a prestigious grant given to senior researchers for exceptional achievement throughout their career. The Academy characterized Bal’s approach to literary theory and the visual arts as “highly innovative, robust, and displaying extraordinary creativity.”

Apart from being a prolific scholar, Bal is also an exceptional teacher. Throughout her career she has supervised over eighty Ph.D. dissertations spanning a wide variety of topics, such as the Ph.D. dissertation of new media scholar Lev Manovich at the University of Rochester in 1993.

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