“Whose Business is it Anyway?” Valedictory Lecture Delivered at Utrecht University, 1 July 2014
| Author | Jenny Goldschmidt |
| Published date | 01 September 2014 |
| Date | 01 September 2014 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/016934411403200306 |
| Subject Matter | Part B: Lecture |
Netherlands Qu arterly of Human Ri ghts, Vol. 32/3, 322–333, 2014.
322 © Netherlands I nstitute of Human Rig hts (SIM), Printed in the Net herlands.
PART B: LEC TUR E
“WHOSE BUSINESS IS IT ANYWAY?”
VALEDICTORY LECTURE DELIVERED AT
UTRECHT UNIVERSITY, 1JULY 2014*
J G**
1. ESTEEMED LISTENERS
While an inaug ural lecture can be seen as t he unfolding of a program for the future,
the standards a re less clear regarding a farewell address.
A er so many years, the question arises: what have I really learned in the 40+
years in which I have been assoc iated with various universities? In connec tion to this,
I now realise how important “teachers” have been, how much I have learned in the
rst half of my life, and how much I have gained from this. In elementary school,
I learned how much fun it is to learn. erefore, when I received the book Ot and
Sien (an iconic Dutch children’s book like Dr. Seuss) at my PhD Defense from my,
unfortunately very recently deceased rst grade teacher, it was very special: I have
been fortunate enough to have always had good teachers and tutors. Gradually, the
separation between teacher and pupil faded: I am now learning from my colleag ues,
and perhaps most from my PhD students and young scientists, who ask critical
questions and are cur ious.
In addition, I realised at a young age what elements determined my identity. I go
back to the little g irl who went to school in Rotterdam and introduced herself as ‘I’m
Jenny Goldschmidt, I’m deaf, Jewish, and I have no father’. Only much later did I come
to realise how essentia l this is, the way in which people de ne where t hey belong. ey
partly determine this themselves, partly it is determined by their environment: the
“Jewi sh” was on ly added t o my list a er two clas smates asked me in a mysterious tone
whether I was Catholic or Protestant (I was in a public school, so this was not clear
beforehand, as was the case at other schools at that time). I could only answer that
question a er having quickly consu lted my mother: a er a ll, we were not religiou s…I
knew we had some traditions that were important to me and my family, and those
turned out to be Jewish. Just like I took care to quickly add to the information that
my father was deceased when I was three years old, “but he was not killed”: what it
* Translated into Eng lish from the Dutch orig inal.
** Emeritus Profes sor of Human Rights Law, Utrec ht University, e Netherlands.
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