Eline Westra is a PhD researcher at political science department. Her research looks at political struggles over family migration rights for post-colonial migrants from Suriname to the Netherlands. She explores how definitions of ‘the family’ and ‘the nation’ intersect and shape migration policy, with a particular focus on political constructions of cultural difference.

The research is part of dr. Saskia Bonjour’s VIDI project ‘Strange(r) Families. Political Contestation over Family Migration Rights for Non-Normative Families'. This project analyses how migration law and politics deal with different kinds of families asking to be allowed to live together in Europe. 

Eline holds a Master’s degree in Human Rights and Democratization (EMA Venice, Italy) and a Bachelor’s in International Relations (University of Groningen). She wrote her Master’s thesis on representations of cultural diversity and multiculturalism in Dutch educational material.