Exploring Diversity: Critical ethnographies of belonging and exclusion
Re-imagine diversity
The term "diversity" is often used in conflicting ways, both by movements striving for equality and by conservative efforts aiming to dilute its significance. Throughout the history of anthropology, diversity has played a central role, fueling discussions that have challenged and supported various social norms and structures. Drawing from this critical perspective, Exploring Diversity aims to reclaim and redefine diversity in anthropology, focusing on contemporary issues that demand our attention.
The programme group studies how people feel like they belong or are excluded from different aspects of everyday life, and how this affects their sense of self, the way institutions work, and the world around them in the long term. People navigate these dynamics and pursue their goals in different ways, despite challenges. The research within Exploring Diversity looks at the creative aspects of these endeavors and how they shape the past, present, and future.
Filmmaking and challenging dominant narratives
Using a diverse range of research methods, Exploring Diversity focusses on various social environments. Through techniques like filmmaking, we aim to deeply understand and creatively represent the complexities of social and political realities. Grounded in Socio-Cultural Anthropology, our research delves into everyday life, challenging dominant narratives and fostering new theoretical perspectives.
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Marriage, Migration and Sexuality: African Migrants in Interracial Same-sex Partnerships
The project "Marriage, Migration and Sexuality: African Migrants in Interracial Same-sex Partnerships (MARMIGSEX)" examines the impact of same-sex marriage on the lives of LGBTI individuals in countries where homosexuality is illegal. Specifically, it focuses on same-sex marriage migration from sub-Saharan Africa (Kenya, Ghana) to countries in the Global North (USA, Netherlands). The project takes an interdisciplinary approach and challenges conventional views on marriage migration by:
1. Exploring the international mobility of Africans through same-sex marriage, addressing the mobility options and paths of cross-border same-sex couples.
2. Emphasizing the perspective of origin countries to understand how same-sex marriage migration contributes to social mobility and respect for African men and women in Africa.
3. Investigating the process of racialization of African migrants' sexuality and how racialized sexuality becomes a resource of exchange value for African individuals in interracial same-sex partnerships.
In summary, MARMIGSEX offers a unique perspective on the intersection of marriage, migration, and sexuality in an interconnected world, focusing on the experiences of African migrants in same-sex partnerships.
Project period
August 2021 - July 2024
Funding
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Traveling Sex Education
Sex education programs from the Netherlands have been widely adopted in various countries across the Global South, making them a successful Dutch export. In 2019, the Netherlands invested 439 million euros to provide sexual health and rights information to 7.5 million youths worldwide. However, anthropologists have revealed that models of sexuality and health are not universally applicable, and cultural factors influence how these programs are received.
This multi-sited ethnographic project examines how Dutch sex education programs are adapted for new contexts, how they interact with existing knowledge and educational practices, and how they contribute to the emergence of new sexual identities and practices. The project follows the journey of these programs from their development in the Netherlands to their implementation in Uganda and Bangladesh, using innovative qualitative research methods.
By considering the role of knowledge from the Global South and drawing on gender and sexuality studies and actor-network theory, the project bridges decoloniality in cultural anthropology with research on sexual health and rights. Its goal is to provide a deeper empirical understanding of how sexual knowledge is produced, politicized, and disseminated in a globalized world, as well as how contemporary transnational sex education practices shape our understanding and experiences of sexuality.
Project period
Sept 2022 - Aug 2026
Funding
This project is funded by the NWO Talent Programme Veni SSH
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Re/Presenting Europe: Popular Representations of Diversity and Belonging
How can we produce better knowledge about the many ‘othered’ populations that have shaped Europe? How can we make the image of who and what Europe is correspond to everyday reality? And how can Europe overcome its colonial past to become a truly diverse and inclusive continent?
With a grant of 4.9 million euros from the Dutch Research Agenda (NWA), the interdisciplinary consortium "Re/Presenting Europe" aims to tackle these questions.
Popular culture
The interdisciplinary consortium looks at positive examples of belonging, such as in popular sports like (mediated) football and other forms of popular culture such as hip-hop music. One of the main questions is: who are the new heroes and how do they ensure that younger generations also feel at home in Europe?
The project is a collaboration between several universities and societal and grassroot organizations in the Netherlands, Curaçao and Sint Maarten. The full project consists of five linked working groups that address dominant spaces of representation of belonging, both in the formal institutional space of education and healing, as well as informal spaces of sports, popular culture, and urban arts.
Project period
September 2022 - August 2027
Funding
The project is funded by NWO (Dutch Research Council) within the Dutch Research Agenda (Nationale Wetenschapsagenda NWA).
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Health-AI
This research project focuses on a multi-sited ethnography of a significant development in global health systems: the integration of big data and AI into national health governance.
As health data becomes increasingly valuable, concerns about the ethics of algorithms in healthcare are growing. Previous research has primarily examined AI design and institutional frameworks from legal, technocratic, and philosophical perspectives, overlooking the socio-cultural context in which big data and AI operate, especially in organizations where humans collaborate with AI.
The project aims to address this gap by pursuing four key objectives:
- Empirical Analysis: Investigate critical moments when data analysts either adhere to or deviate from AI recommendations, with profound implications for national health policies and individual lives.
- Cross-National Study: Conduct research in six different countries with diverse governmental frameworks and organizational contexts to compare findings and develop a theory on the contextual and organizational factors influencing ethical AI.
- Innovative Anthropological Methods: Utilize innovative anthropological techniques for future-scenarioing, contributing to the development and refinement of future-oriented research within the discipline.
- Interdisciplinary Collaboration: Connect anthropological insights with AI developers, partner with health decision-makers, and collaborate with policy institutions to analyze and promote fair AI in healthcare.
Overall, the project seeks to shed light on how ethical considerations intersect with the integration of AI and big data in healthcare, with a focus on the human-AI collaboration within various cultural and organizational contexts.
Project period
June 2023 - May 2028
Funding
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Rhythms of Love: Enduring Romantic Relationships at Midlife in Contemporary Western Europe
This project aims to explore how people in midlife (age 35-60) maintain long-term romantic relationships during life transitions. It seeks to understand the complexities of enduring love in the face of societal challenges like work stress, parenting, and societal pressures. The project will develop the concept of "rhythms of love" to analyze the temporal aspects of midlife love across three domains: partnership, parenthood, and other significant relationships. It will focus on diversity factors such as gender, socioeconomic status, race, and religion to avoid treating midlife love as a one-size-fits-all concept.
The research will be conducted in the Netherlands, Germany, and Sweden using various methods, including ethnographic research, informal conversations, love-life histories, emotion diaries, and photographic essays. The project will culminate in academic publications, a conference, newspaper features, podcasts, and blog posts for the public, and undergraduate research involvement, aiming to advance theories of contemporary changes in intimacy. A social science advisory board and a knowledge utilization committee will provide guidance throughout the project.
Project period
Starting per Feb 2024 - Jan 2029
Funding
NWO-Talentprogramme | Vidi - Social Sciences and Humanities (SSH)