Every third Friday of the month, we come together to share new decolonial research via short presentations and conversations and end the afternoon with drinks.

During the occupation of the Maagdenhuis in 2015, a banner stood high above the door: "No Democratization without Decolonization". With this slogan, the decolonization movement started at the University of Amsterdam. A year later, the report Let's Do Diversity was published, departing from decolonization and intersectionality, full of recommendations for change at the UvA. Seven years later, we ask the question: how much has changed? And what still needs to be done? We will talk to researchers and activists, past and present.

About the speakers

Rosalba Icaza is professor of Global Politics, Feminisms and Decoloniality at the Erasmus University Rotterdam. In 2016, Rosalba served on the University of Amsterdam Diversity Commission that emerged out of the Maagdenhuis liberation. Rosalba has been involved with decolonization of teaching and research practices at the International Institute of Social Studies in Rotterdam and has served as a teacher and mentor for many students across seven different countries.

Saskia Bonjour is an associate professor in political science at the University of Amsterdam. She teaches mostly in the field of gender & politics and intersectionality. Her research focuses on the politics of migration and citizenship in the Netherlands and in Europe. She recently researched inclusivity policies at various Dutch universities, including the UvA, concluding that "a diversity officer is not enough."

Max Arto de Ploeg Bedoyan is a community builder, grassroot organiser, teacher and public speaker. He was the founder and programme coordinator of the Decolonial School in Amsterdam (2015) and one of the organisers at the University Colour student movement for decolonisation. After and during the Maagdenhuis liberation, he was involved in setting up the Diversity Committee at the University of Amsterdam, where he worked as a student assistant and coordinator for Gloria Wekker during the committee’s investigation. Currently, Max works as an event organiser for Inclusive City at Pakhuis de Zwijger and is the projectleader of the Together Against Racism coalition in Amsterdam. He is also the co-founder of Aralez, a pan-decolonial network and organisation based in Amsterdam.

Inez Blanca van der Scheer has lived in Amsterdam for the last 12 years, studying literature at the University of Amsterdam and working in the arts. She was involved with the University of Colour and the Diversity Research Commission headed by Gloria Wekker during the student movement of 2015-16. She is a published researcher and curator, having curated exhibitions for the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam and Amsterdam Museum on Caribbean art and colonial history. Inez is currently balancing her curatorial practice with a career in finance.

Joseph has been working for the University of Amsterdam for the past 4 years. There he has been organizing events, actions and protests with students and staff, for example with University Rebellion UvA (UR UvA) and Amsterdam Autonomous Coalition (AAC). He stands for the decolonization, democratization and decarbonization of the universities, and believes that these radical changes must be done through collective struggles that extend beyond the borders of academia.

Machiel Keestra is UvA’s Central Diversity Officer and philosopher at the Institute for Interdisciplinary Studies. He co-organized a workshop on ‘Lack of Diversity in Academia’ in the occupied Maagdenhuis in Spring 2015 that sparked further initiatives and has been Faculty of Science Diversity Officer 2019-2022. He co-initiated the Keti Koti Table, a personal dialogue method to address the shared Dutch colonial and slavery past.

Chris de Ploeg, the moderator of the evening, is a grassroots organizer, speaker and investigative journalist, writing and organizing on decolonization, climate justice and capitalism. During his student days, he was closely involved with De Nieuwe Universiteit and the University of Colour protest movements at the University of Amsterdam. Now, he is co-founder and core organizer at Aralez, a grassroots organization for decolonization, and at Arts of Resistance, a coalition bridging social movements and the arts. Currently, he is also one of the programme makers of the Decolonial Dialogues@Humanities at the UvA. You can find his work on his website.