Climate change in plain sight: anthropological contribution in the time of climate crisis

In-depth fieldwork methods can reveal invaluable insights of climate change beyond the domain of science and politics. Based on her ethnography of Sicilian farmers amidst agricultural transition, Anna Notsu shows how participant observation may unveil embodied climate change experiences.

Anna Notsu • February 07, 2022

Why we need to co-create knowledge for sustainability – and why this is easier said than done

Recent debates on energy transitions and poverty illustrate the social ecological complexities of sustainability problems. These cannot be tackled by single academic disciplines – nor by academics alone. In this blog, Marja Spierenburg reflects on the need for, and challenges of ‘transdisciplinarity’.

Marja Spierenburg • January 24, 2022 • 2 comments

Loneliness in solidarity and solidarity in loneliness - How students in Cultural Anthropology and Development Sociology navigate the Covid-19 crisis

Essays of 68 CADS students show their struggle with the effects of the Covid-19 measures. This blog reveals how students navigate the crisis and, in light of a recent Monitor on student mental wellbeing, calls for more qualitative inquiry into underlying issues in order to find solutions.

Teachers and Students Diversity and Development 2021 • December 15, 2021

Beyond potential: the structural issue of gender diversity in esports

Based on his fieldwork in Berlin, Tom Legierse cautions that although esports are heralded as potentially gender inclusive spaces, in reality gender discrimination is still deeply ingrained in their structures. Aspiring Dutch esports capitals have to take care not to reproduce gendered inequality.

Tom Legierse • December 01, 2021

Understanding blind running through participant sensation

The organization Running Blind matches people with visual impairments to a sighted runner. They run while both holding the ends of a tether. Marit Hiemstra explains how being a guide, and applying the method of ‘participant sensation’ enabled her to study the embodied role of trust in blind running.

Marit Hiemstra • October 19, 2021

Algorithmic-based technologies’ impact on journalistic identities

Algorithm-based technologies increasingly impact not only what news we are seeing but also how journalists are evaluating themselves. In this blogpost, Tomás Dodds reflects on changing professional identities in two Chilean newsrooms.

Tomás Dodds Rojas • September 20, 2021

The Shifting Meanings of “(Il)Legality”: Indonesian Migrant Workers in the Netherlands

How do migrants become ‘illegal’? How does their ‘illegality’ affect their position in the receiving countries? Ratna Saptari discusses the experiences of Indonesian migrants in the Netherlands and how they try to obtain recognition amidst shifting positions of (il)legality.

Ratna Saptari • September 01, 2021 • 2 comments

Women on the Cutting Edge. Logging and Gender in Solomon Islands

Over the past weeks, The Guardian featured a mind-boggling series called Pacific Plunder, which focuses to a large extent on the effects of logging in Solomon Islands. In this blogpost Tessa Minter sheds light on the one story that remains untold: the story of women’s experiences.

Tessa Minter • June 22, 2021

Visualising solidarity

At the occasion of the open access launch of his book Ironies of Solidarity: Insurance and Financialisation of Kinship in South Africa (Zed Books, 2020), Erik Bähre reflects on the cover image: What does a man on his own have to do with the solidarity of South African insurance companies?

Erik Bähre • June 14, 2021