Welcome to the Newsletter April 2026
The clocks went forward, just like our research is moving ahead! We’re making progress on the project and looking forward to the upcoming Ecologies of Belonging symposium.
Congratulations to Lis Camelia
Awarded the Best Paper Prize at the 9th Annual Sport and Discrimination Conference. This research paper is part of her PhD research dedicated to exploring diversity, inclusion, and belonging across the European sporting landscape.
Re/Presenting Europe Recommends!
‘Time for Papua’ Exhibition at the Wereldmuseum Leiden. Find out more here.
Welcome to our two new Student Assistants
My name is Jadah Kelly, a recent graduate in Interdisciplinary Social Sciences and current Master’s student in Orthopedagogy. Originally from Aruba, I’m interested in post- and decolonial research, particularly in the Dutch Caribbean, and aim to contribute to expanding scholarship on the region. I’m also the co-founder of UNOBSTRUCTED, a platform created for and by creatives from the ABCSSS islands.
In this project, I focus on developing a framework on processes of racialisation, while supporting bibliography work, interviews, transcriptions, and other tasks as needed.
My name is Ferghall Vlaun, a final-year Biology bachelor student with a minor in Cultural Anthropology from Aruba. I’m interested in the socio-cultural dimensions of environmental issues and in decolonizing Caribbean narratives, especially in the Dutch Caribbean. I also serve as a board member of the African and Caribbean Heritage Network, supporting spaces that center African and diasporic identities.
In my role, I will handle administrative tasks, coordinate communication with community partners, engage with stakeholders during events, and document these experiences to help co-create a final report for community distribution.
New Season of the Unsettling Knowledge podcast
New season, new look, same thought-provoking conversations. The Unsettling Knowledge podcast, hosted by Dr. Rachel Gillett, is back with a fresh rebrand, including a brand-new logo that reflects its evolving vision.
This season continues to explore how empire and colonisation shape our world today, with each episode featuring a different guest—and sometimes even unfolding in their mother tongue, from Papiamentu/o to French, Dutch, and more.
A new look, but the same (if not even more) powerful discussions.
Listen now on Spotify here.
Upcoming Events
Jan Willem Duyvendak Valedictory Lecture
Date: 24 April at 16:30 Location: Aula UvA, Singel 411, Amsterdam.
Jan Willem Duyvendak will deliver a valedictory lecture as Professor of Sociology, titled “Where to Belong? Emotie, de natie en de sociologie”.
The lecture and reception will take place in the Aula of the University, Singel 411, Amsterdam. Doors open at 16:00. All are welcome to attend and do not have to register.
Belonging to Academia – NIAS Symposium
Date: 23 and 24 April. Location: KNAW – Trippenhuis
The third and final episode of the NIAS Studies of Belonging series explores how belonging works in academia, and what can (and can’t) belong. This in-person symposium will take place at the KNAW – Trippenhuis.
We are happy, as a project to co-sponsor this event and to have several of our researchers presenting at it.
Martijn Sips & Zehra Çolak – Queering Belonging in Dutch Higher Education
Daudi van Veen, Onur Şahin, Zakia Essanhaji, F. Zehra Çolak & Dounia Bourabain – Racialized Joy in Academia: On Practicing Resistance and Freedom
Saro Lozano Parra – Civics, Belonging, and Powerful Knowledge: An Analysis of Teachers’ Curriculum-Making and Teaching in Dutch Pre-Vocational Education
Sphere of Belonging Workshop
Date: 20 April, 10-16:30 Location: NIAS
Re/Presenting Europe members together with fellows of ecologies of belonging at the NIAS will come together to host a full day workshop on “No Transformation without Representation”.
The workshop will be guided by Jody Metcalfe, Farida Nabibaks, Jonathan Tjien Fooh and Shivant Jhagroe.
All are welcome to join. Please email i.w.a.hallallen@uu.nl if you wish to join.
Conference on the Sociology of (Popular) Music – SOLD OUT!
Date: 9-10 April Location: Erasmus University
This conference examines (popular) music from a sociological perspective, featuring a wide range of papers using diverse theoretical and methodological approaches and drawing on varied empirical data. Presentations also include insights from related disciplines such as geography and cultural studies. Rachel Gillett and Kim Dankoor are among the presenters.
The program includes: Free Concert/Party: Roodkapje, 9 April, Opening: Katoenhuis, 8 April, Young Scholars Workshop: Codarts, 8 April
Past events
EHHSN x Re/Presenting Europe: Hip Hop interventions for a world on Fire
“You better believe I’m gonna be dancing”, promised Kyra Gaunt, in a personal and political keynote on how girls experience hip hop – including its misogyny – and what we can do about it. And we danced. We danced with our bodies and our knowledges, minds and voices – real brain sugar – to borrow from Quintin Goliath, South African rapper and philosopher who was a feature speaker with Jody Metcalfe. They were among the 10 members of the project who participated, presented and practised hip hop at the conference. Highlights included the Foundation and Culture Capsule panels exploring and making sure we preserve “Hip Hop as Erfgoed”, Kim Dankoor and Isabella Hall Allen interviewing Aruna Vermeulen and Sisa Uma Kente, to explore Dutch hip hop feminism, and the Culture Capsule’s archiving table. Re/Presenting Europe was there in numbers!
EHHSN, in other words, was a core moment for our project and also a model of how love and passion can bring together many forms of knowledge and create hope. Congratulations to PhD Dastan Abdali, who was one of the three incredible organisers who pulled together the gathering of the culture, in the far North of the Netherlands, Groningen, an under-recognised hip hop hub. Here’s to the next one!
Inaugural Lecture – Francio Guadeloupe
Prof. Dr. Francio Guadeloupe, Professor by Special Appointment in Public Anthropology of Kingdom Relations, delivered his inaugural lecture at the University of Amsterdam (UvA) on Thursday, March 12.
In his lecture, Dutch-Caribbean Studies: Anthropological Research of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, Guadeloupe argued that it is no longer possible to view the Caribbean parts of the Kingdom and the Netherlands as separate worlds with clearly bounded “indigenous” cultures. Instead, he highlighted how people’s lives across the Kingdom are deeply interconnected in everyday ways.
Book Launch: Cultural History for a Changing World
On March 25th Rachel Gillett joined a panel with Julie Deschepper and Dimitri Mitakos, moderated by Richard Calis, to mark the launch of Cultural History for a Changing World. The discussion focused on the chapter “Finding the Decolonial in Cultural History,” co-authored with Giti Chandra and Angela Wanhalla.
More information about the book.
Beyond the Master’s House: Science or Silence
During the European Action Week Against Racism at Pakhuis de Zwijger, activists, artists, academics, and community members reflected on silence, speaking up, and power dynamics in collaborations between academia and grassroots movements. The discussion also addressed ongoing colonial legacies in St. Eustatius and systemic injustices like the toeslagenaffaire. The evening opened with a reflection by Kenneth Cuvalay and included a moving contribution from Yuli Minguel. Grounded in work like Healing Afterlives of Colonialism, the event emphasized relational, community-engaged approaches to research that go beyond extractive practices.
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