Solidarity during the protest in support of CEU and academic freedom on 2 April 2017. (Photo courtesy of Index.hu)
By Georgette Veerhuis A few weeks ago I was writing a blog about the Women’s Strike demonstration I attended on the evening of Wednesday, March 8, in Budapest, organised both in honour of and critical of International Women’s Day, but I wasn’t able to finish it. There was no clear message, just speculations and a mere description of the event. In light of new events, however, it seems I can now more clearly reflect on the peculiar situation in which I find myself – how a changing attitude of the Hungarian government can shift my (academic) position and possibilities. And surely I won’t be the worst off. I have other privileges to fall back on…
Mijn onderzoek naar het electoraat van een politieke partij die in zowel de media als in academische kringen omschreven wordt als neonazistisch en fascistisch vindt plaats op het idyllische eiland Corfu, in Griekenland. De ‘Gouden…
By Alexander Dunlap Wind Energy is undoubtedly my favorite of all the energy systems, which retains an immense potential for eco-logical sustainability. This potential, however, can be utopic, dystopic or somewhere in between, which is intimately intertwined with the futures people wish to create. Before moving to the Isthmus of Tehuantepec region in Oaxaca, Mexico to investigate the impact of renewable energy on semi-subsistent Indigenous groups (Zapotec and Ikoot), I knew that wind projects triggered, what is known in political ecology as, ecological distribution conflicts. These are conflicts arising from development projects that affirm regional power inequalities, unequal distribution of benefits and negative ecological impacts without adequate compensation. This type of conflict was visible in the Isthmus, intertwining with the regional historical and institutional context. That said there are other far reaching and often neglected implications of wind energy development.
Sport verbindt. Toch? Ook als het aan de Nederlandse politiek ligt klopt dat cliché als een bus. “Sport ver-broedert, het schept een gevoel van saam-horigheid en zorgt voor ‘teamspirit’ en onder-ling respect.” Het bevordert niet alleen de gezondheid van mensen, maar ook participatie en sociale samenhang, aldus een citaat en parafrase uit een willekeurig lokaal PvdA-programma. De maatschappelijke ‘opbouwgedachte’ is niet ver te zoeken. Ook de KNVB, de Koninklijke Nederlandse Voetbalbond, stelt in een onderzoek: “Voetbal is het grootste sociale netwerk van ons land. Het draagt bij aan de maatschappelijke thema’s vorming, gezondheid en verbinding.” Volgens sommige deskundigen heeft sport in de hedendaagse wereld zelfs de sociale functie van kerk of religie overgenomen.
Toch denken diverse sportsociologen (en ook anderen) in binnen- en buitenland daar anders over. In veel gevallen is dat wat mij betreft terecht. Sport neemt wellicht in bepaalde gevallen de functie van religie als ‘sociaal cement’ over, maar soms ook haar functie als ‘splijtzwam’. En vaak zijn grenzen tussen de domeinen sport en politiek zelfs totaal zoek. Zelf was ik getuige van de manier waarop de Istanbul Marathon ‘gekaapt’ werd door de politiek en op maatschappelijk niveau voor sommigen een polariserend evenement werd.
Door Caroline van Slobbe Havana is full of small businesses. The most common entrepreneurs are ladies who sell cupcakes and cookies from their front door or window, small cafeterias with coffee and a sandwich for some pesos, people selling the latest American movies and series on copied DVDs, and men walking with carts and shouting in a special loud and low tone that many of them use: “Tengo galletas de mantequillaaaaaaaaaa” (I have butter cookies). When there are eggs and/or potatoes – products that are scarce – that is shouted loudly: “Hay papa, hay huevo, hay papa, hay huevo” (there are potatoes, there are eggs). It is almost like a song, or maybe a rap. Together with the roaring engines of vintage cars, and an occasional rumba or reggaeton beat, it forms a cacophony that is typical for the neighborhood.
Door Marit Timmerman ‘Building bridges’. Met deze term heeft Freek Colombijn mij drie jaar geleden tijdens een open dag overtuigd om antropologie te gaan studeren. Nu, drie jaar later, heb ik heb ik de kans gehad om met mijn thesis onderzoek degene te zijn die bruggen bouwt. Van eind april tot midden juli heb ik samen met vijf andere antropologie studenten; Dorenda ten Hoopen, Kirsten van Muijden, Nathalie Pijnaker, Whitley Roefs en Franka Wijers; onderzoek gedaan naar de ervaringen van statushouders in en rond Amsterdam met hun huisvesting, en naar hoe zij hun sociale netwerken, solidariteit, participatie en integratie in de wijk en in de Nederlandse samenleving ervaren.
By Jan Abbink Next to the demands for more economic rights and protection, the wider background factors of the spreading protests were: mounting dissatisfaction with authoritarian party politics, the interfering presence of party cadres in local life, the lack of accountability of the government, unresolved land allocation issues, lack of proper compensation for those removed from the land, the dismantling of civil society organizations in the last decade, the lack of political and civic freedoms, and the lack of a well-working justice system (as people say, one cannot really bring complaints against the government and get one’s right in the courts).
There is also a longer-term social dynamic involved: large groups of youth are unemployed, and there is still a large urban underclass that is often excluded from high school or vocational education and from jobs. New cultural-political youth movements – in both the classical political sphere as well as in the cultural domain – are seen with suspicion by the government and under close scrutiny. Also, emerging local ethnic elites in the various regional states have been cautiously putting forward new demands – and, paradoxically, their emergence and assertiveness is an achievement of the ‘ethnic politics’ of empowerment that the Ethiopian ruling party and government instituted since 1991 and which has led to many smaller ethnic groups getting ‘special districts’. The ethno-regional rivalry is now also seen in the serious tensions within the ruling party, where the four branches, the Oromo People’s Democratic Organisation (OPDO), the Amhara National Democratic Movement (ANDM) and the Southern Ethiopian People’s Democratic Movement (SEPDM) are not always in agreement with the dominant Tigrayan People’s Liberation Front (TPLF).
By Lieke Prins When I initially left my house in Amsterdam to live in Colombia for three months I had planned to go to Chocó and study Afro-Colombian small-scale gold miners and their resistance strategies against large-scale mining companies. However, the first night in my new house with my new roommates in Medellin made me rethink my initial plans and inspired me to change in course of my research.
On the first night we were sitting on the floor of our apartment, getting to know each other. One of my roommates, an anthropology student of the Universidad de Antioquia, Ana Paula, had made us a simple dinner and aguapanela, a sweet sugary drink from Colombia. The small talk you normally have when you meet new people lasted for only two minutes; the conversation soon got a more serious tone and the two girls started to discuss the developments of La mesa de Havana – the peace negotiations between the insurgent group the FARC and government Santos.
Door Rhoda Woets Op vrijdag 24 juni word ik om 6.00 wakker wanneer mijn telefoon piept. Ik open het bericht van een goede vriendin die al jaren in Engeland woont en geschrokken en met veel uitroeptekens haar ‘lieve mede-Europeanen’ laat weten dat haar geadopteerde vaderland gek is gewor-den. Bekomen van de schrik (leek het niet juist de goede kant op te gaan voordat ik ging slapen?) en geïnstalleerd achter een bureau op de VU is het moeilijk om mijn aandacht bij het werk te houden.
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