Grounded sprinting: Experiences with collaborative theorizing

How can social scientists work together with research participants to create new knowledge on issues of public concern? Our experiences studying Instagram with young adults showed us that collaborative theorizing is not only possible, but also that it can teach everyone involved valuable lessons.

John Boy and Marije Peute • September 16, 2024

Organizing a ‘listening circle’ in the field: speaking about inclusion and trust

Dutch policy practitioners seek to cooperate with citizens in ethno-racially diverse and disadvantaged neighborhoods. How does this turn out in the face of social inequalities and societal distrust? Drawing on his fieldwork experience, Yannick Drijfhout shows how trust and inclusion play contentious roles.

Yannick Drijfhout • May 31, 2024

The Kuzine: How a Turkish Stove Makes a Home

In Turkish-Dutch allotment gardens, gardeners, family and friends gather around the kuzine. The stove forms the centerpiece of gatherings, but is also central in the intricate relationship between sensory experiences, passage of time, and emotional reminiscence. How does a Turkish stove make a home in the garden?

Dilara Erzeybek • April 22, 2024

Body Management in the Field

We all want to do fieldwork well. But what do such “researcher mindsets” do to our bodies when conducting participatory observation? Anna Notsu and Jan Jansen address some of the most important, yet little discussed, fieldwork practices: bodily engagements when hanging out with informants.

Jan Jansen and Anna Notsu • March 18, 2024 • 8 comments

Dreaming through Citizenship: Compromising and Remaking Power

Anthropology is a personal journey for many. Students learn to see society and their own lives in a different light, reflecting on many things that before were taken for granted. In this blog, Nicolás Moreno-Gutiérrez tells how his critical readings of the state inspired a new sense of possibility for the future.

Nicolás Moreno-Gutiérrez • March 13, 2024

The longest Ethnography

In 1962 Djiguiba Camara asked his son Daouda to finish his manuscript of the region' history. Daouda dedicated his life to complete this politically highly sensitive manuscript, which included a forced exile from Guinée to Côte d’Ivoire. In this blog, Jan Jansen tells the story behind its creation and its publication.

Jan Jansen • February 16, 2024

Zine-making in Leiden: workshops on experimental print publications

Can academia still be fun and experimental? Maybe it can with the printing, folding, and collage techniques of zines. In two hands-on workshops, Sander Hölsgens and James McGrail aimed to find out. In this blog they discuss what they learned, and how zines can become a useful part of an anthropologist’s toolkit.

Sander Hölsgens and James McGrail • January 26, 2024 • 1 comment

Studying the Sensible Side of Love in the Netherlands

During last year’s Fieldwork NL course, second-year students conducted ethnographic research on maintenance. Inspired by U.A. Fanthorpe’s poem ‘Atlas’, they explored deathcare workers, millers, and au pairs. Here they reflect on their experiences and the intricate efforts involved in sustaining “structures of living.”

John Boy and Students of Fieldwork NL 2022-2023 • December 05, 2023

Oscar Salemink (1958-2023) – a Personal Tribute

My dear friend Oscar Salemink died in Copenhagen on September 23 after a prolonged struggle with myeloma cancer. He was outstandingly generous, mischievously funny, and an indomitably social anthropologist to the end.

Peter Pels • October 30, 2023

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