RSO59030 – Major Works in Social Theory

Posted on March 9, 2026 by Christianne

Is democracy dangerous?
Is democracy in crisis?
What even is democracy?

These are the central questions explored in RSO59030 Major Works in Social Theory, an engaging and intellectually challenging course designed for Master’s students who want to actively engage with social theory and critically examine contemporary political debates.

This course focuses on the work of Jacques Rancière, particularly his influential book Hatred of Democracy. Across six weekly evening sessions, students will collectively unpack and critically evaluate Rancière’s arguments and consider their relevance in contemporary society.

Course Format
> 6 weekly meetings (2 hours each)
> Thursdays, starting May 21
> 19:00–21:00
> Location: Clockhouse

The course is organized as a structured conversation around the book. This format requires careful preparation and active participation from all students. After an introductory session, the course proceeds through discussions of the book’s four chapters, encouraging close reading, debate, and theoretical reflection.

As part of the course, students will also participate in the recording of a podcast, translating theoretical insights into a public-facing format.

About the Book
In Hatred of Democracy, Rancière challenges the widespread claim that democracy is in crisis because of popular irresponsibility. Instead, he argues that political and intellectual elites often harbor a deep distrust of democracy itself — understood as the radical principle of equality and the rule of all. What is frequently presented today as “democracy,” he suggests, functions to limit popular power and legitimize governance by a select few.

The book invites readers to radically rethink democracy — not as a stable system, but as an ongoing political struggle over equality.

Course instructors: Jessica Duncan & Joost Jongerden

Registration deadline: April 15

For more information, please contact Jessica Duncan at Jessica.duncan@wur.nl

Congratulations to dr. Thirza Andriessen

Posted on March 2, 2026 by Christianne

We are happy to announce that our dear colleague dr. Thirza Andriessen successfully defended her dissertation on February 20, 2026, titled: “Caring for Dignity in Food Assistance: Navigating Norms and Moralities”.

In her dissertation Thirza studies dignity in food assistance contexts in Belgium and the Netherlands. She explores how practices within such contexts shape (and reshape) the dignity of those receiving support. Conceptualizing dignity in a relational way implies a recognition of its dynamic character: “How it [dignity] is continuously negotiated through social relationships, interactions and broader social contexts” (Andriessen, 2026, p. 21). Furthermore, the dissertation highlights that food assistance is more than a material problem in which nutritional deficiencies of recipients are mitigated. Indeed, Thirza stresses the importance of care in food assistance.

The friendly game of academic tennis raised interesting food for thought that kept us chewing on the topics long after the formalities came to a close. For example, Thirza stressed the need for a careful, but important balancing act of meeting acute needs without reproducing the very structures that underlie food insecurity in the first place.

At the end of the defense, Thirza’s was praised with two key words that resonated with how we know her best: Someone who is bold and deeply cares about those who surround her. Congratulations Thirza on your monumental achievement! We are happy you will continue to inspire us (colleagues) and students at WUR as you continue your work with RSO.

Photos by Sven Menschel – Promotie Fotograaf | Menschel Photo | Wageningen

Reconstructing family after displacement: a case study of Yazidi motherhood in Iraq and the Netherlands.

Posted on February 27, 2026 by Joost Jongerden

Mika Haugen

Since 2025 I have been working with the Rural Sociology department on a project about the labour and the wellbeing of workers in regenerative agriculture. My interest and passion around the topic of labour and rural development grew during my master’s in Cultural Anthropology at Leiden University in 2022. My topic was how Yazidis experience, practice, and construct motherhood and family while being displaced in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRI) and the Netherlands. I spent time with Yazidi families in asylum centres and homes in the Netherlands, as well as time with mothers in refugee camps in KRI. I looked at the division of labour in the household, changes in the perception around the role of mothers in Yazidi families, and how displacement has impacted family life.

Continue reading →

Gender, Social Reproduction and the Construction of Capabilities for Social Sustainability of Agriculture: A Relational Approach

Posted on February 26, 2026 by Joost Jongerden

In a new article, Dawn Cheong and Bettina Bock argue that farmers’ capabilities, a core component of social sustainability, have been largely neglected in sustainable agriculture discourse. Using a relational approach to capabilities and autonomy, this study explores how women farmers translate the opportunity of agricultural innovation into their valued outcomes, and which factors shape their capabilities, in the context of Terai, Nepal, based on micro-focus group discussions (FGDs) and a survey. Whilst women have experienced a rapid expansion of their capacities and status as producers, their fixed status as providers of social reproduction hinders this expansion from being fully translated into valued outcomes. Gendered and intersectional personal, social and environmental conversion factors independently and co-constitutively shape these capability spaces. In this process, women navigate the demands of sustaining productive roles whilst maintaining the quality of social reproduction, often compromising their bodily, mental and intellectual replenishment and enduring cumulative reproductive health risks across their life courses. This implies that even when provided with the same opportunities, not all women farmers are able to translate them into desired outcomes. The lack of social and institutional interventions to redistribute and reorganise reproductive labour not only functions as a structural barrier preventing women from fully leveraging their productive capabilities but also risks compounding the depletion of women’s labour sustainability, overall well-being, and ultimately, the sustainability of agrarian society.

Naar een nieuw landbouwsysteem

Posted on February 17, 2026 by Joost Jongerden

Howard Koster (regeneratieve boer bij Biesterhof en medewerker bij RSO) spreekt in bij de Provinciale Staten van Gelderland. In zijn bijdrage houdt hij vooral een pleidooi voor een integrale visie op het landbouwbeleid. Daarbij benoemt hij concrete initiatieven die deze samenhangende aanpak in de praktijk brengen.