It is with a heavy heart that we announce the passing of our beloved and greatly appreciated colleague, Henk Oostindie. Henk passed away on Thursday 21 May, just six weeks after his retirement from the Rural Sociology Group.
Henk was a rural sociologist from Wageningen through and through. Having graduated as an agrarian sociologist from Wageningen in 1990, he has, in fact, been affiliated with the Rural Sociology Group ever since. He began in the 1990s as a researcher on various farming styles projects and on the European CAMAR project, for which he also spent two years working and living in Portugal. From the turn of the century, he worked as a researcher (and later, de facto, as assistant professor) on mainly European research projects in the fields of rural development, multifunctional agriculture, short food supply chains and urban-rural relations. From time to time, these international projects were combined or alternated with teaching and with national projects, such as the ‘Dynamics and Robustness of Multifunctional Agriculture’ project, funded by the Ministry of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality.
Met veel verdriet delen wij u mee dat onze geliefde en zeer gewaardeerde collega, Henk Oostindie, is overleden op donderdag 21 mei, slechts zes weken na zijn pensionering bij de Leerstoelgroep Rurale Sociologie.
Henk was een Wageningse ruraal socioloog in hart en nieren. Afgestudeerd als agrarisch socioloog in Wageningen in 1990 is hij sindsdien eigenlijk altijd verbonden geweest aan de leerstoelgroep Rurale Sociologie. In de jaren ’90 begonnen als onderzoeker op diverse bedrijfstijlenprojecten en in het Europese CAMAR project, waarvoor hij ook twee jaar werkzaam en woonachtig was in Portugal. Vanaf de eeuwwisseling als onderzoeker (en later de facto als universitair docent) op voornamelijk Europese onderzoeksprojecten op het gebied van plattelandsontwikkeling, multifunctionele landbouw, korte voedselketens en stad-platteland relaties. Bij tijd en wijle werden die internationale projecten gecombineerd of afgewisseld met onderwijs en met landelijke projecten, zoals het door het Ministerie van LNV gefinancierde project ‘Dynamiek en Robuustheid van Multifunctionele Landbouw’.
Are you a WUR student looking for a thesis topic that engages with urgent social, political, and environmental questions in food systems, rural transformations, and global change?
The Rural Sociology Group offers a wide range of research opportunities across three key themes: Agrarian Change, Food Provisioning, and Rural Development. Each theme brings together a diverse group of supervisors working on critical issues shaping contemporary rural and food system transformations.
Across these themes, students are invited to engage with research that does not only describe change, but also critically examines power relations, inequalities, and possibilities for more just and sustainable futures.
In Agrarian Change, researchers explore the interconnected social and environmental crises shaping agrarian life, agricultural practices, and rural livelihoods. This includes questions around land, labour, ecological transformation, and alternative pathways for agrarian communities. Students interested in political ecology, rural inequality, and agricultural transitions will find a strong intellectual home here.
The Food Provisioning theme focuses on how food is produced, distributed, and governed in both rural and urban contexts. It brings attention to alternative food economies, food justice, and the politics of food systems transformation. This is a space for students interested in food governance, sustainability transitions, and the everyday practices that shape how food systems function.
The Rural Development theme examines ongoing transformations in rural areas and emerging rural–urban relations. It pays particular attention to power dynamics, governance processes, and the lived realities of rural change. Students working on questions of inequality, policy, and rural futures will find rich opportunities for engagement here.
Within these themes, students can connect with supervisors whose work spans critical social science perspectives on food and rural systems. Supervisors bring expertise in areas such as agrarian political economy, food governance, rural transformation, and environmental change, and are open to supporting students in developing tailored thesis projects.
We encourage students to explore individual supervisor profiles and ongoing research projects to identify topics that align with their interests.
If you are considering a thesis within RSO, we welcome you to reach out and discuss possibilities. Engaging with our research community is an opportunity to shape your own academic path while contributing to urgent debates on food systems, rural change, and social justice.
For more information, students can consult the supervisor profiles below or via Brightspace (WUR-only access) or contact the education coordinator at thesis.rso@wur.nl
Vandaag in de Volkskrant: aandacht voor een belangrijk maatschappelijk debat over intellectueel eigendom, culturele toe-eigening en de commercialisering van traditionele kennis. In het artikel wordt onze collega Mark Vicol geciteerd over de gevolgen van het vermarkten van ayurveda door grote bedrijven.
De inzichten van Mark bouwen voort op gezamenlijk onderzoek met masterstudent Marine Viale. Samen onderzochten zij hoe intellectueel eigendomsrecht en commerciële belangen traditionele kennis en gemeenschappen in het mondiale zuiden kunnen raken.
Mooi om te zien hoe academisch onderzoek zo direct bijdraagt aan actuele maatschappelijke discussies — en hoe onze studenten daarin vanaf het begin een volwaardige rol spelen.
In Kurdistan, the Middle East, and North Africa, I have seen markings on women’s faces, hands, and arms: engraved memory in the form of small lines, dots, and symbols made from breast milk and ash. Known in Kurdish as deq, these tattoos bear ancient history, identity, protection, beauty, pain, and belonging.
Traveling through Kurdistan, I met Fatê Temel, a deq artist in Diyarbakir (Amed), and spoke with her about the art of deq, its gradual disappearance, and the efforts to bring it back to life.
For the past several years, Fatê has been running a small deq studio in Diyarbakir, where she works to preserve and revive the tradition of deq – hand-poked tattoos primarily worn by women throughout Kurdish history. Often placed on the face, hands, or arms, these markings are composed of dots and simple geometric forms, each carrying spiritual, cultural, and personal significance.
Besides being a deq artist, Fatê is also a researcher, traveling throughout Kurdistan to learn from the women who wear deq and from the people and places connected to its history.
In our conversation, she reflected on her connection to deq, her efforts to sustain it as a living cultural practice, and the layered meanings these body inscriptions continue to hold today.
Rural Sociology Wageningen University 