Stichting SintJan is een bijzonder particulier initiatief uit Kloosterburen, gemeente De Marne, in de provincie Groningen. Het initiatief SintJan Kloosterburen is voortgekomen uit het traject ‘Korensantoverleg’ (1997-2000) en het ontwikkelen van de dorpsvisie Kloosterburen 2003.
In dit traject zijn burgers met kennis, inzicht en een grote maatschappelijke betrokkenheid bezig hun eigen leefomgeving vorm te geven. Wat SintJan vernieuwend maakt, is de integrale benadering die aan het plan ten grondslag ligt: de initiatiefnemers willen wonen, werken, zorg en cultuur zodanig in Kloosterburen borgen dat de leefbaarheid en vitaliteit van het dorp versterkt wordt.
Dergelijke vitale gemeenschappen en burgerinitiatieven krijgen steeds meer een cruciale rol te vervullen, juist ook in regio’s die te maken hebben met bevolkingsdaling (Breman, 2011). Waar de gemeente De Marne op dit moment nog ongeveer 11.000 inwoners kent, wijzen de prognoses uit dat dit aantal tussen nu en 2040 zal dalen naar ongeveer 8.000 (Gemeente De Marne, 2011a). Daarmee behoort de gemeente tot één van de sterkst krimpende gebieden in Noord Nederland. Behalve een krimpend aantal inwoners leidt dit ook tot een veranderende samenstelling van de bevolking (ontgroening en vergrijzing).
Hoewel het bewustzijn en de erkenning van de meerwaarde van dit soort burgerinitiatieven groeiende is, ook in de gemeente De Marne en de provincie Groningen (zie o.a. de visie op burgerparticipatie, Gemeente De Marne, 2011b) blijken er in de praktijk nog veel valkuilen en obstakels die de doorontwikkeling van burgerinitiatieven in de weg staan.
Wij zijn op zoek naar een student of een groep studenten die aan de slag gaat met ‘het verhaal van Kloosterburen’ in termen van ‘storytelling’ als aanpak. Vragen die daarbij aan de orde komen zijn:
‘Wat is de achtergrond / ontstaansgeschiedenis van dit initiatief?’, Hoe is het de afgelopen jaren verlopen? Wie heeft de kar getrokken op welk moment? (gedeeld leiderschap? , vitale coalities? Etc.), Wat zijn belangrijke mijlpalen of keerpunten. Wat is de spin-off van het initiatief (Wat is tot stand gekomen / bereikt? ) en hoe kijken diverse direct of indirect betrokken hier gedurende de tijd (op wellicht andere wijze) tegen aan?
Author Archives: Ina Horlings
Guest lecture on Migration
Open Guest Lecture Professor David Brown, Professor of Development Sociology (Cornell University, USA) on Friday March 3oth
Title: “Challenges in researching migration”
Time: 13.30-15.00
Place: Leeuwenborch building, room: C78
David L. Brown is professor and chair of Development Sociology, co-director of the Community & Regional Development Institute, and associate director of the Population Research and Training Program at Cornell University in Ithaca. He was awarded the SUNY Chancellor’s Award for Professional Excellence in 2009, and holds an honorary doctorate from the University of Rousse in Bulgaria. He is past president of the Rural Sociological Society. He has written and edited eight books on rural population and society. His most recent books include: Rural Communities in the 21st Century: Resilience and Transformation (2011), Rural Retirement Migration (2008) (with Nina Glasgow), Population Change and Rural Society (2006), and Challenges for Rural America in the 21st Century (2003).
Lecture: The traditional definition of migration is at odds with contemporary migration processes. Migration is traditionally seen as a disrupt of everyday social relationships. Brown however argues that contemporary migration is socially embedded (embedded in a social structure) and that social relations are often continued. Professor Brown’s research focuses on migration and population redistribution in the US and Europe with a particular focus on how migration affects and is affected by local community organization. His work also focuses on the production and reproduction of social and economic inequalities between regions and rural v. urban areas. In his guest lecture he talks about the conceptual and methodological challenges in researching migration.
Science Shop project Participand- Meetings for people involved in international development cooperation
In December we announced the kick-off meeting of the Participand project. Participand is for people who live in the Wageningen area and are involved or interested in international development cooperation. Together with these people (You?) we would like to build a network platform where you can exchange knowledge and experiences, get involved, find partners to work together with and whatever else you can imagine.
The first meeting took place on a rainy evening shortly before Christmas, a busy time of the year. Yet, an overwhelming number of 42 people joined! This was excelling our wildest dreams. So what did we actually do? Continue reading
Next period the course Understanding Rural Development starts again!
On March 12th 2012 the Rural Sociology Course Understanding Rural Development starts. There is still room for new students to attend this course.
The course aims to provide a theoretical, empirical and methodological understanding of rural and regional development processes in Europe, with emphasis on agro-food, rural and regional dynamics in metropolitan landscapes. It builds upon several BSc and MSc courses, such as Agrarian and Rural Development: Sociological Perspectives (RSO-20806), Sociology of Farming and Rural Life (RSO-30806), Sociological Theories of Rural Transformation (RDS-30306), Globalisation and Sustainability of Food Production and Consumption (ENP-31806) and Sociology in Development: Towards a Critical Perspective (RDS-32806). Continue reading
Request for a master student interested in place, landscape and population
The PeerGrouP is a location-art group that specializes in site-specific theatre and visual arts in the northern provinces of the Netherlands. The PeerGrouP consists of a lively mix of theatre makers and artists who are inspired by the landscape, the location and the local inhabitants. The quality of food, ecology, practical knowledge of the landscape, community spirit and the supply of energy are recurring themes within the PeerGroup’s projects.
The PeerGroup is looking for artists and researchers willing to participate in their P.A.I.R. (Portable Artist in Residence) project. The P.A.I.R.-project promotes artistic social commitment while focusing attention on man and his surroundings. The P.A.I.R. will be visiting three different locations (Veenkoloniën, Donderen, de Wolden) in the north of the Netherlands (Drenthe) to meet local inhabitants and to investigate their surroundings. In the past three years, the PeerGrouP realized three P.A.I.R.-projects every year. In 2012, the P.A.I.R.’s fourth year, the theme is Landscape Population. The landscape and its meanings in relation to the inhabitants and other users will be looked at on different levels.
The Rural Sociology Group and the Peer Group are looking for a (preferably Dutch speaking) master student interested in landscape, place, population and art, who is enthusiastic to do his/her internship or thesis in this site-specific project, starting preferably around August. The student-researcher will actually stay in the P.A.I.R. (see photo) for a while in September, in the area of the Wolden (near Meppel) in the north of the Netherlands, while doing participative research. 
Possible research questions are for example:
– What is ‘sense of place’ for the local population in the Wolden?
– Which meanings to they give to the landscape?
– Do inhabitants experience local identities? Do they have story-lines related the landscape?
– How are meanings, identities and sense of place linked to underlying values of people?
– How can meanings identities and sense of place be translated to recommendations for practice and policy? (people’s participation, community cohesion, networks)
Places are constituted by sedimented social structures and cultural practices, endowed with meaning and the constitution of identities, subjectivities and difference. In other words: culture sits in places. ‘Sense of place’ refers to an individual’s connection with a place (location, building, landscape) and to their experience of place, including different senses (sight, hearing, smell, movement, touch, imagination, purpose and anticipation). It is both individual and inter-subjective, closely connected to community as well as to personal memory and self. Sense of place has many components such as place attachment, place identity, place commitment and dependency, belongingness or rootedness or community connectedness and community cohesion. We will focus here on ‘Sense of landscape’. Sense of place is rooted in underlying values, about what people perceive as important for their quality of life. People value places and express agency and take leadership in shaping their own place. On the local level people reflect on and negotiate the conditions of engagement/participation, rooted in underlying values. If people become more aware of their source of passion, values, feelings and sense making, this can enlarge our ‘cultural repertoire’ and lead to a more inspired use of our environment.
The student researcher will carry out ‘on-site’ participatory research from a development and/or historic perspective on the sense of place and values of the local population in the Wolden in Drenthe, in the early autumn of 2012. The student will potentially cooperate with students from other educational institutes (AOC’s).The research will be supervised by the RSO group (Ina Horlings) and the Peer Group (Henry Alles). If you are interested, please send a mail before March to Ina Horlings (lummina.horlings@wur.nl).
Rural Sociology Wageningen University 