Judith Rommens deed haar thesis onderzoek naar de invloed van materiële en sociale aspecten in collectief wonen door de tijd heen
Collectief wonen wordt steeds populairder en biedt aanzienlijke voordelen als oplossing voor hedendaagse huisvestingsproblemen en als inspiratiebron voor maatschappelijke ontwikkelingen. Hoewel onderzoek vaak gericht is op de pragmatische en innovatieve aspecten van collectief wonen, ontbreekt het aan diepgaand onderzoek naar de langetermijnontwikkeling van een collectief woonhuis en de interacties tussen het huis en zijn bewoners. Deze thesis verkent hoe materiële en sociale aspecten de ontwikkeling van een collectief woonhuis en de bewoners door de tijd heen beïnvloeden. Om de onderzoeksvraag te beantwoorden, heb ik een huisbiografie van een collectief woonhuis geschreven op basis van archiefonderzoek, auto-etnografie en interviews met (oud) bewoners en betrokkenen. De Wilde Wereld dat al sinds 1986 bewoond wordt en verschillende generaties bewoners heeft gekend, is als casestudy genomen.
Elective evening course: Major Works in Social Sciences (RSO59030)
What is citizenship? Why does it matter? How does it help us understand power in society? Citizenship serves on one hand, as an apparatus of governance—a mechanism through which power is exercised via institutions, policies, and practices that determine the conditions under which rights are granted or withheld. On the other hand, citizenship is also a tool for empowerment, enabling individuals and groups to claim rights and, on that basis, drive political, social, and environmental change. But how does this process work in practice? And why is it particularly relevant for students aiming to address pressing crises in the environment, ecology, and food systems?
In this elective course we will read and discuss a book that outlines a critical theory of citizenship, with an emphasis on how citizenship institutes power relations and organizes different rights and obligations.
In my MSc thesis, I studied smallholder farming in Western Bahia, a region marked by the expansion of intensive soy production in the Brazilian Northeast. As a part of the area known as MATOPIBA (standing for the parts of the states of Maranhão, Tocantins, Piauí and Bahia covered by the cerrado savannah), Western Bahia has been a crucial space for Brazilian agribusiness development since the 1980s, as it offered abundant land with unclear land titling and high agronomic potential.
Het was niet per se mijn bedoeling. Maar, als iemand die queer is en van het platteland komt (een kippenboerderij om precies te zijn) was het misschien altijd zo bedoeld. Wat ik bedoel is de focus van mijn onderzoeksstage, die ik (met veel dankbaarheid) heb kunnen doen bij RSO. Ik had het voorrecht om gesprekken te mogen hebben met queer farmers in Nederland. Hiermee probeerde ik te begrijpen wat ze doen en waarom ze het doen; wat hen helpt te doen wat ze willen doen en wat hen belemmert; de manieren waarop ze zich beperkt voelen door wie ze zijn en waar ze wonen en werken; en hoe hun omgeving en hun praktijken hen in staat stellen zich vrij te voelen en soms juist datgene te vieren wat hen maakt tot wie ze zijn.
Internship opportunity at Boerengroep & AgroEcology Works
Goals • Improving food sovereignty in Gelderland province • Improving the income of CSA’s (Community Supported Agriculture) • To give people with a low income ( f.e. people who go to the Food Bank), the opportunity to become a CSA member and harvest their own organic, local food • Expand the movement for Solidarity Payment and increase awareness Description of the internship We are looking for a (preferably Dutch speaking) student who is passionate to be involved in the movement for food sovereignty and solidarity payment. You will contact municipalities in the province Gelderland to indicate whether there is a fund available for people with a low income, and explore the opportunities of linking this fund to a CSA membership. You will co nduct research by finding out CSA’s in the surroundings of interested municipalities, communicate with CSA farmers, CSA members and municipalities.
We are open to your own suggestions about the focus on the internship and there are always side projects possible, such as organising an excursion to a farm that uses solidarity payment, working with Boerengroep on other topics that are running, transcribing interviews on solidarity payment, and we encourage you to work 1 or 2 days a week on a farm and get hands on experience.
Background information As solidarity payment becomes more and more used and explored in the Netherlands, we want to dive into the support of municipalities of this agroecological practice. There are several examples of CSA’s that are part of a municipal program in which people with a low income get financially supported to become part of a CSA. In this way, people with a low income benefit from it, obtaining access to organic, local food. Next to it, the CSA will benefit from it, by obtaining more members and thereby a better income. Moreover, this collaboration helps farmers to ask for a fair income, as the responsibility of food accessibility is taken off their shoulders.
Requirements • Passion for social just food systems • Willing to learn how to interact and communicate with diverse parties: municipalities, farmers, CSA members • Understanding and speaking Dutch language is a pre as you need to reach out to municipalities. In case you’re really enthusiastic and don’t speak Dutch, we are open to discuss options. What we offer • A working space in Wageningen • A lot of freedom within the focus of the internship • Opportunity to meet our wide network in the agroecological movement • Working in a passionate team • 2 contact persons; Elske Hageraats (AgroEcology Works), Marcha van Wijk (Stichting Boerengroep) • An office dog How to Apply If you find yourself enthusiastic about the topic of solidarity payment and want to put your effort in making the world a bit more fair, you can contact us by sending an email to st.boerengroep@wur.nl. Please include reasons what you are enthusiastic about and how you would like to shape the topic into something you are passionate about.
Rural Sociology Wageningen University 