This new article by Francis O’ Connor, Adnan Çelik, Ayhan Işık, and Joost Jongerden examines the Turkish state’s Village Guard system, revived in the 1980s as part of its counterinsurgency strategy against the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK). While often framed as a defensive militia, the Village Guards became central to the state’s exceptional governance in Kurdistan, both facilitating military control and enabling significant socio-economic and demographic transformation. Drawing on scholarship on paramilitarism and fieldwork in the village of İslamköy, the article offers a relational perspective that understands the Village Guards not merely as instruments of state violence, but as active political actors who reshaped local power dynamics, gained access to land and resources and reconfigured rural livelihoods. It argues that paramilitary mobilisation in Kurdistan reflects complex, locally embedded power relations rather than tribalism or state repression alone.
Upcoming PhD defence: Thirza Andriessen
We are proud to share that Thirza Andriessen of the Rural Sociology Group will be defending her PhD thesis entitled “Caring for Dignity in Food Assistance: Navigating Norms and Moralities”.
When: February 20, 13.00 hrs
Where: Omnia, Wageningen University
Abstract
This PhD research explores how food assistance in wealthy countries shapes the dignity of recipients. Food charities are criticised for being stigmatising and for framing food poverty as an individual problem rather than a social and political issue. This study focuses on newer forms of food assistance, such as social supermarkets and grocery budgets, which aim to offer support in more dignified ways. Based on three case studies in Belgium and the Netherlands, supplemented by a literature review, the research shows that dignity is shaped in everyday situations: how people are treated, how much choice they have, and how rules are applied. Shopping in a “normal” setting and having product choice can support dignity, but these models can also reinforce moral expectations about financial responsibility and create new forms of dependence, for example on digital systems. The research concludes that there is no single “dignified” model; dignity is enacted through daily practices, care relationships, and wider social norms and moralities.
Online streaming
The defence can also be followed online via a YuJa livestream. Note: the link will become available about 5 minutes before the start (click the 🔔 Event in the top-right corner and then select “Thirza Andriessen”)
Interview | Wat is waardige voedselhulp?
Onlangs sprak promovenda Thirza Andriessen met Sprank magazine over het vierde paper binnen haar promotieonderzoek. Het paper beschrijft een studie naar de Beter Eten-pilot (2022), waarin huishoudens die in armoede leven een weektegoed ontvingen op een betaalpas voor het doen van gezonde boodschappen.
Thirza onderzocht wat deze vorm van ondersteuning betekent voor het gevoel van waardigheid van de ontvangers, vergeleken met andere vormen van voedselhulp. In het interview gaat zij in op hoe keuzevrijheid, kwaliteit en autonomie belangrijke elementen zijn van waardige ondersteuning.
🔗 Lees het interview hier.
📄 Lees het bijbehorende wetenschappelijke paper hier.
Publication | Beyond agricultural sustainability: exploring the gendered impacts of conservation agriculture in Nepal
A new study by Dawn Cheong, Bettina Bock & Dirk Roep examines how conservation agriculture affects gendered labour dynamics in Nepal’s Terai region.
While conservation agriculture is often promoted for its sustainability benefits, this research applies a feminist lens and the concept of social reproduction to explore its broader impacts. Using surveys, focus groups, and interviews, the study shows that conservation agriculture increases farmers’ workloads and reorganises agricultural labour at the individual level. However, it does not substantially restructure gendered roles in either productive or reproductive work.
Women experience greater empowerment and recognition as contributors to agriculture, yet their reproductive labour remains largely unchanged, creating a transitional space where traditional and new subjectivities of women coexist and negotiate. This highlights how agricultural innovations, if not carefully evaluated, can increase women’s labour burdens and deepen the feminisation of social reproduction crises.
The research underscores the importance of integrating gender perspectives in evaluating agricultural innovations to ensure truly sustainable and equitable development.
Access the publication here.
Dawn D. Cheong is a PhD in Rural Sociology from Wageningen University and Research in the Netherlands. She has about 15 years of experience in agriculture and rural development and climate adaptation, working as a planner, practitioner, and researcher with national and international organisations. Her research focuses on gender, labour, and processes of agricultural and rural innovation, with particular interest in how social dynamics shape technology adoption and rural change.
Bettina Bock is Professor of Inclusive Rural Development at the Rural Sociology Chairgroup at Wageningen University and a Professor of Population Decline and Quality of Life at the University of Groningen. Her research areas include inclusive rural development and social innovation, migration, sustainable agriculture and gender relations.
Dirk Roep is a former Assistant Professor and Research Coordinator at the Rural Sociology Chairgroup of Wageningen University and a Project Associate Professor at Kyoto University. He has expertise in place-based sustainable agricultural and rural development, sustainable modes of food provisioning, social learning and innovation, transition studies and rural transformation processes.
Ada Korteknie wint de CollectieveKracht Masterscriptieprijs 2025
Tijdens de CollectieveKracht-eindejaarsbijeenkomst op 8 december zijn de winnaars van de Masterscriptieprijs 2025 bekendgemaakt. Met deze jaarlijkse prijs stimuleert CollectieveKracht vernieuwend academisch onderzoek dat bijdraagt aan het begrijpen en versterken van burgercollectieven.
Dit jaar werden maar liefst 38 scripties ingezonden, afkomstig uit verschillende disciplines en landen. De jury beoordeelde een breed en kwalitatief sterk veld van studies over thema’s als commons, collectieve actie, zelforganisatie, bewonersinitiatieven en maatschappelijke samenwerking. De variatie in theoretische invalshoeken en methodologische keuzes liet duidelijk zien hoe rijk en dynamisch het onderzoeksveld rondom burgercollectieven momenteel is.
Uit dit indrukwekkende aanbod selecteerde de jury drie scripties die zich onderscheidden in originaliteit, analytische kwaliteit, maatschappelijke relevantie en de mate waarin ze nieuwe perspectieven op collectief handelen bieden.
1e prijs voor Ada Korteknie
De eerste prijs ging naar Ada Korteknie (MSc Student Resilient Farming and Foodsystems, Wageningen University & Research) voor haar scriptie:
“On curiosities, nostalgia & futurities: A study on the practice of conserving heritage crops and varieties in the Netherlands”
In haar onderzoek richt Ada zich op het behoud van oude gewassen en rassen in Nederland, en op de cruciale rol die lokale communities spelen bij het ontwikkelen en onderhouden van commons-praktijken. Door een combinatie van interviews, participerende observaties en een experimentele focusgroep creëerde zij een rijk en toegankelijk verhaal dat inzicht geeft in hoe verschillende werelden – van boeren tot beleidsmakers – samenwerken aan gedeeld erfgoed en collectief beheer.
De jury prees met name de originaliteit, de methodologische creativiteit en de bijdrage die Ada’s werk levert aan het bredere denken over collectieve organisatie en gemeenschappelijk beheer.
De volledige scriptie is hier te lezen.
Bron: CollectieveKracht, 2025
Rural Sociology Wageningen University 