The professional is personal. This is, I think, what represents me best as an academic. I like to combine fieldwork, creative writing and filmmaking, which is my own way of doing anthropology.  I am particularly interested in Latin America. I lived in Venezuela and Argentina for over ten years. Since 2024, together with Fiona Murphy (Dublin City University) we have been the Editors-in-Chief of the US journal Anthropology and Humanism, which has a long-standing focus on creative ethnographic work. I am also on the advisory board of the Dutch Centre for Latin American Research and Documentation Film (CEDLA). I recently helped setting up the European CREATIVE ANTHROPOLOGIES NETWORK. You can read more about my creative work and public anthropology here. 

My research interests include violence, emotion, morality, human rights, Latin America, visual anthropology and phenomonolgy. I have done long-term fieldwork in Venezuela and Argentina.

My monograph Phenomenal Justice. Violence and Morality in Argentina received the international award Outstanding Academic Title 2020 and shortlisted for the Juan E. Mendez Book Award for Human Rights in Latin America.

My current research focuses on the Venezuelan humanitarian crisis and refugees in the neigboring countries for which I was awarded the Independent Social Research Foundation Political Economy Research Fellowship  and the Veni NWO Talent Programme grant titled ‘Emergency Ethics. Crisis, Nature, and Wealth in Venezuela’ funded on the complex humanitarian crisis in Venezuela from a moral perspective. Herein I try to blend long gone memories with ethnographic fieldwork on the crisis. An example of this is the short story Blue Morpho that recently appeared.

You can see and hear more about my research:

My teaching experiences range from ethnographic methods, violence and trauma, Latin America, morality, film and creative writing. I like to inspire and train students from all levels (Bachelor, Master, and PhD) to experiment with ethnographic methodologies and to creatively explore the limits of academic writing.  This has resulted in multi-genre Collection of Creative Anthropologies that curates creative work from PhD students to established anthropologists. In 2024, I have co-developed the VU university minor Visual Evidence and now I co-teach our students in acquiring both anaytical and practical audiovisual skills to make their own research driven documentary.

In 2006, I received a Bachelor degree in Language and Culture Studies, with a specialization in Latin American Culture at Utrecht University. My Master degree (2007) in Latin American and Caribbean Studies is also from Utrecht University. In 2016, I  received my Doctoral degree in Cultural Anthropoly at Utrecht University for ethnographic research on trials for crimes against humanity in Argentina.

Annual Prize for a Remarkable Published Paper 2023

Together with alumnus Merel Otto our Ethos' article Struggling along in Nigeria: Depression, Treatment, and Morality was awarded by the European Network of Psychological Anthropology (ENPA)

Juan E. Méndez Book Award for Human Rights in Latin America  2020

Phenomenal Justice was short-listed for this annual award issued by Duke University Libraries 

Outstanding Academic Title 2020

Phenomenal Justice was awarded the best 10% of the 6,000 annually reviewed books by Choice Magainze for U.S. academic libraries

Faculty of Social Sciences Research Prize 2020 and 2024

I was one of the five nominees for the annual prize for best social science researcher at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam

Kitty van der Vliet Diversity Essay Award, International School of Philosophy (ISVW) 2020

Een kwestbaar besef was one of the five awarded essays on learning from history

Camera Interactiva, Centre of Humanities, Utrecht University 2015

Het Papierparadijs was awarded second best storytelling media project 

Nominee for Servicio2 best short documentary 2010

International Film Festival ‘Mujeres en Foco’ in Argentina 

Nieboer Masterthesis Award 2007

 Department of Cultural Anthropology, Utrecht University

Impact Explorer (NWO) 2023  Impact grant

Talent Programme Veni (NWO) 2022 Research grant

Independent Social Research Foundation (ISRF) 2020 Political Economy Fellowship

Institute for Societal Resilience (ISR) 2020 Seed money grant

National Network for Female Professors (LNVH) 2018 Travel grant 'Distinguished Women Scientist Fund' 

Institute for Societal Resilience  (ISR) 2018 Travel grant

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