Namib Notes IV: When the field becomes personal and the personal becomes the field

Where does one draw the line between the personal and the professional in the fieldwork context? Is the researcher self the same as the ‘normal’ self? And I write ‘normal’ in quotation marks because what is ‘normal’ and what is ‘not normal’ about the self?  How much entanglements do we engage in as researchers between … Continue reading Namib Notes IV: When the field becomes personal and the personal becomes the field

FRICTIONS starts today!: lift-off time for my ERC Starting Grant project (Frictions of space: the generative tensions of slavery and colonial heritage tourism)

1st April is beginning to feel like one of my favourite dates. Some pretty significant milestones of my professional life has been marked by this 1st April date - and it's no joke 😉 This is especially in relation to my academic career trajectory in the Netherlands. Prior to my transition from being a professional … Continue reading FRICTIONS starts today!: lift-off time for my ERC Starting Grant project (Frictions of space: the generative tensions of slavery and colonial heritage tourism)

This piece or that piece? The art of recruiting and puzzling an ERC FRICTIONS PhD research team together.

How do recruitment managers do this? How do they sort through CVs upon CVs of highly qualified candidates in order to shortlist the few that might proceed into the interview stage? How do they make the final decision after witnessing the brilliance of all the shortlisted candidates during the interviews? Flip a coin and hope … Continue reading This piece or that piece? The art of recruiting and puzzling an ERC FRICTIONS PhD research team together.

Associate Professor: storytelling and the tourism geographies of slavery and colonial heritage

Today 1st January 2025 marks my official promotion to the position of Associate Professor in the Cultural Geography Chairgroup at Wageningen University and Research. This makes it is exactly 4.5 years since I entered the Tenure Track system at the Assistant Professor 2 level -and some 5.7 years since relocating from Sheffield Hallam University as … Continue reading Associate Professor: storytelling and the tourism geographies of slavery and colonial heritage