Karin Willemse, born in Heemskerk, the Netherlands, in 1962. Ph.D. from Leiden University. Assistant Professor of History of Africa, and of Gender and Islam at Erasmus University Rotterdam.
Fellow (1 February 2008 – 30 June 2008)
VIOLENCE, GENDER AND RELIGION: CONSTRUCTIONS OF CITIZENSHIP IN SUDAN
My research at NIAS was part of a larger Theme Group Coming to terms with a Shattered World: A Multi-Disciplinary Approach to Mediations of Violence in Africa. The main goal of our five months stay was to produce an edited volume on the same theme and as such the stay at NIAS was of main importance to bring together scholars from both Africa, America and the Netherlands. The progress I made was certainly related to the possibility to communicate on a regular basis with my co-researchers. Of main importance were the daily discussions (of literature, theoretical, methodological and empirical issues, of the structure of our contributions etc.) with Prof. dr. L. Kapteijns with whom I constituted the sub-group on ‘Discourses on religion, ethnicity and the nation-state’. I made good progress. Apart form the intended contribution to the theme group volume, I attended a major conference on Darfur with selected participants / authors, and that book is due this fall. My main progress, however, was also on a different plane. The vibrancy and intellectual excitement related to working with a group of inspired and inspiring colleagues on the same theme from different disciplinary angles has made a deep impression on me personally and academically and will have its effect long after leaving the NIAS.