Lecture | LIAS After-Lunch Talk Series
Race and Ethnicity in Dutch Academia
- Date
- Wednesday 7 May 2025
- Time
- Serie
- LIAS After-Lunch Talk Series
- Address
-
Herta Mohr
Witte Singel 27A
2311 BG Leiden - Room
- 1.30 (KITLV Seminar Room)
Abstract
Dutch Academia is international and diverse: a significant share of staff in most universities and departments have nationalities other than Dutch, and the gender balance, particularly of full professors and administrators, is high on the agenda. However, the experience of staff of color, whether Dutch or international, is at best difficult to talk about, even though the lack of opportunities and representation of staff of color in top positions are apparent.
This talk examines the dynamics of race and ethnicity in the context of the work life and careers of academics of color in the Netherlands. Based on 20 life story interviews conducted with academics of color in the Netherlands, we explore the dynamics of race and ethnicity in the context of the work environment, focusing in particular on teaching, research and career development. Going beyond micro-aggressions and individual interactions, we explore the structural and institutional aspects which shape the professional life and representation of staff of color at Dutch Universities.
About the speaker
Aya Ezawa is a sociologist and University Lecturer in Modern Japan studies at Leiden University since 2007. Her research examines social inequality and differentiation based on oral history interviews. In her research, she has examined, among others, the gendered character of social class and the impact of welfare policies on the lives of single mothers in Japan. Her research on Japanese-Indo-Europeans explores how race and gender shape the discourse and personal lives of children born during the Japanese Occupation of the Dutch East Indies. Between 2019 and 2024, Aya served as the Diversity Officer of Leiden University. In this capacity, she developed and implemented policy on a range of issues, including gender neutral address and bathrooms, accessible buildings, a training program and guide for inclusive hiring and an inclusive teaching guide, and data on nationality and ethnic diversity. She also advised on issues of racism within the University, which inspired this project.
Co-author Jasmijn Rana is assistant professor at the Leiden University Institute for Cultural Anthropology and Development Sociology. Her research interests include grassroots organization, ethnoracial inequalities, intersectional feminism and embodiment. She has published on women-only kickboxing, recreational running, diversity in cultural heritage, and decolonizing anthropology. She is the author of Punching Back: Gender, Religion and Belonging in Women Only Kickboxing (Berghahn Books 2022) and is currently writing her second book on self-organized running practices among Muslims in the Netherlands and Californa, the US. She is the PI of the ERC-funded research project Diversity Outdoors: Embodied Ethnoracial Inequalities and Outdoor Recration in Europe.