The weaponisation of earthquake relief efforts in post-coup Myanmar
By Maaike Matelski – Four years after the military coup of February 2021, Myanmar was hit by a massive earthquake on 28 March 2025. While the earthquake may…
Tag: Oorlog & Vrede
Repairing a Yom Hashoah memorialization
By Joost Blokker – Flower wreaths were placed at the Jewish Children monument in The Hague on Yom HaShoah, a day on which Jewish communities around the world…
Water politic: Reflections on potential Pakistan-India conflict
By Aleeha Ali I fear there will be war. I, from a continent away, think of my parent’s house. My family lives in a large city near the…
Documenting displacement
By Maaike Matelski – This year marks the 15th anniversary of my first visit to Myanmar to do research on civil society under authoritarian rule. Since that time…
Resisting the Houthis by commemorating Yemen’s 1962 revolution
By Marina de Regt. On Thursday the 26th of September, my social media filled up with messages commemorating Yemen’s revolution of 1962. I read poems and short texts…
Palestine solidarity encampments at UvA: experiences and reflections
By Bariş Eser. Neither the student organizers nor the University of Amsterdam (UvA) Board of Directors (CvB) expected the outpouring of support upon the eviction of the first…
What about/Burning children
By Peter Versteeg – One day, we also took to the streets to protest against atrocities in a rather distant country We were only a few as nobody…
Crossing the uncrossable
By Ekaterina Thor – The Russian border. Since most countries decided to close their borders and most airlines chose to pull out their offers, going to Russia and…
The hardly noticed disappearance of the state of Nagorno-Karabakh
By Hannan van Rooij – In 2022, with a group of friends I was planning to participate in the Mongol Rally. This is a contest where people drive…
Myanmar’s civil society in turbulent times: outside-in and inside-out
Ten years ago I published an article on my research with civil society actors from Myanmar, in which I described the sudden changes in ideological and physical positioning…
Discussing Yemen, Transnationalism and Peacebuilding in the Netherlands
By Ewa Strzelecka and Marina de Regt. This June will be remembered as a month of celebrating Yemeni studies and dialogue in the Netherlands. The so-called forgotten war…
Two years after Myanmar’s military coup survivors of Rohingya genocide and victims of post-coup atrocities file joint complaint
By Maaike Matelski On 8 December 2022, Nickey Diamond visited the VU for two lectures. Nickey is an activist from Myanmar who recently started a PhD in Anthropology…
A Happy New Year? Yes, a Happy New Year!
By Marina de Regt. “So this is Xmas, and what have you done, another year over and a new one just began”, John Lennon and Yoko Ono sang…
Mourning for Aicha, Mourning for Yemen
By Marina de Regt. “Marina, if I die, will you then forgive me for all the trouble that I caused you?” my Yemeni friend Aicha wrote me ten…
In the meantime on the other side of the world…
By Marina de Regt While we were all busy watching the US elections in the first week of November, an armed conflict broke out on the other side…
COVID-19 in a war zone
“Marina, how are you? I am worried about you, how is the situation with Corona?” a Yemeni friend asked me last week via Whatsapp. It was not the…
ANZAC Parade in Adelaide: a tough nationalist monument with soft edges
BY FREEK COLOMBIJN More than two decades ago I published an article on the urban symbolism of Canberra, the national capital of Australia (Colombijn 1998). When Australian states…
Vrouw in Jemen
Door Marina de Regt In het Volkskrant magazine van afgelopen zaterdag 26 januari j.l. doet journaliste Ana van Es verslag van haar bezoek…
Hodeidah is being attacked, but the Western media is silent
By Marina de Regt. “Hodeidah is empty, Marina, there is no one there anymore”, says Noura to me this morning, in a short telephone conversation that is repeatedly…
Engaged Anthropology in and about Yemen
By Marina de Regt. The aim of my Talma Lecture, which I gave on 12 January at VU University Amsterdam, was to discuss the implications of the war…
Every Image Has A Story
By Aniek Santema Around 2 million Syrian refugees who fled the war have been stranded in Lebanon and many of them live in harsh…
Ramadan Kareem, my beloved Yemen
Dark clouds over Yemen By Marina de Regt. Last Saturday the holy Muslim month of Ramadan started. Ramadan, a month of fasting and feasting, a month of contemplation,…
No space for grief
In the shelter, a girl on her way to work in the fields by Aniek Santema The floor in Ouzai where Mariam lives becomes a familiar place, I…