How are European welfare futures remade in this critical moment?

'Prototyping Welfare in Europe: Experiments in State and Society’ examines how welfare is reimagined in the face of growing precarity and spiraling needs in four European cities. Who steps up when established welfare actors are unable to provide answers to human emergencies? And what welfare futures are made in programs that claim to do welfare differently?

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November 2024 - Amsterdam

What do an American football game and the Dutch welfare state have in common?

What do an American football game and the Dutch welfare state have in common? If we look closely, we’ll find that both rely on the tireless work of their ‘cheerleaders’. In this blog, Vénicia Sananès explores this idea of cheerleaders. In the Dutch welfare state, welfare professionals act as ‘cheerleaders. As their cheerleading efforts become increasingly essential, it may be helpful to ask: does this unwavering positivity truly rally and support residents, or does it prevent them from addressing deeper, structural problems?

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September 2024

New: Welfare Futures seminar series

The seminar series ‘Welfare Futures’ will start in October. This series consists of lectures by ethnographers researching changes in welfare systems, both in Europe and beyond. The series asks: How are welfare futures remade in the search for new forms of welfare governance and provision against the background of growing precarity and spiraling needs? Who steps up when established welfare actors are unable to provide answers to human emergencies? And what welfare futures are made, and for who, in programs that claim to do welfare differently?

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January 2024

Utopia from Within play back

Explore the panel discussion on redefining welfare in a utopian context, entitled 'Utopia from Within'. Scholars looked at different welfare experiments around the world, examining how these initiatives are reshaping the dynamics between state, society and citizens in different cities. Do these experiments perpetuate or transcend current social hierarchies? And what insights do they offer into our potential political trajectories?

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