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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Shifting States: EASA Anthropologies of the State Network Conference
From 22 to 24 October 2025, the EASA Network on Anthropologies of the State takes place at the UvA. The conference Shifting States will convene to examine shifting forms of state power and governance amid ongoing global crises. The conference explores how conflicts, migration restrictions, economic inequality, and technological developments such as artificial intelligence generate new tensions between citizens and state institutions. The keynote speaker is Alice von Bieberstein.
Read moreIntermediate bodies: mothers, neighbourhoods and the elastic welfare state in France
On 4 November Alice Daquin will be the next speaker for the Welfare Futures Seminar Series. In her talk Intermediate Bodies: Mothers, Neighbourhoods and the Elastic Welfare State in France she will explore how everyday actors such as mothers and local communities interact with and reshape state welfare structures, revealing the flexible, often invisible layers through which care, responsibility, and governance are negotiated in contemporary France.
Read morePolyphonic Welfare: Challenging Hierarches in a Norwegian Social Entrepreneurship Incubator
Janet Connor's lecture "Polyphonic Welfare" challenges hierarches in a Norwegian social entrepreneurship incubator. This lecture is part of the Welfare Futures Seminar series and takes place on October 7, 2025.
Read moreAnouk de Koning delivers her inaugural lecture on the ‘Intimate State’
On June 6, 2025, anthropologist Anouk de Koning delivered her inaugural lecture at the University of Amsterdam, titled The Intimate State: Remaking Political Landscapes in the Netherlands. In her lecture, she explored how the Dutch welfare state has, since 2015, been transformed into an "intimate state"—a seemingly human, close, and participatory government that carries out its social responsibilities through neighborhood teams and collaborations with citizens.
Read more'Advocacy by and for refugees in Rotterdam' door Lieke van der Veer
Lieke van der Veer’s lecture “Advocacy by and for refugees in Rotterdam” explores how refugee-led initiatives in Rotterdam navigate the tension between local engagement and bureaucratic demands. Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork, Van der Veer shows how ‘bridge-builders’ with a migration background operate within a landscape shaped by social inequality, policy jargon, and racial power dynamics. The lecture takes place on 16 September 2025 and is part of the Welfare Futures Seminar series
Read moreWelfare Futures Recap: Eline Westra on Universality and Inclusivity
During the May edition of the Welfare Futures seminar, Eline Westra gave a lecture on her PhD research into the history of social policy in the Netherlands. Although this policy is often presented as universal and inclusive, Westra demonstrated how it is deeply rooted in colonial and racialized structures that systematically marginalize groups such as Surinamese Dutch citizens. Her historical and ethnographic work reveals hidden dynamics within welfare systems and is therefore of great significance.
Read moreWelfare Futures Recap: Ruth Prince on Solidarity, Precarity, and the Limits of Social Protection in Kenya
Professor Ruth Prince delivered the opening lecture of the Welfare Futures seminar series. She spoke about pressure, precarity, and the limits of solidarity in Kenya, with a particular focus on how systems of social and financial protection are being shaped. Her lecture highlighted how the ideals of universal healthcare and social protection often clash with neoliberal reforms, limited public resources, and the growing influence of private actors.
Read more“Revisiting ‘Universality’ and ‘Inclusivity’ by Eline Westra
Eline Westra's lecture "Revisiting 'Universality' and 'Inclusivity': on the Racial and Colonial Dimensions of Dutch Social Policy" examines the racial and colonial dimensions of social policy in the Netherlands. This lecture is part of the Welfare Futures Seminar series and takes place on May 6, 2025.
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