Welfare Future Seminar with Anouk de Koning
What happens when the welfare state promises to become more personal, accessible and caring? Can proximity and collaboration overcome fears of bureaucratic intrusion and state violence? And what does it mean to say that welfare states have psychic lives?
Drawing on in-depth ethnographic research with Amsterdam’s Parent and Child Teams, in the book Anouk de Koning explores the emergence of an intimate welfare state—a mode of governance that works through proximity, collaboration and personal engagement, seeking to embed the welfare state in the social fabric of neighbourhoods. It brings together a decade of research on intimate welfare developed by de Koning and her research teams, examining the aspirations, ethical commitments and everyday dilemmas that shape this emerging welfare formation.
Anouk will be joined by three UvA scholars who bring distinct disciplinary perspectives to the conversation:
Franca van Hooren, Associate Professor of Political Science, whose work addresses care work, welfare states and migration.
Nafis Hasan, Assistant Professor of Anthropology, whose work examines digital technology, digital public governance and public infrastructure.
Patrick Brown, Associate Professor of Sociology, whose research focuses on health, risk, trust and social policy.
The discussants will reflect on what they find productive, provocative or challenging in the book’s account. What do they think of its contention that an intimate welfare state is emerging? And what do they make of the idea that welfare states have psychic lives? We hope you’ll join us for the conversation and for drinks afterwards.
Practical information
What
Anouk de Koning, Franca van Hooren, Nafis Hasan, and Patrick Brown, An Intimate State: A Book Discussion
When
1 December, 15.30-17.00, followed by drinks @ Café De Krater.
Where
REC B5.12, Common Room Anthropology (Roeterseiland, B-building, 5th floor)
If you are not able to join in person, you can also follow the talk and discussion via the live stream (with the option to pose a question in the chat).
Welfare Futures seminar series
The Welfare Futures seminar series is hosted by the Prototyping Welfare and Crafting Resilience projects, embedded in the Anthropology department of the University of Amsterdam. With talks every 4 weeks, it seeks to create a lively space for debate and bring together an interdisciplinary ethnographic community engaged in thinking about transforming welfare landscapes in Europe and beyond.
Bio
Anouk de Koning is Professor of Power, Politics and the State in the Department of Anthropology at the University of Amsterdam. Her research explores how political regimes shape everyday life, particularly through welfare programs and practices. She currently leads two major research projects (2022–2028): Prototyping Welfare in Europe and Crafting Resilience. Both examine the new sociopolitical worlds brought into being through welfare experiments across Europe. This research agenda culminates in her new book, Remaking Welfare in the Netherlands: Fantasies of an Intimate State (UCL, December 2026). She also has a longstanding interest in urban anthropology. Her publications include Global Dreams: Gender, Class and Public Space in Cosmopolitan Cairo (AUC Press, 2009) and, with Rivke Jaffe, Introducing Urban Anthropology (Routledge, 2023).
