Through archival research and a discursive analysis of policy documents, legislation, and activist claims-making, she uncovers both explicit exclusions and more subtle, often silenced, inequalities that shape the postcolonial Dutch welfare state today.

In this talk, Westra will highlight the historical role of activists in exposing and challenging these persistent inequalities and discuss how welfare scholars can meaningfully engage with activist knowledge in their research.

Drinks & snacks afterwards in CREA Café. 

About Eline Westra

Eline Westra has recently completed her PhD at the University of Amsterdam and has started at Leiden University as a postdoctoral researcher in the project 'Dilemmas of Doing Diversity', where she investigates how diversity policies are shaped and implemented in practice. 

In a recently published article, she examined how Black feminists in the 1980s viewed the Dutch welfare state and how their political demands relate to contemporary social debates. She also wrote an intersectional analysis of the 'toeslagenaffaire' in The Netherlands ('the childcare benefits scandal').

Livestream

If you are not able to join in person, you can also follow the talk and discussion via the livestream.