Wigbertson Julian Isenia, who uses the pronouns they/them/e, currently holds the position of Assistant Professor in the Department of Anthropology at the University of Amsterdam (UD1). Academically trained in Cultural Analysis with a Ph.D. from the University of Amsterdam, Dr. Isenia’s interdisciplinary scholarship blends ethnographic methods with archival research to critically investigate Caribbean identities, postcolonial contexts, and queer subjectivities.

Dr. Isenia’s academic inquiries primarily engage with the nexus of gender, sexuality, and (post)colonialism. They dissect the cultural articulations and practices—ranging from archival collections and literature to theatre and performance—in Caribbean contexts, notably Curaçao. Their work sheds light on how sexual and gender minority rights intersect with tourism and neo-colonial relations with the Netherlands, adding historical and contemporary layers to the conversation. One aspect of their work explores how postcolonial communities and intellectuals engage with historical records, thereby challenging or reconfiguring established societal paradigms.

Dr. Isenia has contributed articles to peer-reviewed journals such as “Tijdschrift voor Genderstudies,” “Feminist Review,” "Small Axe," "Journal of the History of Sexuality," "AIDS & Behavior,"  and "Journal of Haitian Studies." They contributed book chapters to reputable publications such as the “Routledge Companion to Sexuality and Colonialism” and “Postcolonial Intellectuals in Europe: Critics, Artists, Movements, and Their Publics,” published by Rowman & Littlefield International. Another chapter, "Personal Narratives and Social Constructs through Autoethnography in Performance Studies," was published in the anthology Performance Research Methods (Open Publishers) and another chapter in an anthology of Oxford University Press (forthcoming) titled "The Dutch Empire and its Legacies: A Comparative Analysis of Sexuality and Gender Regulation in Asia, the Americas and South Africa." 

Their article “Looking for kambrada: sexuality and social anxieties in the Dutch colonial archive, 1882-1923” received an honorable mention for the Gregory Sprague Prize in 2020 from the Committee on LGBT History, recognizing outstanding articles in LGBT+ and queer history. Also, their dissertation received an honorable mention by the Caribbean Studies Association. Finally, they are a recipient of the Yasuo Sakakibara Prize for the best paper at the American Studies Association 2025. 

Their first monograph, titled “The Question of Dutch Politics as a Matter of Theatre: Theatre and Performance after the 2008 Financial Crisis,” published by Tectum Verlag in 2017, scrutinizes the influence of neoliberalism on Dutch cultural politics. Specifically, the work argues that theatre is a formidable medium for re-politicizing public discourses, making it an essential read for performance scholars and political analysts.

Beyond the realm of academia, Dr. Isenia co-curated exhibitions such as “Nos tei” in 2019 at IHLIA LGBT Heritage and “House of Hiv: the stories behind 40 years of community initiatives” in 2022, contributing to broader societal dialogues on queer communities and postcolonial identities.

In recognition of their scholarly contributions, Dr. Isenia has received several prizes, including the UvA 385 grant for a fellowship at New York University and the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture. Their expertise has also been sought after in academic peer review, where he has served as reviewers for journals including “Tijdschrift voor Genderstudies,” “Performance Philosophy,” “Women’s History Review,” and “Caribbean Conjunctures: The Caribbean Studies Association Journal.”

They were interviewed and featured in Parool, At5, Foam International Photography Magazine, VICE, Volkskrant, Afropunk, and Caribisch Netwerk. They presented their work at Pakhuis de Zwijger, Amsterdam Museum, 198 Contemporary Arts and Learning (London), Kadist (Paris), De Balie during Black Achievement Month, IQMF, Theater Generator, Lantarenvenster and Holland Festival. 

Oceanic Sex: Archives of Caste and Indenture

Postcolonial Island Intimacies Lecture by prof. Anjali Arondekar

As the inaugural lecture in the lecture series Postcolonial Island Intimacies, Professor Anjali Arondekar examines archival records of gender and sexuality within indentured labour, a contract system of coerced work.

Date: 28 January 2026

Time: 15:00 -16:30

Location: University Library

Room: Chirurgisch Theater (UB A1.01)

Anjali Arondekar.

In this talk, prof. Arondekar considers the question: if archives of indenture are flooded with records of identificationthat suture presence to labour, what happens to the labour of gender and sexuality that lives unaccounted within economies of such enumeration? How do we think histories of indenture outside settled archival forms, outside technologies of historical recuperation, where we historicize not to materialize absence, but to speak to the weight of our historical anchors?

Gender and sexuality here are not tracked through acts/practices that might return us to identitarian forms; rather, prof. Arondekar reads archival records of gender and sexuality against the settlement and lure of reproductive futurities (be they of capital, race, caste) offered or mediated through indenture. 

Register here

About the speaker

Anjali Arondekar is Peggy and Jack Baskin Foundation Presidential Professor of Feminist Studies, University of California, Santa Cruz. She was the founding Director, Center for South Asian Studies, 2020-24. Her research engages the comparative poetics and politics of sexuality, caste, and historiography, with a focus on South Asia and the broader Indian Ocean world. She is the author of For the Record: On Sexuality and the Colonial Archive in India (Duke University Press, 2009, Orient Blackswan, India, 2010), winner of the Alan Bray Memorial Book Award for best book in lesbian, gay, or queer studies in literature and cultural studies, Modern Language Association (MLA), 2010. Her second book, Abundance: Sexuality’s History (Duke University Press, 2023, Orient Blackswan, 2023), grows out of her interest in the archival figurations of sexuality, caste and historiography in British and Portuguese colonial India. Arondekar is currently working on a third project, Oceanic Sex: Archives of Caste and Indenture.