DFUTURE

Drawing on interviews and archival reviews, it shows how feminist archives resist women’s marginalization and contribute to the broader post-Yugoslav “archival turn.”

This article by Enduena Klajiqi examines feminist archival activism in Kosovo and how it challenges dominant post-war, male-centered historical narratives.

brill.com/view/journal...

It calls for shifting attention toward everyday social, cultural, and transnational dynamics to better capture Kosovo’s complexities, contradictions, and lived experiences.

A new Special Issue by Vjosa Musliu and Gezim Krasniqi argues that treating Kosovo as a fixed “case study” in international relations has turned it into a black box defined mainly by ethnic conflict and external intervention.

brill.com/view/journal...

On altar boys and good-hearted guys: de-Othering and the whitening of male convert “foreign fighters” in Belgian newspapers This article analyzes how Belgian Dutch and French-speaking newspapers (2013–2022) use emotional storytelling techniques to shape news stories about convert men to Islam in the conflict-zone Syria/...

New work by Jihane Sliti and Iman Lechkar. Their article in "Identities: Global Studies in Culture and Power" examines Belgian media coverage of male converts in the context of “foreign fighters,” with a focus on processes of whitening and de-Othering.

www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

Waar komt dit fenomeen vandaan en welk effect heeft het op politici en het publiek?

Bekijk de aflevering via VRT MAX: www.vrt.be/vrtmax/a-z/d...

Prof. Karen Celis in De Afspraak (16/1) over online geweld tegen vrouwelijke politici. Na de aankondiging dat Vlaams minister Melissa Depraetere op doktersadvies onmiddellijk met zwangerschapsverlof moest, werden sociale media overspoeld met negatieve en ronduit beledigende commentaren.

"Populists and socialists are more likely than other politicians to come from lower-class families, and social democrats to have less educated parents. Yet both groups are almost just as likely to have highly educated and higher class friends and partners"

🔗 lnkd.in/ehQyXfUk

📢 New article by @ninojunius.bsky.social and Stefaan Walgrave on politicians and their social ties!

🌍 When was the last time you were trained by three top-notch EU projects simultaneously?

👉 Learn more: www.pledgeproject.eu/joint-worksh...
🎟 Register now via the link or QR code and be part of this collaborative discussion!

#PolicyMaking #ResearchToPolicy #PLEDGE #PolicyInnovation

Very happy that my contribution in the @ejcs-journal.bsky.social and the full special issue on "Space Invaders Revisited" is now out in print! Honoured to be amongs amazing scholars, to revisit the amazing and still timely work by Nirmal Puwar!

➡️Read my piece here: doi.org/10.1177/1367...

📚 Available for Turkish language readership: www.baglam.com/home/book/su... #Sustainability #SocialEcology #RuralStudies #EnvironmentalSociology #AgrarianChange #DFUTURE #BookRelease

By situating these insights within broader debates on sustainability, rural transformation and social ecology, the book offers a critical yet dreamy on reimagining agriculture beyond capitalist growth paradigms.

She examines how processes of modernisation, neoliberalisation, urbanisation and climate change are reshaping rural livelihoods and means of rose cultivation, while also illuminating possibilities of resilience and ecological imagination.

🎯 Grounded in ethnographic research in Ağlasun, Turkey, the book focuses into the centuries-old practice of rose cultivation to explore the interwoven environmental, economic and social dimensions of agricultural life.

🎉 We are delighted to announce the release of our @dfuturevub.bsky.social colleague Ebru Akgün's book, “Sürdürülebilir Tarım Hayali: Gül Yetiştiriciliğinin Sosyal Ekolojisi” (A Dream for Sustainable Agriculture: The Social Ecology of Rose Cultivation), published by Bağlam Yayınları.

The piece raises the fundamental question: if everything else keeps running despite the lack of a regional government, what is the point of having one?

Meanwhile, non-profits and businesses are suffering: social organisations face delayed funding and a million-euro budget gap, and business groups have declared a “state of emergency” over the leadership vacuum.

It highlights how this political deadlock is being felt by citizens who say their votes now feel pointless, with one saying “I don’t even know why I bothered voting.”

The article laments that after 500 days since the June 2024 regional elections, the Brussels‑Capital Region still has no proper government due to failed coalition talks and parties refusing to negotiate with each other.

500 days with no Brussels Government: 'I don't know why I even bothered voting' The European capital's reputation for complexity is certainly getting worse, but the political deadlock is also felt on the ground.

@dfuturevub.bsky.social researcher @thomlegein.bsky.social was interviewed by @brusselstimes.com for an article on the Brussels regional government formation.

www.brusselstimes.com/brussels/180...

Marco's project explores this through migrants’ lived experiences and Albania’s role as co-constructor of Europe’s borders. 🌍

The EU’s migration policy is increasingly outsourced to the Western Balkans. Deals like the Italy–Albania Protocol and EU–Albania FRONTEX raise big questions: whose rights are at stake, and who shapes “EUrope”?

Congratulations to @marcozampieri.bsky.social for receiving a PhD Fellowship from @fwovlaanderen.bsky.social. We're over the moon to be able to continue to work with Marco and engage with his interesting, important and timely project.

The research group will miss Benjamin's presence. We are grateful for our time together and proud of the person he has become. And even though we wish him all the best, we are also slightly envious of his future colleagues.

Congratulations, Dr. Benjamin Blanckaert! 👨‍🎓

Congratulations to promotors Silvia Erzeel and Didier Caluwaerts, and many thanks to jury chair @elinesevers.bsky.social

Benjamin gave a very engaging and accessible presentation, sharing his knowledge and enthusiasm with a captivated audience. The Q&A with the jury members @dkavadia.bsky.social, @emilievh.bsky.social, @robindevroe.bsky.social, Joost Vaesen and Min Reuchamps was spirited and insightful.

Another festive week at @dfuturevub.bsky.social 🎉

Benjamin Blanckaert succesfully defended his dissertation "Holding Together or Falling Apart? Electoral Politics Across the Linguistic Divide in the Brussels-Capital Region."

About last night...

🎉 Congratulations Dr. @kamilbernaerts.bsky.social ! 🎓

📖 Dr. Bernaerts defended his dissertation on polarisation and its complex, dynamic relationship with democracy and institutions.

Needless to say, it was fantastic!

Find out more about Kamil's work via kamilbernaerts.com

Why top politicians are pessimistic or optimistic about democracy and its evolution Amid widespread concerns about the crisis of democracy, scant scholarly attention has been given to the views of elite politicians who are at the helm of democracy and, for instance, have the abili...

New publication by DFuture’s Nino Junius et al.: “Why top politicians are pessimistic or optimistic about democracy and its evolution”.

What makes political leaders lean one way - optimism or pessimism - and how does that shape democracy’s direction?

Link: www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....