Giselinde Kuipers

In Utrecht is precies zo'n winkel recent overgenomen, en die gaat nu door als half webwinkel/half fysieke winkel. Nog zo'n ouderwets woord: passementerie. Verdient wel wat reclame:

passemento.nl

Ja maar nu zeg jij er 'gemiddeld genomen' bij, en dat is wel relevant. Er zijn variaties over tijd, en tussen partijen, en ideologische richtingen. B&W suggereren wel heel stellig dat hogeropgeleiden de belangen van lageropgeleiden niet of slecht behartigen, en dat lijkt me empirisch onwaar.

Zie ook de zeer terechte opmerking van @merijnoudenampsen.org aan het eind van het stuk over de rol van politieke elites. "Kloven" hebben nooit vanzelfsprekende politieke gevolgen, dat is altijd een strategische/ideologische keuze.

En dat is teleurstellend en kortzichtig.

>> Het zwakke punt van Bovens en Willes' Diplomademocratie (en vd Waals ressentiment) is het idee dat hogeropgeleide politici niet goed de belangen van lageropgeleiden kunnen behartigen. Dat kunnen ze in theorie natuurlijk best. Maar blijkens dit regeerakkoord willen ze het op dit moment niet. >>

Onder sociologen woekert de strijd over diploma’s nog voort Sociologie: Loopt er een scheidslijn tussen hoog- en laagopgeleid Nederland? Sociologen zijn er nog niet over uit. „Bij de cruciale thema’s van deze tijd – migratie, klimaat – zie je dat ze er heel an...

Mooi stuk in NRC over het sociologendebat over de diplomakloof.

Interessant te lezen naast het nieuwe regeerakkoord. Met al die kadootjes voor de hogeropgeleiden en harde bezuinigingen op de verzorgingsstaat lijkt dat een bevestiging voor de gelovers in "de kloof" >>

www.nrc.nl/nieuws/2026/...

[I guess there goes my next visa waiver to the US]

People are not their government. I find it hopeful to think of academics as a global tribe somewhat disconnected from states and state institutions, and the meeting between Narges and Motti supported this.

Maybe I am idealistic, or sentimental, or both, but I have always felt that academia is a place where people are (mostly) committed to similar values, goals and ideals. In these scary times, it is important to remember that this connects us even when our governments go crazy >>

(sorry, weirdest typo here. but I don't want to delete)

"you're from Tehran", Motti chuckled, "I'm from Tel Aviv". Narges laughed too and said: "but I don't like my government". Motti said: "neither do I". We shared a taxi while they talked politics, very much in agreement, and from there seamlessly moved on to social theory>>

Hellow fellow academics: in these troubled times, let's cherish academia as a parallel global sphere and community.

I felt this strongly during a conference last week, when I introduced my Iranian grad student Narges to Motti, an Isreali sociologist. They met, shook hands and started laughing >>

Jinxed it.. Currently standing still outside of Aschaffenburg with 30 minutes delay..

(Guessing you need some distraction, maybe even more than last week..)

And this was my view waking up

German ICE train on platform at Munich central station

there are a lot of horror stories about Deutsche Bahn these days but my train to Duesseldorf is still perfectly on schedule.(PS these trains are called ICE or Inter City Express)

Took the 1810 night train from Rome Tiburtina. The brand new nightjet trains of Austrian railways have nifty capsules, quite comfortable if you aren't tall, large-bodied or claustrophobic. Woke up with breakfast in the Alps.

Trees and house against a hill, lots of snow

Now on my way back from Rome to Utrecht, with the night train to Munich, day train to Utrecht. A bit surprised to report all is going swimmingly. Currently crossing snow covered Bavaria

Arrived at the ESA conference and happy to see Bourdieu stiil going going strong

Arrived in Rome! 1328 , after a rather adventurous 30 hour trip (But with an excellent overnight stay in Torino.

11:21. Still on my way from Utrecht to Rome by train. Arriving in Florence now. Light has turned distinctly Mediterranean and I just spotted the first first palm tree. The Italian Frecciarossa high speed trains are great, very comfortable and of course the coffee is excellent.

Hotel lobby and people with suitcased

leaving the hotel with the team

Wanying, Narges, Giselinde in front of Turin station

944. Continuing my report of the train trip from Utrecht to Rome. Just passed Milan, but some pics from our departure from Turin this morning courtesy of PhD student Narges Pirhayati

Not a good picture (fast train, old phone) but the view on leaving Turin: Alps, snow capped, and morning fog. And a highway.

Turin train platform

8:00. Personally escorted to the fast Frecciarossa train to Rome, assigned a seat on the spot. Remembered the Italian talent for improvisation.. (I spent quite a bit of time doing fieldwork here)

Turin station

Empty street in Turin

720. Leaving the Turin hotel to continue our trip to Rome after train troubles yesterday. Will continue to report ..

View from a window with shutters, Italian street, scooter.

The day ended rather unexpectedly in a hotel room in Turin. Receptionist seemed a bit surprised by thr diversity of the passports of the travel company: Dutch, Polish, Belgian, Ghanaian, and Iranian.

Well this was a bit more adventurous than expected. Still in Modane

1802. Currently in Modane, last station in France, rather high up in the Alps. Hopes of reaching Rome today fading soon. Looking for hotels in Turin (never been, have heard good things)