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TEACHING ACTIVITIES
2008/2009 --Interdisciplinary Minor: Social Engineering in the Amsterdam Metropole (30 ects) (Office for Social Engineering / UvA / Gemeente Amsterdam) --Specialisation Course International Relations (UvA) --Introduction to International Relations & International Political Economy (ISHSS)
--Rroma ('gypsy') film talks: 'Finding Rromanisthan' in several venues in Amsterdam (Paradiso, Melkweg, Kriterion, Tropical Theatre) and the balkans (Macedonia, Serbia/Kosovo). Topic: views on the history, diaspora, language and culture of the Rroma people, as well as a self-reflective research in the eagerness for sedentary societies to use the 'gypsies' as object of both desire and despise. 2007/2008 --Mitrovica Summer University, Kosovo (July), see link below --Award: Elected "best Political Science teacher in 2007", based on course evaluations and a student poll --Institute for Interdisciplinary Studies (IIS): guest lectures with the interdisciplinary course of Conflict Studies
Mitrovica Summer University
Beirut Public Space File
Beirut Public Space Workshop 2007
Maakbaarheid in de Grote Stad
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 RESEARCH JOURNALISM
Radio Netherlands Worldwide (Wereldomroep)
As of may 2008 I am working for Radio Netherlands Worldwide (Wereldomroep) as an editor on Globalisation & Migration.
Wereldomroep |
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RESEARCH
The history of the Rroma ('gypsy')Diaspora, language, culture and rituals.Particularly: - The often conflictive nature of the relationship between the travelling Rroma and sedentary (territorially vested) communities in Europe, inspired by thework ofanthropologist James Scott, who in his work 'Seeing like a State', originally set out to investigate why the state always seems to be the enenemy of 'people that move around' (1998:1); Case study: the municipality of Topaanec, near Suto Orizari ('Shutka'), Macedonia
- The reciprocal process of identity formation between Rroma and ‘Gadje’ (those ‘stuck to the ground’);
- The effectssorted by processes of 'de-territorialisation' (Jan Aart Scholte, 2005:17) driven by forces of globalisation -- understood as an intensified migration of people, products and information, as well as the volatility of ideas and identities; the erosion of the economic, political, social and cultural infrastructures based on the grid of national territories (aligned with the proposition of the 'hollowing out' or disintegration of the nation state).
What are the possible implications of processes of de-territorialisation, when looking at the sense of community in western European societies, the ontology of which is largely based upon the territoriality of the nation state, or at the EU, for that matter?
What could we learn from the 'Rroma case', a truly globalised people, which, while making up Europe's largest minority (10-12 million), has lived 'outside' European history for ten centuries, anomalous to the nation state projects and modernity at large?
For example, what are the lessonsto be drawn with respect to the recent emergence and flourishing of reactionary and'protective' identity politics fuelling clashes expressed in terms of culture and religion, 'us & them'?
A thorough, 'embodied' study of the Rroma people will provide us with an unique 'lense' throughwhich we can demystify and sharply diagnose the condition of our territorial based beingand understanding, and from there hopefully will serve to set out the ontological beacons for constructing a forwardlooking, de-territorialised European 'sense of self', andtherewith a more inclusive notion of community.
Academic advisor: Professor Dr. Gerd Junne
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 SOCIAL ENGINEERING IN THE AMSTERDAM METROPOLE
What makes a good society? When does a human being function at its best? To what extent can a city be socially engineered? during the second semester of this academic year I taught, together with Partizan Publik ( http://www.partizanpublik.nl ), a new course on social engineering in the city of Amsterdam. The aim of the course is to have students from various backgrounds (urban planning, architecture, economics, anthropology, arts, etc) engage themselves in real existing 'puzzles' of social engineering provided by the municipality of Amsterdam. These are either social or physical spaces that do not 'work properly' in the perception of the city government, or that demand further research, such as: a 'trashy' entrance to the city, 'invisible' or 'intangible' Marrocan girls in the northern city peripheries, the reconstruction of thefamous Amsterdam urban planning disaster site: Wibaut area, etc. A specially selected team of students of a multi-disciplinair composition will 'make camp' on this site and effectuate a 'laboratory for social engineering', on site for 14 weeks they will do research with the aim of designing a concrete intervention (not another report!). The student teams will be lectured and supportedto be able to do this in a meaningfull and academic sound an concious manner. Important pillars will be the research component and the design of the strategic intervention. In that light so-called ‘Masters of Intervention’(Prof James Scott, Job Cohen, ea)willjoin usto advise the students with respect to their research ('reading the field'), and possible interventions, but also to contribute to the public debate on this particular site or problematic.
This course started on March 3, 2008 and ended with a closing session with major cohen in amsterdam city hall.
UPDATE: In the spring semester 2009 a modified, enlarged and intensified edition of the course will be offered as a minor (30 ects). More soon!
Institute for Interdisciplinary Studies
Partizan Publik |
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 FILM & SOCIETY
FINDING ROMANISTHAN
Rroma ('gypsy') film talks:
'Finding Rromanisthan'
in several venues in Amsterdam
(Paradiso, Melkweg,Kriterion, Tropical Theatre)
and thebalkans (Macedonia,Serbia/Kosovo).
Topic: views on the history, diaspora, language
and culture of the Rroma people, as well as a
self-reflective research in the eagerness for sedentary
societies to use the 'gypsies' as object of
both desire and despise.
Both stereotypes are remote from reality.
In this lecture the audience is invited to look
beyond our gaze of projection and discuss
mechanisms of inclusion and exclusion
at play wherever man creates society
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EXTRA~MINDS
extrA~minds is an Amsterdam-based autonomous collective of researchers, lecturers and social entrepeneurs committed to applying social sciences in designing interventions for the better of society. Among the contractors are: the Amsterdam Centre for Conflict Studies (ACS), the Municipality of Amsterdam, AT5 (Amsterdam broadcasting company), KPN (communications company), the Hogeschool van Amsterdam (HvA), the Amsterdam School for International Relations (ASIR), the local municipality of Zeeburg (Amsterdam), the International School for Humanities and Social Sciences (ISHSS), the UvA Department of Political Science, the Digital University (DU), the Institute for Interdisciplinary Studies (IIS), De Balie, NGO La Benevolencija and many more. For more information: martijnvantol[at]gmail.com
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 DOCURAMA RWANDA: EXPOSING THE ROOTS OF EVIL
Together with researcher Laurens Nijzink extrA~Minds worked on a project focussing on the relation between media manipulation and violent conflict in Africa. (For more info: see documents and Benevolencija website below)
La Benevolencija website
La Benevolencija project info |
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EXTRA-ACADEMIC INTERESTS
Less often than I desire, I escape the paced-up life of Amsterdam City and move to a run-down shipyard north of Amsterdam, where my friends and I restore classic cars, sailing boats and BMW motorcycles.
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BEIRUT 2007
Public Space Reconstruction Workshop
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