Gender Studies in the Humanities
Muntstraat 2a
3512 EV Utrecht
The Netherlands
+31-(0)30-253.78.46

Gloria Wekker

Professor and Director of GEM, Center of Expertise on Gender, Ethnicity and Multiculturality in Higher Education
Workplaces: Institute for Media and Culture Studies & GEM, Center of Expertise on Gender, Ethnicity and Multiculturality in Higher Education

Current Projects and Research Interests

Gloria Wekker is a social and cultural anthropologist (MA: UVA 1981, PHD: UCLA 1992), specializing in Gender Studies, Sexuality Studies, African American Studies and Caribbean Studies. Wekker has held the Aletta (IIAV)-chair on Gender and Ethnicity at the Faculty of the Humanities of Utrecht University from 2001 on. She is the coordinator of the one-year MA programme "Comparative Women's Studies in Culture and Politics" as well as the director of GEM, the expertise center on Gender, Ethnicity and Multiculturality in higher education at the same university.

Her research interests include the following themes: constructions of sexual subjectivity in the Black Diaspora; the history of the black, migrant- and refugee Women's Movement in the Netherlands; gendered and ethnicized knowledge systems in the Dutch academy and society; and Higher Education in the Netherlands. In April 2006, Columbia University Press published The Politics of Passion; Women's Sexual Culture in the Afro-Surinamese Diaspora for which she received the Ruth Benedict Prize of American Anthropological Association (2007). Another recent publication which she co-authored is Je hebt een kleur, maar je bent Nederlands. Identiteitsformaties van geadopteerden van kleur (with C. Asberg, van der Tuin, I. en N. Frederiks, Utrecht University 2007).

Wekker participates in the development of multicultural and anti-racist gender theory in the Netherlands. Within Gender Studies, she situates herself as a representative of intersectional and transnational gender theory. In addition, Wekker writes poetry and prose and is on the editorial board of several international journals in the fields of Queer and Feminist Studies and the Social Sciences.

Wekker is on sabbatical at NIAS (Netherlands Institute for Advanced Studies) from September 7 2011 till the end of June 2012, to work on her new book Innocence Unltd. Intersections of Gender, Race and Sexuality in the Dutch Cultural Archive.

Full Curriculum Vitae dated November 2011 in PDF format

Speech on the book Spiegelreflex by Susan Legêne, dated September 2010 in PDF (in Dutch)

Lecture "Geweld is Niet Gewoon", dated March 15 2010 in PDF (in Dutch)

George Mosse Lecture dated September 16 2009 in PDF (in Dutch)

Recent Publications

BOOKS/REPORTS

English
• Innocence Unltd. Intersections of Gender, Race and Sexuality in the Dutch Cultural Archive. Forthcoming, 2013.

  

• Re-membering Obama. The Politics of Tears and the Collective Responsibilities of Black Intellectuals (with M. Jacqui Alexander and Gail Lewis). Solicited volume. Durham, North-Carolina: Duke University Press. Forthcoming, 2011.

• The Position of Black, Migrant and Refugee Women in the Dutch Academy. (With C. Ellerbe-Dueck.) For: EU Brussels, Network on Ethnicity and Women Scientists, VI-th framework (Science and Society), project nr. 518040, 2007.

• The Politics of Passion. Women's Sexual Culture in the Afro-Surinamese Diaspora. Columbia University Press. Between women, between men series, 2006.

• Women, the Environment and Sustainable Development. Bibliography (with Nancy Jouwe and Rosi Braidotti). Utrecht: University of Utrecht, 1999.

  Dutch

• Je Hebt Een Kleur, Maar Je Bent Nederlands. Identiteitsformaties van Geadopteerden van Kleur. (met dr. C. Asberg, dr. I. van der Tuin en drs. N. Frederiks.) Een rapport van de Leerstoelgroep Genderstudies, Universiteit Utrecht, 2007. (You Are of Colour, Yet You Are Dutch. Identity Formations of Adoptees of Colour. A report of the Department Genderstudies, Utrecht University, 2007.)

  

• Tijd voor Diversiteit. Een Onderzoek naar Diversiteit in de Curricula van de Faculteit der Letteren. Een project van E-Quality, ECHO, de Wetenschapswinkel Letteren en GEM. Utrecht: Universiteit Utrecht, 2004. (Met drs. Elsje Dicke). (Time for diversity. A research project on diversity in the curricula of the Faculty of Humanities. Project of E-Quality, ECHO, Scienceshop of the Humanities and GEM. Utrecht University, 2004. With drs. Elsje Dicke.)

• Nesten Bouwen op een Winderige Plek. Denken over Gender en Etniciteit in Nederland. Oratie Universiteit Utrecht, april 2002. (Building Nests in a Windy Place. Thinking on Gender and Ethnicity in the Netherlands. Oration, Utrecht University, April 2002.)

• Caleidoscopische Visies. Zwarte, Migranten- en Vluchtelingen- Vrouwenbeweging in Nederland. (Eindredacteur, met Maayke Botman en Nancy Jouwe). Coproductie van GEM en E-Quality. Amsterdam: Koninklijk Instituut voor de Tropen, 2001. (Caleidoscopic Visions. Black, Migrant- and Refugee Women's Movement in the Netherlands. With Maayke Botman and Nancy Jouwe, eds. Coproduction of GEM and E-Quality. Amsterdam, Royal Tropical Institute, 2001)

• Praten in het Donker. Multiculturalisme en Anti-racisme in Feministisch Perspectief (met Rosi Braidotti, red.). Kampen: Kok Agora, 1996.

  

• Ik Ben een Gouden Munt. Subjectiviteit en Seksualiteit van Creoolse Volksklasse Vrouwen in Paramaribo. Amsterdam: Feministische Uitgeverij Vita, 1994.

• "Diving into the Wreck. Intersections of Gender, Race, Sexuality, and Class in the Dutch Cultural Archive." In: Philomena Essed and Isabel Hoving, eds. Dutch Racism. Amsterdam: Rodopi, forthcoming, 2011.

• "Intimate Truths. Theorizing Subjectivity and Sexuality. A Psycho-Analytical and a Post-Colonial Approach." In: Rosemarie Buikema, Gabrielle Griffin and Nina Lykke, eds. Theories and Methodologies in Post-Graduate Feminist Research: Researching Differently. New York: Routledge, 2011, 245-57.

• "'I had been thinking [her] thoughts for so long I thought they were mine'. Toni Morrison's Playing in the Dark." European Journal of Women's Studies, 18 (1), February 2011.

• "Book review of Thomas J. Sugrue, Not Even Past. Barack Obama and the Burden of Race." European journal of American studies [Online], Reviews 2010-2, November 9, 2010.

  

• "Reading Obama: Collective Responsibilities and the Politics of Tears" (with M. Jacqui Alexander and G. Lewis). In: B. Guy-Sheftall and J. Betsch Cole, eds. Who Should be First? Feminists speak out on the 2008 Presidential Campaign. New York: State University of New York Press, 2010, 285-304.

• "The Arena of Disciplines. Gloria Anzaldua and Interdisciplinarity". In: Rosemarie Buikema and Iris van der Tuin, eds. Doing Gender in Media, Art and Culture. New York: Routledge, 2009, 54-69.

• "Another Dream of a Common Language. Imagining Black Europe." In: Darlene Clark Hine, Trica Danielle Keaton and Stephen Small, eds. Black Europe and the African Diaspora. Champaign, Illinois: University of Illinois Press, 2009, 277-290. Refereed.

• "Where the Girls Are... Some Hidden Gendered and Ethnicized Aspects of Higher Education in the Netherlands." In: Saloshna Vandayar and Mokobung Nkomo, eds. Thinking Diversity, Building Cohesion: a Transnational Dialogue on Education. Published in the SAVUSA series, Amsterdam/Johannesburg: Rozenberg Publishers jointly with Unisa Press of South Africa, 2009, 151-164.

• "You May Be Able to Hide Your Grandmother, But You Cannot Hide Her Coughing... Reflections on Gender and Race in Higher Education in the Netherlands." In: Gender Delight. Science, Knowledge, Culture and Writing... for Nina Lykke. Linkoping University, 2009, 99-113.

  

• "Into the Promised Land? The Feminization and Ethnicization of Poverty in the Netherlands." In: Teaching Intersectionality. Putting Gender at the Centre. Teaching with Gender. European Women's Studies in International and Interdisciplinary Classrooms. (A book series by Athena) Published by ATHENA3 Advanced Thematic Network in Women's Studies in Europe, Utrecht University and Centre for Gender Studies, Stockholm University, 2009, 65-77.

• "Afro-Surinamese Women's Sexual Culture and the Long Shadows of the Past." In: Christine Barrow, Marjan de Bruin and Robert Carr, eds. Sexuality, Social Exclusion & Human Rights. Vulnerability in the Caribbean Context of HIV. Kingston, Jamaica: Ian Randle Publishers, 2009, 192-214.

• "Still Crazy After All Those Years. Feminism for the New Millennium." In: European Journal of Women's Studies, vol.11, nr.4 (2004).

• "Of Mimic Men and Unruly Women. Social Relations in Twentieth Century Suriname". In: Rosemarijn Hoefte and Peter Meel, eds. Suriname in the Twentieth Century. Leiden/ Kingston, Jamaica; KITLV Press and Ian Randle Publishers, 2001, 174-197.

• Entry on Audre Lorde, "Gamba Adisa" (with M. Jaqcui Alexander). In: Lorraine Code, general editor. Routledge Encyclopedia of Feminist Theories. London: Routledge, 2001.

  

• "What's Identity Got to Do With It? Rethinking Identity in Light of the Mati Work in Paramaribo, Suriname." In: Saskia Wieringa and Evelyn Blackwood, eds. Female Desires: Transgender Practices Across Cultures. New York: Columbia University Press, 1999, 119-138.
  • Reprinted in: E. Lewin, ed. Feminist Anthropology. A Reader. (Malden: Blackwell Publishing, 2006), 435-448.
  • Reprinted in: Y. Hume and A. Kamugisha, eds. Caribbean Cultural Thought: From Plantation to Diaspora. (Kingston, Jamaica: Ian Randle Press, forthcoming, 2012.

• "Diep in de Woestijn". In: 010 Fabulous Women, een uitgave van Scala, expertisecentrum voor emancipatie en participatie, March 2011, 6-8.

• "Bouterse for President. Een cultuurkritische interpretatie". In: Noraly Beijer en John Leerdam, red., Suriname en Ik. Persoonlijke verhalen van bekende Surinamers over hun vaderland. Amsterdam: J.M. Meulenhoff, 2010, 169-173.

• "Gender. Lemma in de Gamma Canon". Onder redactie van Paul Schnabel. In: de Volkskrant, October 23, 2010.

• "Zwarte, Migranten- en Vluchtelingenvrouwen" (met Mariette Hermans). In: Miriam Hemker en Linda Huijsmans, red., Lesbo-Encyclopedie. Uitgeverij Ambo/Anthos, 2009.

• "Een Schatkamer met Cultureel Erfgoed". Voorwoord in: Christine van Russel-Henar, Angisa Tori. De Geheimtaal van Suriname's Hoofddoeken. Paramaribo: Quick Offset Print, 2008, 12-18.

• "Overdag Scheld Je Me Schandalig Uit, Maar 's Nachts Wil Je Seksuele Intimiteit. Op Zoek Naar Surinaamse Seksualiteit". In: OSO, nr. 1, 2008, 11-27.

  

• "Disciplinariteit als Strijdtoneel: Gloria Anzuelda en Interdisciplinariteit". In: Rosemarie Buikema en Iris van der Tuin, red., Gender in Media, Kunst en Cultuur. Coutinho, Bussum, 2007, 61-77.

• "Een Nederlands Fotoboek... Momenten in de Multiculturele Samenleving". In: Francio Guadeloupe en Vincent de Rooij, red., Zo Zijn Onze Manieren... Visies op Multiculturaliteit in Nederland. Amsterdam: Rozenberg, 2007, 39-47.

• "Mentaliteit Witte Adoptieouders Moet Veranderen". Et al. In: De Volkskrant, 8 januari 2007.

• "Sranan, Swit' Sranan. Populaire Beeldvorming over Gender- en Etnische Gelijkheid in Suriname". In: Van Kempen, M. e.a., red., Wandelaar Onder de Palmen. Opstellen over Koloniale en Postkoloniale Literatuur en Cultuur. Opgedragen aan Bert Paasman. Leiden: KITLV Uitgeverij, 2004, 539-550.

Teaching

• Gender and Ethnicity in the Netherlands.
• Gender, Ethnicity and the Politics of Representation.

• Interdisciplinary course on the Caribbean; Univ. of Leiden. Lecture on Kinship structures, family and sexuality in the Caribbean.
• International School of Learning of the Univ. of Vermont. Lecture on Cross-cultural Studies of Homosexuality and Identity.

E-mail: G.D.Wekker@uu.nl.