Marja Spierenburg
Professor Anthropology of Sustainability and Livelihood / Scientific director
- Name
- Prof.dr. M.J. Spierenburg
- Telephone
- +31 71 527 6699
- m.j.spierenburg@fsw.leidenuniv.nl
- ORCID iD
- 0000-0003-0128-1900
Marja Spierenburg is Professor in the Anthropology of Sustainable Development and Livelihoods at Leiden University (the Netherlands), and Research Fellow at Stellenbosch University South Africa. Her research focuses on the role of the private sector in nature conservation and land reforms in Southern and East Africa, and the impacts on local communities’ access to land and livelihood strategies. She has also published on the inclusion of local and indigenous knowledge in biodiversity and sustainability assessments. Marja Spierenburg is a member of the Water, Energy and Food Nexus Knowledge Action Network of Future Earth, and a member of UNESCO’s International Advisory Committee for Biosphere Reserves.
More information about Marja Spierenburg
News
Publications
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Co-productive agility and four collaborative pathways to sustainability transformations
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Planning for a World beyond COVID-19: Five Pillars for Post-Neoliberal Development
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Principles for knowledge co-production in sustainability research
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Fruits of our labour: Work and organisation in the global food system
Inaugural lecture Marja Spierenburg
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2003 PhD degree in Anthropology, University of Amsterdam, title of thesis: ‘Strangers, Spirits and Land Reforms, Conflicts about Land in Dande, northern Zimbabwe.’ Supervisors: Prof. dr. H.U.E. Thoden van Velzen and Prof. dr. P.L. Geschiere.
1989 Doctoraal degree (comparable to MSc degree) in Social Psychology, with Anthropology as a second subject. University of Utrecht, The Netherlands.
1984 Propaedeuse degree in Social Psychology, University of Utrecht, The Netherlands.
Publications
Balvanera, P., Calderón-Contreras, R., Castro, A. J., Felipe-Lucia, M. R., Geijzendorffer, I. R., Jacobs, S., Martın-Lopez, B., Arbieu, U., Ifejika Speranza, C., Locatelli, B., Perez Harguindeguy, N., Ruiz Mercado, I., Spierenburg, M., Vallet, A., Lynes, L. and Gillson, L. (2017) Interconnected place-based social–ecological research can inform global sustainability. Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability, 29, 1-7.
Masterson, V, M. Tengö and M. Spierenburg (2017): Competing Place Meanings in Complex Landscapes: A Social–Ecological Approach to Unpacking Community Conservation Outcomes on the Wild Coast, South Africa, Society & Natural Resources, DOI: 10.1080/08941920.2017.1347975
Ferguson, J.E., T. San, H. Dahles, I. Wakkee, C. Moser, and M. Spierenburg (2017). Problematizing opportunity pursuit: Multidimensional Embeddedness of international entrepreneurship. Academy of Management Proceedings, 2017 (1)
Bennett, E., S. Carpenter, L. Gordon, N. Ramankutty, P. Balvanera, B. Campbell, W. Cramer, J. Foley, C. Folke, L. Karlberg, J.. Liu, H. Lotze-Campen, N. Mueller, G.. Peterson, S. Polasky, J. Rockström, R. Scholes and M. Spierenburg.( 2014) Toward a More Resilient Agriculture. Solutions, 5(5), 65-75.
Spierenburg, M.J. and S.J. Brooks (2014) (eds.) Special Issue ‘Farm dwellers, the forgotten people? Consequences of conversions to private wildlife-based production in South Africa’, Journal of Contemporary African Studies. 32(2), 151-274.
Tengö, M., E.S. Brondizio, T. Elmqvist, P. Malmer and M. Spierenburg (2014) Connecting Diverse Knowledge Systems for Enhanced Ecosystem Governance: The Multiple Evidence Base Approach, Ambio, 43, 579-591
Spierenburg, M. (2011) The politics of the liminal and the liminoid in transfrontier conservation in southern Africa, Anthropology Southern Africa, 34(1&2), 82-89.
Brooks, S., M. Spierenburg, L. van Brakel, A. Kolk, and K.B. LuKhozi (2011) Creating a commodified wilderness: Tourism, private game farming, and ‘third nature’ landscapes in KwaZulu-Natal, Tijdschrift voor Sociale en Economische Geografie, 102(3), 260-274.
Spierenburg, M. and H. Wels (2010) Conservative philanthropists, royalty and business elites in nature conservation in southern Africa, Antipode,42(3), 647-670.
Mavhunga, C. and M. Spierenburg (2009) Transfrontier talk, cordon politics: the early history of the Great Limpopo Transfrontier Park in Southern Africa, 1925-1940, Journal of Southern African Studies,35(3), 715-735.
Milgroom, J. and M. Spierenburg (2008) Induced volition: resettlement from the Limpopo National Park, Mozambique, Journal of Contemporary African Studies, 26(4), 435-448.
Spierenburg, M., C. Steenkamp and H. Wels (2008) Enclosing the local for the global commons: Community land rights in the Great Limpopo Transfrontier Conservation Area, Conservation and Society, 6(1), 87-97.
Mavhunga, C. and M. Spierenburg (2007) A finger on the pulse of the fly: hidden voices of colonial anti-tsetse science on the Rhodesian and Mozambican borderlands, 1945-1956, South African Historical Journal, 58, 117-141.
Ghorashi, H., C. Salemink and M. Spierenburg (2006) (Eds.) Special Issue ‘The transnational construction of local conflicts and protests’, Focaal, European Journal of Anthropology, 47, 17-102.
Spierenburg, M., C. Steenkamp and H. Wels (2006) Resistance against the marginalization of communities in the Great Limpopo Transfrontier Conservation Area, Focaal, European Journal of Anthropology, 47, 18-31.
Spierenburg, M. and H. Wels (2006) ‘Securing Space’: Mapping and fencing in transfrontier conservation in Southern Africa, Space & Culture, 6(3), 294-312.
Spierenburg, M. (2005) Spirits and Land Reforms: Conflicts about Land in Dande, northern Zimbabwe, Journal of Religion in Africa, 35(2), 197-231.
Spierenburg, M. (2004) The Land Degradation Narrative and its Counter-Narrative in the Performance of Power: Struggles between Project Staff and their Clientele over a Land Reform Programme in Northern Zimbabwe. Intervention Research: Journal for Culture Organisation and Management, 1(1), 81-102.
Draper, M., M. Spierenburg and H. Wels (2004) African Dreams of Cohesion: The Mythology of Community Development in Transfrontier Conservation Areas in Southern Africa. Culture & Organization, 10(4), 341-353.
Articles in journals, non-refereed
Köck, G., M.J. Spierenburg, P. Cupa, P., R. Mathevet, and V. Debevec (2017 ), Report of the EuroMAB Conference 2017, Building a sustainable future together, Dordogne Basin Biosphere Reserve, Sarlat-la-Canéda, (France), 4-7 April 2017, Article / Letter to editor, Eco.mont, 9(2), 74-76
Spierenburg, M. (2011) Sostenere le vivendicazioni, lottare per le identità. Il ruolo della religion nei conflitti sulla terra a Dande, Zimbabwe settentrionale, Afriche e Orienti, 3-4, 70-89.
Books and edited volumes, refereed:
Gewald, J.B., M. Spierenburg and H. Wels (Eds.) (2018) Nature conservation in southern Africa. Morality and Marginality: Towards sentient conservation? African Dynamics book series. Leiden: Brill Publishers
Ramutsindela, M., M. Spierenburg and H. Wels (2011) Sponsoring nature: Environmental philanthropy for nature conservation, London: Earthscan/Routledge.
Evers, S., M. Spierenburg and H. Wels (2005) (Eds.) Competing Jurisdictions; Settling land claims in Africa. Leiden: Brill.
Spierenburg, M. (2004) Strangers, Spirits and Land Reforms; Conflicts about land in Dande, northern Zimbabwe, Leiden: Brill.
Dijk, R. van, R. Reis and M. Spierenburg (2000) (Eds.) The Quest for fruition through Ngoma; the political aspects of healing in southern Africa. Cape Town, Zomba, Lusaka, Gweru, Oxford, Athens: David Philip, Kachere, Bookworld, Mambo Press, James Currey, Ohio University Press.
Contributions to books and edited volumes, refereed:
Gewald, J.B., M. Spierenburg and H. Wels (2018). Introduction: people, animals, morality, and marginality; reconfiguring wildlife conservation in Southern Africa. In: Gewald, J.B., M. Spierenburg and H. Wels (Eds.) Nature conservation in southern Africa. Morality and Marginality: Towards sentient conservation? African Dynamics book series. Leiden: Brill Publishers. 1-22.
Spierenburg, M. (2018) The emergence and socio-economic impacts of wildlife ranching in South Africa. In: Gewald, J.B., M. Spierenburg and H. Wels (Eds.) Nature conservation in southern Africa. Morality and Marginality: Towards sentient conservation? African Dynamics book series. Leiden: Brill Publishers, 167-188.
Bologna, S.A. and M. Spierenburg (2015) False legitimacies: The rhetoric of economic opportunities in the expansion of conservation areas in Southern Africa. In: V.R. van der Duim, M.A.J. Lamers and J.J. van Wijk (Eds.) Institutional arrangements for conservation and tourism in Eastern and Southern Africa: A dynamic perspective. New York: Springer, 119-138.
Spierenburg, M. (2013) ‘We agreed to move but we did not do so freely’. Resettlement from the Limpopo National Park, Mozambique. In: B. Derman, A. Hellum and K. Bergtora Sandvik (Eds.) Worlds of human rights. The ambiguities of rights claiming in Africa, Leiden: Brill Publishers, 101-128.
Andrew, N., F. Brandt, M. Spierenburg, D. Snijders and N. Mkhize (2013) Land consolidation and the expansion of game farming in South Africa: impacts on farm dwellers’ livelihoods and land rights in the Eastern Cape. In: S. Evers, C. Seagle and F. Krijtenburg (Eds.) Africa for Sale: Analysing and Theorizing Foreign Land Claims and Acquisitions, Leiden: Brill Publishers, 97-130
Cousins, B., M. Spierenburg, A. Bos and L. Ntsholo (2012) Connecting Communities and Business, Public-Private Partnerships as the Panacea for Land Reforms in Limpopo Province, South Africa, in: M. De Bruijn and R. van Dijk (eds.) The social life of connectivity in Africa, Basingstoke: Palgrave-MacMillan, 161-182.
Brooks, S., M. Spierenburg and H. Wels (2012) The organization of hypocrisy? Juxtaposing tourists and farm dwellers in game farming in South Africa. In: W. van Beek and A. Schmidt (Eds.) African hosts and their guests, cultural dynamics of tourism, Oxford/London: James Currey, 201-222.
Spierenburg, M., C. Steenkamp and H. Wels (2011) Resistance of local communities against marginalization in the Great Limpopo Transfrontier Conservation Area. In: T. Salman and M. de Theije (Eds.) Local Battles, Global Stakes. The Globalization of Local Conflicts and the Localization of Global Interests, Amsterdam: VU University Press, 259-278.
Spierenburg, M., and H. Wels (2011) Conservative philanthropists, royalty and business elites in nature conservation in southern Africa. In: D. Brockington and R. Duffy (Eds.) Capitalism and Conservation, Oxford (UK)/Malden (MA, USA): Wiley Blackwell: 179-202.
Spierenburg, M., H. Wels, K. van der Waal and S. Robins (2009) Transfrontier tourism, relations between local communities and the private sector in the Great Limpopo Transfrontier Park. In: P. Hottola (ed.) 2009. Tourism Strategies and Local Responses in Southern Africa, Wallingford: CABI, 167-182.
Spierenburg, M., C. Steenkamp and H. Wels (2008) Promises of economic development in the Great Limpopo, Southern Africa: Networks and partnerships in transfrontier conservation. In: M. Rutten, A. Leliveld and D. Foeken (eds.) Africa's Poor: Policy aims and impact, Leiden: Brill Academic Publishers, 144-168.
Draper, Malcolm, M. Spierenburg and H. Wels (2007) Images of Africa: Agency and nature conservation in South Africa. In: M. de Bruijn, R. van Dijk and J.B. Gewald (eds.) Strength beyond Structure: Social and historical trajectories of agency in Africa. Leiden: Brill Academic Publishers: 215-239.
Evers, S., M. Spierenburg and H. Wels (2005) Introduction. In: S. Evers, M. Spierenburg and H. Wels (Eds.) Competing Jurisdictions; Settling land claims in Africa. Leiden: Brill: 1-19.
Spierenburg, M. (2005) ‘We fought the war to return to the old ways.’ Conflicts about land reforms in Dande, northern Zimbabwe. In: S. Evers, M. Spierenburg and H. Wels (Eds.) Competing Jurisdictions; Settling land claims in Africa. Leiden: Brill: 103-127.
Battacharhya, D.K., E. Brondizio, M. Spierenburg, A. Ghosh, M. Traverse, Fabio de Castro, C. Morsello, and Andrea Siqueira (2005) Cultural Services. In: K. Chopra, R. Leemans, P. Kumar, H. Simons (Eds.) Ecosystems and Human Well-being, Policy Responses, Volume 3 of the Findings of the Responses Working Group of the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment, Washington DC: Island Press, 401-422.
Brown, K., B. Chambers, K. Chopra, A. Cropper, A.K. Duraiappah, D. Faith, J. Gupta, P. Kumar, R. Leemans, J. Mackensen, H. A. Mooney, W. V. Reid, J. Riley, H. Simons, M. Spierenburg, R.T. Watson, N.O. Adedipe, H. Albers, B. Aylward, J. Baker, J. Bandyopadhyay, J.C. Belausteguigotia, D.K. Bhattacharya, E. S. Brondizio, D. Campbell-Lendrum, F. Comim, Carlos Corvalan, D.R. Fisher, T. Hak, S. Hales, R. Howarth, L. Meadows, J. Mayers, J. McNeely, M. Q. Mirza, B. Moldan, I. Noble, S. Percy, K. Polson, F.R. Schutyser, S. Tognetti, F. Toth, R. Rabbinge,S. Rosendo, M., K. C. Sridhar, K. Ramakrishna, M. Shah, N. Sizer, B. Vira, D. Wall, A. Woodward, and G. Yohe (2005) Policy Responses: Response Options and Strategies. In: Millennium Ecosystem Assessment. Our Human Planet: Summary for Decision-Makers. Ecosystems & Human Well-Being: Volume 5. Washington DC: Island Press, 59-81.
Kumar Duraiappah, A., F. Comim, T. De Oliveira, J. Gupta, P. Kumar, M. Pyoos, M. Spierenburg, D. Barkin, E. Brondizio, and R. Tsutsumi (2005) Consequences of Responses on Human Well-being and Poverty. In: K. Chopra, R. Leemans, P. Kumar, H. Simons (Eds.) Ecosystems and Human Well-being, Policy Responses, Volume 3 of the Findings of the Responses Working Group of the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment, Washington DC: Island Press, 487-526.
McNeely, J.A., D.P. Faith, H.J. Albers, E. Dulloo, W. Goldstein, B. Groombridge, H. Isozaki, D.E. Marco, S. Polasky, K. Redford, E. Robinson, F. Schutyser, R. Abell, S. Arico, R. Barrington, F. Engelmann, J. Engels, P. Eyzaguirre, P. Ferraro, S. Hirakuri, T. Hodgkin, J. Hyvarinen, P. Ibisch, D. Jarvis, A. Kambu, V. Kapos, I. Koziell, Y. Kura, S. Laird, J. Laird, M. Machavariani, S. Mainka, T. McShane, V. Mathur, K.S. Murali, S. Penã-Neira, A. Phillips, W. Powers, A. Rajvanshi, R. Rao, C. Revenga, B. Reyers, C. Rhodes, K. Riede, J. Robinson, P. Rosabal Gonzales, M. Spierenburg, and K. ten Kate (2005) Biodiversity. In: K. Chopra, R. Leemans, P. Kumar, H. Simons (Eds.) Ecosystems and Human Well-being, Policy Responses, Volume 3 of the Findings of the Responses Working Group of the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment, Washington DC: Island Press, 119-172.
Spierenburg, M. (2003) Natural Resource Management in the Communal Areas: From Centralisation to De-Centralisation and Back Again. In: S. Darnolf and L. Laakso (Eds.) Zimbabwe, Twenty Years of Independence. From Liberation to Authoritarianism. Basingstoke/New York: Palgrave (MacMillan): 78-103.
Spierenburg, M. (2001) Moving into another Spirit Province, Immigrants and the Mhondoro Cult in northern Zimbabwe. In: M. de Bruijn, H. van Dijk, and D. Foecke (eds.) Mobile Africa, changing patterns of movement in Africa and beyond. Leiden, Brill: 47-62.
Dijk, R. van, R. Reis and M. Spierenburg (2000) Introduction: Beyond the confinement of affliction: a discursive field of experience. In: R. van Dijk, R. Reis and M. Spierenburg (Eds.) The Quest for fruition through Ngoma; the political aspects of healing in southern Africa. Cape Town, Zomba, Lusaka, Gweru, Oxford, Athens: David Philip, Kachere, Bookworld, Mambo Press, James Currey, Ohio University Press, 1-11.
Spierenburg, M. (2000) Social Commentaries and the Influence of Adherents: The Role of the Mhondoro Cult in the Struggle over Land in Dande (northern Zimbabwe). In: R. Van Dijk., R. Reis and M. Spierenburg (Eds.) The Quest for Fruition through Ngoma, Political Aspects of Healing in Southern Africa. Cape Town/Zomba/Lusaka/Gweru/Oxford/Athens: David Philip, Kachere, Bookworld, Mambo Press, James Currey, Ohio University Press, 76-98.
Spierenburg, M. (1999) Conflicting strategies towards the conservation of the environment in Dande, northern Zimbabwe: CAMPFIRE versus the Mid Zambezi Rural Development Project. In: H. Van den Breemer, and B. Venema (Eds.) Towards Negotiated Co-Manangement of Natural Resources in Africa. Hamburg, LIT Verlag: 165-192.
Books and contributions to books, non-refereed:
Dijk, R. van, M. Spierenburg and H.Wels (2017) The critical fence: A Dietzian reflection on divergent fieldwork experiences in Southern Africa. In: W. van Beek, J. Damen and D. Foeken (Eds.) The face of Africa. Essays in honour of Ton Dietz. Leiden: African Studies Centre Leiden/Leiden University: 133-148.
Spierenburg, M. (2013) Staking claims, struggling about identities: The role of religion in conflicts about land in Dande, northern Zimbabwe. In: C. Tornimbeni (Ed.) Working the system in sub-Saharan Africa. Global values, national citizenship and local politics in historical perspective, Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing: 83-101.
Belt, J. and M. Spierenburg (2010) Public-Private partnerships in rural development. Downplaying the role of politics and power relations, in: Ton Dietz, Adam Habib and Harry Wels (eds.) Governance and development in Southern Africa. Proceedings from the third DPRN regional expert meeting on southern Africa, Amsterdam: Rozenberg, 3-22.
Spierenburg, M.J. and Wels, H. (2010). Transfrontier conservation in southern Africa: Taking down the fences or returning to the barriers? In K Ferguson and J Hanks (Eds.), Fencing Impacts: A review of the environmental, social and economic impacts of game and veterinary fencing in Africa with particular reference to the Great Limpopo and Kavango-Zambezi Transfrontier Conservation Areas. Pretoria: Mammal Research Institute, University of Pretoria, 26-36.
Spierenburg, M. (2009) Staking claims, struggling about identities; the role of spirit mediums in conflicts about land in Dande, northern Zimbabwe, in: E. van der Borght (ed.) ‘The God-given land’, religious perspectives on land reform in South Africa. Amsterdam, Rozenberg, 17-44.
Spierenburg, M. (2005) Migrants, Modernity and Witchcraft in northern Zimbabwe. In: A. van der Kwaak, R. Spronk and K. Willemse (Eds.) From modern myths to global encounters. Belonging and the dynamics of change in postcolonial Africa. Leiden: Research School CNWS, 86-96.
Spierenburg, M. and H. Wels (2004) The search for equity in organization and management in South Africa. In: M. Spierenburg and H. Wels (Eds.) Culture, Organisation and Management in South Africa, in search of equity. New York: Nova Science Publishers, 1-18.
Spierenburg, M. and H. Wels (2004) Epilogue. In: M. Spierenburg and H. Wels (Eds.) Culture, Organisation and Management in South Africa, in search of equity. New York: Nova Science Publishers, 135-140.
Brondizio, E., M. Spierenburg and M. Traverse (2004) Cultural Perceptions, Responses and Services Relating to Ecosystems. In: V. Kumar Srivastava and M. Kumar Singh (Eds.) Issues and Themes in Anthropology, Delhi: Kamal Kishore for Palaka Prakashan, 557-600.
Spierenburg, M. (1998) Healing the Ills of Development, the Role of the Mhondoro Cult in the Struggle Against and Irrigation Project in Dande (Northern Zimbabwe). In: H. Schmidt and A. Wirz (Eds.) Africa und das Andere. Alterität und Innovation. Hamburg, LIT Verlag, 56-68.
Spierenburg, M. (1998) De rol van een territoriale cultus in de strijd tegen een irrigatieproject (The role of a territorial cult in the struggle against an irrigation project).' In: Reis, R. and M. Elias (Eds.) Getuigen Ondanks Zichzelf: Voor Jan-Mathijs Schoffeleers bij zijn Zevenstigste Verjaardag. (Witnesses in spite of themselves: essays in honour of Jan Mathijs Schoffeleers). Maastricht, Shaker: 157-178.
Book Reviews:
Spierenburg (2016) Remaking Mutirikwi: landscape, water and belonging in southern Zimbabwe, Anthropology Southern Africa, 39(3), 250-252.
Spierenburg, M. (2014) Review of Winelands, wealth and work: transformations in the Dwars river valley Stellenbosch, edited by Kees van der Waal and Children of a bitter harvest: child labour in the Cape winelands by Susan Levine, Anthropology Southern Africa, 37(3-4): 265-268.
Spierenburg, M. (2012) Review of: Land, Memory, Reconstruction, and Justice. Perspectives on Land Claims in South Africa, edited by Cherryl Walker, Anna Bohlin, Ruth Hall and Thembela Kepe, Journal of Peasant Studies, 39(1): 212-215.
Spierenburg, M. (2011) Review article - Land reforms in Southern Africa: Myths, Visions and the Harsh Realities of Development and Justice, Development and Change, 42(6): 1473–1481.
Spierenburg, M. (2010) Review of: Going for Broke, The fate of farmworkers in arid South Africa by Doreen Atkinson, Transformation, 74: 156-160.
Spierenburg, M. (2007) Review of: Suffering for Territory: race place and power in Zimbabwe by Donald S. Moore, Journal of Modern African Studies, 45(1), 182-184.
Spierenburg, M. (2007) Review of: Christine J. Walley, Rough Waters: Nature and Development in an East African Marine Park, by Christine J. Walley, Africa, 77(3): 464.
Spierenburg, M. (2003) Book Review of: Ian Scoones (2001, Ed.) Dynamics and Diversity: Soil Fertility and Farming Livelihoods in Africa. Journal of Modern African Studies, 41(1): 158-160.
Spierenburg, M. (2002) Book Review of: David Hulme (2001, Eds.) African Wildlife & Livelihoods, The Promise & Performance of Community Conservation. Journal of Modern African Studies 40(3): 508-511.
Spierenburg, M. (1997) Book Review Richard Hasler (1996) Land and Natural Resources Management.' Journal of Southern African Studies, 23: 665-6.
Roos, L. and Spierenburg, M. (1994) Land Reform in Zimbabwe: The missing dimensions. Book review of `Economic Nationalism and Land Reform in Zimbabwe' by Sam Moyo. Southern Africa Political Economy Monthly, 7(11): 45-46.
Other Publications
Professor Anthropology of Sustainability and Livelihood / Scientific director
- Faculteit der Sociale Wetenschappen
- Culturele Antropologie/ Ontw. Sociologie
- Wessel M. van, Kontinen T. & Bawole J.N.. Reimagining civil society collaborations in development: starting from the south. London. [other research activity].
- Spierenburg M.J. (25 February 2022). The importance of diversity and equity in sustainability research: an anthropological reflection on the productivity of frictions. Cultural Anthropology and Development Sociology, Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences, Leiden University. Leiden. [inaugural address].
- Research Fellow
- Member of the Programme Committee
- Voorzitter van het Nederlandse Man and Biosphere Comite
- Subject editor
- Series editor of the African Studies Centre - SAVUSA book series