Negotiating Statia in the Classroom: Constitutional, religious and transnational belonging on the Dutch island of Sint Eustatius
Researcher
Nicole Sanches is a PhD Candidate at the department of Cultural Anthropology. She earned her Masters in Cultural Anthropology from the University of Amsterdam, with a thesis on the experiences and perspectives of local activists within a food deprived area of Brooklyn, New York City. Her other ethnographic work explores perspectives on life by religious rap artists, and career aspirations of young athletes in challenging inner city neighborhoods.
Her current research project explores expressions of belonging in a time of educational changes, constitutional changes and a time where people’s political and cultural rights are strongly intertwined with ideas of national belonging. In her current research the classroom is taken as a looking glass and a site to learn about and engage with constitutional, religious and transnational perspectives on belonging and homeness on the island Sint Eustatius. Overall, the project aims to contribute to contemporary notions of belonging and creative imaginations of the Kingdom the Netherlands.