I was joint director in a research project sponsored by IDPAD (Indo-Dutch Programme on Alternatives in Development) titled ‘The impact of a changing social welfare system on relations within marriage, family and social networks in the Netherlands and the public debate on this process’. Our team comprised of three Indian social scientists and one Dutch anthropologist. It was an example of ‘reverse research’ which is still relatively rare in anthropology.
The research was based on ethnographic fieldwork in and around Leiden town, analysis of policy reports and documents, and interviews with stakeholders in the Dutch welfare system. Apart from the research report, which was presented to our informants for feedback, a joint publication ‘Care, Culture and Citizenship: Revisiting the Politics of the Dutch Welfare State’ (2005) was an outcome of the project.
My Research Assistant, Anju van Wersch translating
With my informants
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2005a “Made to Measure: Dutch Elder Care at the Intersections of Policy and Culture,” in Risseeuw et al. op. cit., 115–117.
(from the book: Care, Culture and Citizenship).
1999 “Focus on Fieldwork” in the Indo-Dutch Programme on Alternatives in Development (IDPAD) Newsletter.
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