Projects
Labour relations and border regimes in a pandemic scenario. A comparative study of migrant labour in the EU agro-industrial sector KU Leuven
EU economies’ structural need for low-cost foreign labour is usually invisibilized by nationalistic and populist discourses on immigration. Similarly, border and migration studies tend to overlook states’ role in sustaining the demand of employers for low-cost migrant workers. However, the shortage of labour in the agro-industrial sector of western EU countries during recent border closures was calculated at around one million workers – ...
Negotiating Group Identities in a Multicultural Society. Case: The Role of Mainstream Media, Discourse Relations and Political Alliances in Germany KU Leuven
This research on media portrayals of (ethnic/religious) minorities encompasses the fields of media sociology, media effects, political communication, multiculturalism, populism in the media and politicized uses of collective identities. It compares the political discourse (Bundestag plenary protocols) with the mainstream discourse (mainstream press) in Germany over the sample period of 2009-2015, and scrutinizes a ...
The role of global power relations in the everyday professional lives and practices of the journalists of the online and print press in post-colonial Kinshasa. Ghent University
By looking at the ways in which the journalists of the online and print press interact with foreign players, this research project aims to investigate the role of global power relations in the everyday professional lives and practices of the journalists in post-colonial Kinshasa.
The Subject in the Amazon - Grammatical relations in indigenous Amazonian languages. Ghent University
In linguistic research, the term ”subject” is often thrown around as an intuitive concept. Principled definitions exist, but they are anything but unanimous. Hosted by Ghent University, this Rubicon project will investigate the complexities of the notion of “subject” through the particular lens of Amazonian languages. First, I will identify a series of subjecthood diagnostics that have proven reliable when faced with European languages, as ...
Recharge - Human rights en Eu external relations and internal policies. KU Leuven
From the Leuven Center for Global Governance Studies we coordinate an application for the FP7 Cooperation Work Program. We work together with a number of leading foreign research groups with specializations in human rights, European policy and globalization, given the multidisciplinary focus of the project. Against the background of the complex, globalized world, the initiative aims to investigate changing patterns and future trends in the ...
Challenging the European Monoculture: Towards a Policy on the Diversification of the European Literary Field. KU Leuven
The Role of EU Delegations in Climate and Energy Diplomacy in a Contested World Order KU Leuven
This dissertation focuses on how European Union (EU) Delegations and Offices, as the EU’s quasi-embassies in more than 140 locations across the globe, implement the EU’s climate and energy diplomacy. By putting the EU Delegations at its centre of analysis, the study offers novel insights into how EU diplomacy works ‘on the ground’, namely in a more continuous and comprehensive fashion, compared to summit diplomacy or the specific activities ...
Searching for Home in the Migration Context: Exploring Small and Big Home-Making Experiences through Belgian Taiwanese Immigrants' Life Story Narratives KU Leuven
For this thesis, I chose Taiwanese immigrants in Belgium as my research subject and examined a series of questions regarding the notion of home in the migration context and the immigrant’s daily life while living in a foreign land. The main research questions guiding this study are: What are Taiwanese immigrants’ experiences of homemaking (「家」的製作」) in Belgium? What are their experiences of managing dual home relationships between home and ...