Research

The Cultural Geography chair group is committed to social theory in all its spatial articulations. In particular, the work of the group is focused on mobility (including tourism, leisure and migration studies) and cultural politics of landscape (including questions of place, community, and heritage) in relation to spatial theory. A third area of interest is the intersection between people, nature, culture and landscape, also in socio-phenomenological terms. While the research culture of the group is clearly driven by a geographical perspective, interdisciplinary work is equally important, with the contribution of sociological, anthropological and socio-psychological perspectives. A growing area of interest is the intersection of spatial theory with political and social theory, especially concerning questions of biopolitics, well-being and travel in relation to space and place. The group is strongly international in terms of staff, student body, research foci and publication record. Our empirical work concerns East and Southern Africa, the Maghreb and the Mediterranean, South-East Asia and, of course, the Netherlands.