Dr Ike Kamphof (D.J.)

Ike Kamphof is Assistant Professor at the Department of Philosophy. She holds a PhD in Philosophy from the University of Leuven (Belgium, 2002).

Before coming to Maastricht, she taught at the University of Applied Sciences in Amsterdam, the Institute of Philosophy in Leuven (Belgium) and at the Department of Social Studies at the University for Professional Education, Leuven.

At the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences in Maastricht, Ike Kamphof is involved in the MA Digital Cultures. She teaches the course Real Virtualities in this program, which explores the shifting boundaries between reality and virtuality by making use of post-phenomenology. Ike also teaches Cultural Pluralism in the BA Arts & Culture.

Ike Kamphof's current research focuses on the relationship between aesthetic sensibility and ethical affect. Ike studies how (new) media and technologies mediate care-relationships in nature conservation and healthcare for frail elderly people. The research methods she uses include ethnographic research and practical phenomenology. She also trains students in these.

Ike is currently projectleader of Make-believe Matters. The Moral Role Things Play in Dementia Care. This project, together with Ruud Hendriks and Tsjalling Swierstra, and funded by ZonMW, investigates the ethics of make-believe in the use and design of objects and artificial environments in dementia care.

A smaller researchproject Ike recently did, involved the three chicken in her backyard as co-reseachers and focused on embodied ways of investigating species-companionship (I. Kamphof (2017). Gereedschap voor Nieuwsgierigheid. Over lichamelijke resonantie tussen mens en kip. Wijsgerig Perspectief 57 (1): 34-41); Tools for Curiosity. On Embodied Resonance between Chicken and Humans.)

Ike's most recent book is (in Dutch) Iedereen Voyeur. Kijken en bekeken worden in de 21e eeuw (Zoetermeer: Uitgeverij Klement 2013; Everyone a Voyeur. Looking and Being Looked at in the 21st Century). The book is a phenomenological exploration of our relationship with the world, with animals and with each other by exploring our ways of looking and being looked at. The style is essayistic.

Chapters:

1. Reizende ogen (Travelling Eyes. On looking at the landscape in travel.)
2. Op het virtuele terras (Enoying the virtual patio. On the abstract intimacy of looking at each other in the street and online.)
3. Mama, Kijk ik spring! (Mom, see me jump! On the importance of the look of the other for our identities.)
4. Het wakkere oog. (The watchful gaze. On the gaze of the detective and the surveillance camera; on looking at strangers.)
5. Kijk dit dier in de ogen. (Look this animal in the eye. On the ethics of relationships with animals.)