Wiebe Nauta (W.W.)

Wiebe Nauta has been academically engaged in the field of development studies for more than 20 years with a focus on Sub-Saharan Africa. As a sociologist of development at Maastricht University his area of expertise includes extensive field experience in Africa and research focusing on South-South Development Cooperation (SSDC) an the role of emerging countries, like South Korea and Brazil, on the African continent. In recent years his research has focused on the role of South Korean aid actors –government, civil society and private– in implementing an ‘East Asian’ development model. He is also considered a specialist in transnational activism by looking at 21st century links between civil society organizations on different continents.

Furthermore, he has done extensive research into the role of NGOs in South Africa, in the field of HIV/AIDS. Generally his research concerns the relationship between poverty, activism, democratization and the interplay between civil society organizations, states and multilateral actors. Dr. Nauta has collaborated on an edited volume with Cambridge scholar Emma Mawdsley and colleagues Elsje Fourie and Adriana Erthal Abdenur. The Routledge Book is titled Researching South-South Development Cooperation: critical reflections on the politics of knowledge production.

In terms of his academic teaching profile Wiebe Nauta has co-designed and established a Minor Programme in Globalization & Development and a Master Globalization & Development Studies at Maastricht University. In the past four years he has served as Programme Director for the latter and the courses that he teaches include Brokers & Translators in Development: a focus on civil society; Globalization & Inequality; and Health Development Challenges in Developing Countries: a focus on HIV/AIDS.

Current position
Sociologist of Development
Coordinator of the Minor Globalization & Development

Member of the Globalization, Transnationalism and Development (GTD) research group

Faculty of Arts & Social Sciences (FASoS)
Maastricht University

Current research

- Transnational Climate Activism: New African Voices in the Global Climate Movement: falling on deaf ears?
- South-South Development Cooperation (SSDC) with a focus on the role of emerging countries like South Korea and Brazil on the African continent;
- The role of South Korean aid actors –government, civil society and private– in implementing an ‘East Asian’ development model in Rwanda;
- Transnational links between civil society organizations and activist social movements on different continents;
- The relationship between poverty, democratization and the interplay between states, civil society organizations and multilateral actors;
- The role of civil society in South Africa, particularly in the field of HIV/AIDS; governance issues of the pandemic, especially in the Eastern Cape Province;

Collaboration
- The Asia Development Institute (ADI) at the Graduate School of Public Administration (GSPA) of Seoul National University (SNU)
- Centre for Research in the Arts, Social Sciences and Humanities (CRASSH) at the University of Cambridge
- Reshaping Development Institute (ReDI), South Korea
- ODA Watch, South Korea
- Rhodes University: Department of Sociology

Relevant previous positions
2014-2018 Programme Director Master Globalization & Develpment Studies;
2010-2014 Coordinator Minor Globalization & Development;
2004-2006 Lecturer Sociology of Development in Minor Globalization and Diversity and  European Studies at the FASoS, Maastricht University;
2002-2004 Lecturer/tutor European Studies at the Faculty of Arts & Culture, Maastricht University;
2001-2002 Researcher Quality of Life in the Roermond Neighbourhood ‘t Roermondse Veld (contract researcher at Qualirma: the Faculty of Arts & Culture, Maastricht University).

Training
1996-2001 PhD research Sociology of Development into the changing role of land sector NGOs in the Eastern Cape, South Africa. PhD position at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (including 1 ½ years of fieldwork in South Africa);
1989-1993 MA (with distinction) Rural Development Sociology at the International Agricultural University Wageningen, thesis: Beyond Black and White; the transcultural experience of western expatriates in developing coun­tries;
1984-1989 BSc Tropical Plant Production at the International Agricultural College Deventer.