Politics from Below
UCM research theme
The primary goal of the Politics from Below (PfB) research agenda is to develop an interlinked series of research projects that strive to understand the ways in which citizens across various parts of Europe critically engage with political issues and problems in local-level settings.
Emphasis is explicitly given to the political perspectives, practices and projects of actors who are located on the outside or margins of formalized arenas and agencies of government. Projects within the Politics from Below research agenda work to illuminate the variety of ways in which people of diverse backgrounds bring politics to life from within their local social networks and communities. Politics from Below seeks to generate scholarship that is interdisciplinary in its academic orientations. Projects must clearly build upon at least two of the three areas: arts/humanities, social sciences, and natural/life sciences.
Staff
Dr. Kai Heidemann
- Theme coordinator
Dr. Christoph Rausch
Dr. Dave Vliegenthart
Dr. Jeroen Moes
Dr. Jenny Schell-Leugers
Dr. Ulrike Müller
Dr. Manuela Heins
Mareike Smolka
Current and recent projects
- Crises, Social Movements and Community Education in the Belgian Rust-Belt; Spring 2019-Fall 2021, Dr. Kai Heidemann (Principle Investigator, Assistant Professor, UCM), Dr. Pablo del Hierro (Investigator, Assistant Professor, FASoS)
- Geometries of Crisis: Social Insecurities and Responses From Below; Dr. Kai Heidemann (Principle Investigator, Assistant Professor, UCM); Dr. Dave Vliegenthart (Investigator, Lecturer, UCM); Dr. Christian Scholl (Investigator, Researcher, ICIS/UM); Dr. Sara de Jong (Investigator, Lecturer, Department of Politics, University of York); Dr. Tom O’Brien (Investigator, Lecturer, Department of Sociology, University of York); Dr. Alejandro Milciades Pena (Investigator, Senior Lecturer, Department of Politics, University of York);
- What’s going on in Wallonia?: Community Education as a Vehicle of Active Citizenship in Francophone Belgium; UCM MaRBLe Project Fall 2019, Dr. Kai Heidemann (Coordinator), Matthieu Marienbach (Student Researcher, UCM);
- Transnational Environmental Protest in Europe: Analysis of the Capacities and Outcomes of the Rise for Climate Campaign in France, Germany and the Netherlands; UCM MaRBLe Project Spring 2019 , Dr. Kai Heidemann (Coordinator), Laurenz Sachenbacher (Student Researcher, UCM), Paola Andres Soulier (Student researcher, UCM) and Leif Levermann (Student Researcher, UCM);
- Anti-Mining Activism in the Saami Territories of Norway and Sweden; UCM MaRBLe Project Spring 2019, Dr. Kai Heidemann (Coordinator), Amanda Bjorkman (Student Researcher, UCM), Vilde Toft (Student Researcher, UCM);
- The Challenge of Transnational Social Movements: Evaluating the ‘Signals’ and ‘Capacities’ of Anti-Nuclear Protest in the Maas-Rhine Euroregion; UCM MaRBLe Project Spring 2018, Dr. Kai Heidemann (Coordinator), Sebastian Huhne (Student Researcher, UCM), Nuria Outajane Garcia de Arboleya (Student Researcher, UCM).
Highlighted publications
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Heidemann, K., & Clothey, R. (2018). Another Way: Decentralization, Democratization and the Global Politics of Community-Based Schooling. Brill. https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004384712More information about this publication
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Heidemann, K. (2018). Overcoming Uncertainty: Agency, Stance and the Rise of Collective Action in Times of Crisis. Sociological Focus, 51(2), 79-96. https://doi.org/10.1080/00380237.2017.1370938More information about this publication
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Rausch, C. (2018). Maisons Tropicales/Maisons Coloniales: contesting technologies of authenticity and value in Niamey, Brazzaville, Paris, New York and Venice. International Journal of Heritage Studies, 24(1), 83-100. https://doi.org/10.1080/13527258.2017.1362578More information about this publication
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Rausch, C. (2016). Global Heritage Assemblages: Development and Modern Architecture in Africa. Routledge/Taylor & Francis Group. Routledge Series in Culture and DevelopmentMore information about this publication
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Vliegenthart, D. (2018). The Secular Religion of Franklin Merrell-Wolff: An Intellectual History of Anti-Intellectualism in Modern America. Brill. Numen Book Series Vol. 158 https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004361256More information about this publication
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Vliegenthart, D. (2011). Can Neurotheology explain Religion? Archive for the Psychology of Religion-Archiv fur Religionspsychologie, 33(2), 137-171. https://doi.org/10.1163/157361211X577284More information about this publication
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Moes, J. (2017). Imagining Europe: Identities, Geography, and Method. [Doctoral Thesis, European University Institute]. http://cadmus.eui.eu/handle/1814/49064More information about this publication
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Sauerland, M., Schell - Leugers, J., & Sagana, A. (2015). Fabrication puts suspects at risk: blindness to changes in transgression-related statements. Applied Cognitive Psychology, 29(4), 544-551. https://doi.org/10.1002/acp.3133More information about this publication
Funding
Working on Europe
- Grant for fundamental research
- Fall 2019-Spring 2020
- Funded by: Maastricht, Working on Europe
- Research Theme 2: Identity, Heritage and the Citizens’ Perspective”
Partnerships and networks
- Geometries of Crisis Research Team, York-Maastricht Inter-University Partnership (Netherlands-United Kingdom)
- Pragmapolis, Research Group in Pragmatic Sociology, University of Liege (Belgium)
- AreaS, Interdisciplinary research group in Area Studies, Øsfold University College (Norway)