Lotje de Vries
Dr Lotje de Vries is an Associate Professor at the Sociology of Development and Change Group of Wageningen University & Research. Working at the intersection of Development-, Crisis-, and Area Studies, her research aims to contribute to unpacking the strong but often complex linkages between locally anchored social dynamics, transnational politics, and global developments. More specifically, she examines the relationship between citizens, different forms of authority, and related dynamics of security and insecurity in spaces where political order is subject to constant negotiation. Grounded in empirical work, Lotje seeks to advance theoretical understanding of how people navigate the political, geographical and/or economic margins with an emphasis on the Central African Republic, the Sahel region, and South Sudan.
Lotje has written numerous articles, and co-edited two edited volumes: one on the borderlands of South Sudan and one on secessionism in African politics. Lotje worked at the African Studies Centre Leiden during her PhD research on the everyday practice of state-building in South Sudan. Before joining Wageningen, she worked at the Centre for International Conflict Analysis and Management (CICAM) of the Nijmegen School of Management, Radboud University, and as a postdoctoral research fellow at the German Institute of Global and Area Studies (GIGA, Institute of African Affairs) in Hamburg, Germany. Prior to starting her PhD research, she worked in Senegal with the development organisation Enda Diapol.
Recent publications:
De Vries, Lotje and Tim Glawion (2023) “Studying Insecurity from Relative Safety — Dealing with methodological blindspots“, Qualitative Research, 23 (4); 883-899.
Van Leeuwen, Mathijs, Gillian Mathys, Lotje de Vries and Gemma van der Haar (2022) “From resolving land disputes to agrarian justice – dealing with the structural crisis of plantation agriculture in eastern DR Congo,” The Journal of Peasant Studies, 49 (2): 309-334.
De Vries, Lotje (2020). “Navigating violence and exclusion: The Mbororo’s claim to the Central African Republic’s margins“. Geoforum, 109: 162-170.
Justin, Peter Hakim and Lotje de Vries (2019) “Governing Unclear Lines: Local Boundaries as a (Re)source of Conflict in South Sudan” Journal of Borderlands Studies, 34 (1), 31-46.
De Vries, Lotje and Andreas Mehler (2019). “The limits of instrumentalizing disorder: Reassessing the neopatrimonial perspective in the Central African Republic” African Affairs 118 (471), 307-327.