AMSTERDAM – Anthropologist Francio Guadeloupe has officially accepted the Chair in Public Anthropology of Kingdom Relations at the University of Amsterdam. He marked the occasion yesterday with an inaugural lecture examining the deep connections between the Netherlands and the Caribbean parts of the Kingdom.
The chair was established in 2024 by the Dutch Ministry of the Interior and Kingdom Relations with the aim of strengthening knowledge about the Caribbean territories of the Kingdom and ensuring that this expertise is reflected in policymaking.
Guadeloupe formally assumed his role as professor with an inaugural address titled Dutch-Caribbean Studies: Anthropological Research of the Kingdom of the Netherlands.
In his lecture, he argued that the Netherlands and the Caribbean parts of the Kingdom should not be viewed as separate worlds. According to Guadeloupe, the lives of people across the Kingdom are closely intertwined, particularly through patterns of circular migration.
Many Caribbean Dutch citizens spend part of their lives living or studying in the Netherlands, later returning to the islands to work, and sometimes moving back again to the Netherlands for further educational or professional opportunities.
The new academic chair focuses on research into the cultural and intellectual connections between the Netherlands and the Caribbean islands and how these relationships shape family ties, identity and social networks.
As part of his research activities, Guadeloupe recently produced an anthropological film titled Changá (“Dubbelspel”), which explores themes of identity and life choices. The film premiered earlier this year in Aruba and Curaçao and is scheduled to be shown later in the Netherlands and on other Caribbean islands.
The chair forms part of a broader knowledge initiative on Kingdom relations launched by the Dutch government two years ago. Through this initiative, The Hague aims to better ground policy concerning the six Caribbean islands in local knowledge and expertise from the region.