KITLV invests in three long-term research lines: Mobility and Belonging, State, Violence and Citizenship, and Climate Governance. While most research projects fit into either of these themes, a few address two or even three themes.

Mobility and Belonging

We explore the movement of, and interactions between, humans and non-humans, across time and space. Where and how to belong is a multi-layered existential question, which requires scrutinizing why, how, and where people, other species, and objects move or stay. Mobility impacts cultures and religions, states, governments and institutions, but also climates and the collective health of societies. And it may create spaces that are neither bound by borders nor by subjugation. We examine what aspirations drive mobility and immobility, and how both phenomena contribute to processes of identification and exclusion, within and beyond the nation-state, throughout colonial and postcolonial periods.

State, Violence and Citizenship

We engage with the question of how states and societies interact, with a focus on the impact of colonialism on forms and patterns of citizenship – now and then – in former colonies and colonizing countries. Viewing politics and modes of belonging as a product of history, we conduct research on contemporary and historical struggles – from war and instances of political violence to elections, activism, and governance – in the light of the historical evolution of the relationship between citizens and the state. We also pay attention to struggles over how the colonial past is remembered and how the past becomes a key site of conflict in postcolonial societies. 

Climate Governance

We study how people and institutions perceive and deal with the impact of climate change, focusing on everyday experiences and the politics of knowledge production in climate adaptation across time and space. Exploring how adaptation responses are prompted by other drivers of change beyond climate, we show how climate governance is entangled in everyday livelihoods, politics, capitalist global economic intrusions, and wider processes of development and change. Linking past knowledge and inter-generational learning to present and future adaptation strategies, we position local communities both as foremost impacted groups and as front runners in climate adaptation responses.