Dr. Rivke Jaffe

Expertise:
  • Urban Studies, Environment, Crime, State, Popular Culture, Caribbean


Telefoon: +31 (0)71 527 3465
E-Mail: rjaffe@fsw.leidenuniv.nl
Faculteit / Onderdeel: Faculteit der Sociale Wetenschappen, Instituut CA/Ontwikkelingssociologie
Werkadres: Pieter de la Court gebouw
Wassenaarseweg 52
2333 AK Leiden
Kamernummer 3A40

Dr. Rivke Jaffe

Dr. Rivke Jaffe joined the Institute of Cultural Anthropology and Development Sociology in 2007, after having held teaching and research positions at the University of the West Indies, Mona and the Royal Netherlands Institute of Southeast Asian and Caribbean Studies (KITLV). Her research focuses primarily on urban life. Specifically, she is interested in the spatialization of power, difference and inequality within cities. How are urban problems such as poverty, crime and environmental degradation linked to social differentiation along lines of ethnicity, class and gender? How are these inequalities constructed, reproduced and transformed through urban policy, market forces and social movements? How does the (colonial) past shape the cities of today? What is the role of popular culture – music, video clips, murals, graffiti – in the ways we experience and communicate urban exclusion and solidarity? Rivke’s engagement with these concerns is motivated by the conviction that anthropology can provide important insights into what divides people and what unites us, into the social problems we face and the solutions that are possible.

Rivke has conducted extensive fieldwork in Jamaica and Curaçao on environmentalism, urban space and the politics of difference. This research, which attempts to forge new connections between urban and environmental anthropology, forms the core of a book project that explores the ways in which concepts of pollution organize relations between raced and classed bodies and urban space. She has also conducted research on power-sharing and state ‘management’ of ethnic diversity in Suriname. Her current research, in Jamaica, studies the complicated relationship between the postcolonial state, criminal leaders and the urban poor. This research explores how criminal organizations and the formal state share control over urban spaces and populations, and the hybrid governance structures and fragmented sovereignty that result from this. This latest project, “Between the Street and the State: Crime and Citizenship in Kingston, Jamaica”, has been awarded a three-year VENI research grant from the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO). Rivke also recently received a grant from the European Science Foundation to chair, with Bart Barendregt), the research conference “Eco-chic: Connecting Ethical, Elite and Sustainable Consumption”.

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Laatst Gewijzigd: 24-03-2011