Two NWO Mosaic 2.0 grants awarded to cultural anthropology PhDs
Dilara Erzeybek and Oumaima Hajri, two PhD students in Cultural Anthropology and Development Sociology received a Mosaic 2.0 grant last week. This NWO programme supports PhD students with a non-western migration background - an underrepresented group within science - in order to foster diversity in Dutch science.
Of the 13 grants awarded, two went to researchers from the Institute of Cultural Anthropology and Development Sociology at Leiden University. The fellowship offers complete freedom in research topics. The topics of the assigned research projects therefore vary widely, as did Dilara and Oumaima's research proposals. Read below what both will be researching in the coming years.
Heritage Generations: Home-making, Critical Nostalgia, and Futures of Turkish-Dutch Belonging
By focusing on self-organized (grassroots) heritage practices, this research aims to provide a deeper understanding of how (generations of) Turkish-Dutch individuals selectively generate their cultural heritage. While navigating feelings of displacement and loss, migrants engage with dominant cultural narratives of their country of departure. Simultaneously, the dominant cultural heritage of their current environment can both constrain their identities and offer new possibilities for belonging. This interaction reveals the ways in which heritage is transformed, contested, and reinterpreted (outside of institutional settings).
By examining practices such as storytelling, archiving and collecting, and ritual performances, the research challenges dominant narratives that often overlook marginalized communities and their everyday practices. This absence highlights the grey area between authorized heritage and collective memory, where heritage-making occurs without official recognition.
This project is therefore also an intervention in the theoretical debates on heritage: by examining what is lacking in the canon of Dutch heritage, and whose heritage is missing, this project critically assesses how nationally authorized heritage can reproduce inequalities and exclusion in society. It will try to broaden our understanding of heritage by exploring new dimensions of what can be recognized as heritage and how it is democratized, even in the absence of formal recognition.
This research project adopts a collaborative and multimodal ethnographic research design, to diversify the output of the research and in order to enrich our overall understanding in ways that no single mode can achieve. This research will result in textual output in the form of a dissertation and audiovisual output in the form of a film, both of which are integral components of the overarching study.
From Margins to Dialogue: Morocco's Contribution to Inclusive AI Futures in the Context of EU Regulations
Artificial intelligence (AI) is growing worldwide, but policy is largely shaped by Western countries. This research explores how the Global South, including Morocco as a case study, can actively contribute to international AI regulations, such as the EU AI Act. Through anthropological fieldwork, creative methods (such as storytelling) and collaboration with local experts, the project explores how local knowledge can lead to fairer and more inclusive AI policies. The aim is to make perspective-rich contributions visible and strengthen technological autonomy.
Oumaima will conduct her research in Morocco, but the research will have a broader relevance for the Global South.