Staff

Dr. Sjoerd-Jeroen Moenandar

Dr. Sjoerd-Jeroen Moenandar was a lecturer and researcher at several universities in the Netherlands and Tunisia before joining our department in 2018. He is a narratologist – a scholar of how stories are structured and how they function – and has a special interest in how storytelling is used to create individual and collective identities. This topic is a central concern in his research, and also returns in all the BA and MA courses he teaches.

“Throughout my academic career, first in Scandinavian studies and then in literary and cultural studies, I have been fascinated by border thinking (the way humans conceive of themselves as opposed to something or someone else) as manifested in the stories that we tell to ourselves and others. In my experience, the ability to analyze and assess such stories, is an invaluable asset to diversity managers.”

Prof. Joana Duarte

Prof. Joana Duarte works since 2015 for both the BA en the MA programmes. Her interests are on educational linguistics, in particular on issues of multilingualism and minorities in education. She teachers the MA course The Multilingual School and is internship and thesis supervisor. In addition, she is the chair of the Minorities & Multilingualism group. She also works as a professor for Multilingualism and Literacy at the NHL Stenden University of Applied Sciences and as professor for Global citizenship and bilingual education and the University of Amsterdam.

“Although the majority of the world’s population is multilingual, education systems are still governed by monolingual attitudes. My research highlights ways to raise educational equity in a world of growing heterogeneity by creating plurilingual speakers, through challenging the persisting monolingual mindset.”

Dr. Hanneke Loerts

Dr. Hanneke Loerts is an Assistant Professor who teaches courses on psycho- and neurolinguistics, research methodology and statistics within the BA and MA programmes. Her research focuses on bi- and multilingual language processing using both behavioural as well as online measures such as eye tracking and event-related potentials.

“Hands-on practical experience in collecting and analyzing data is crucial for understanding scientific research. And understanding research is crucial for anyone who wants to be an expert in the field of multilingualism as research results are at the heart of many policy and advisory reports. Although many students look up to the dreaded statistics course, most of them eventually admit that statistically analyzing data themselves is easy, maybe even fun, but most of all: useful.”

Dr. Flávio Eiró

Dr. Flávio Eiró teaches courses on the social and cultural aspects of (ethnolinguistic) minorities (per February 2021). A trained sociologist, with extensive experience in anthropological research, Flávio is a specialist in qualitative research methods, and has a wide range of research experience and interests: poverty and social exclusion, policy implementation, the study of far-right politics, racism and minorities around the globe.

“I find amazing how human cultures are capable of naturalising things they created themselves: race and racism are among them. That is why social and cultural studies are key to the development of our societies, revealing the cultural and historical roots of many things we believe have always existed and cannot be changed. In this context, my mission is to offer students the tools for critical thinking they will later apply when working with diversity management, intercultural communication and inclusion policies.”

Dr. Maria Mazzoli

Dr. Maria Mazzoli is Assistant Professor of Sociolinguistics, Diversity and Minorities. She teaches courses on minority languages, sociolinguistics of multilingualism, and diversity management within the BA and MA programmes. Her research focuses on language contact, pidgin and creole languages, language ideologies and the morphology of Algonquian languages.

Monolingual normativism is widespread in modern societies, while multilingual language practices are stigmatized in many educational and professional contexts. In my research, I look at how individuals and communities make original and innovative use of resources within their linguistic repertoires. Diversity managers formed in our program are trained to look beyond the common stereotypes about language mixing and variation, and explore the human agency behind unconventional linguistic practices.

Dr. Willem Visser

Dr. Willem Visser started working at our department in 2008. He teaches in the BA programme. His field of expertise is Frisian language proficiency and formal linguistics.

“I consider language one of the most fascinating and puzzling aspects of human life. It is an enormously complex phenomenon, but in daily life we use it in a most careless, unthoughtful and unconscious way (and why shouldn’t we?). It is fascination and bewilderment with language that I hope the students will be able to share with me.”

Dr. Aurélie Joubert

Dr. Aurélie Joubert joined Minorities and Multilingualism in 2020 and is also part of the European Languages and Cultures program at the RUG. Her research specialism is on language attitudes, linguistic minoritisation, language endangerment and revitalisation. She teaches BA courses on minority languages, MA research methods tutorials and focuses on qualitative approaches.

“The power dynamics we encounter in our world do not stop to amaze me. I am inspired by minority language speakers who fight to keep their language. Their drive and dedication bring such an essential element to the understanding of diversity. In my teaching, I reflect on the meaning and implications of cultural and linguistic democratic principles which can be invaluable assets for diversity managers.”

Dr. Seonok Lee

Dr. Seonok Lee started working at our department in 2021. As a sociologist, she is interested in social inequalities in general. In particular, her expertise is in the field of global migration, ethnic minorities, race and gender.

“Similar to the project of colonialism, the process of immigration and integration is simultaneously racialized, gendered, and classed. This raises important questions about the “imagined community” and national identity that is discursively patrolled through language, education, and work. In this regard, I believe that my role as a teacher is to help students develop their capacity for independent thought and interest in the world around them. My goal is always to encourage independent thinking, community engagement and active citizenship.”

Dr. Anne Merkuur

Dr. Anne Merkuur is assistant professor of Frisian. She teaches courses on Frisian and on linguistics in both the BA and MA programme. As a linguist, she specialized in language change and morphology. She also works at the Frisian research institute, the Fryske Akademy. Her research focuses on language change in Frisian.

“The most fascinating thing about language is that we all have it, but still know so little about how it works. Together with the fact that it relates to almost every aspect of our existence, this has resulted in a field of research that exists of innumerous sub disciplines, practices, models and theories. I hope to help students find their own perspective on how they want to study language, and to encourage them to always be curious and critical.”

Ruby de Vos

Ruby de Vos joined the department of Minorities and Multilingualism in 2021, while wrapping up her PhD dissertation at the RUG. With a background in literary studies, cultural analysis, and visual art, she teaches various courses on narrative and language.

“The stories we tell – about ourselves, about others – both shape and reflect the world we live in. I look forward to exploring this fascinating dynamic together in class!”

Jesse Wichers Schreur

Jesse Wichers Schreur is teaching BA courses in linguistics and multilingualism, while finishing his PhD at the University of Frankfurt and the EPHE in Paris. As a linguistic fieldworker, his research focusses on language contact, linguistic typology, grammatical gender, and specifically on languages of the Caucasus region. He is also active in the promotion of the Low Saxon language (the native language of 1 to 2 million people in the Netherlands) in primary and secondary education.

“In my research, I am continually amazed by how language offers new insights into our history, cultural differences, migration, and the way in which our brain processes information. The observation that most citizens of this world are multilingual stands in sharp contrast with the monolingual norm displayed by many governments, institutions and schools. It is my goal to educate future researchers, policy makers, diversity managers and informed citizens that will help bring inclusion, multilingualism and diversity to a variety of environments. It is crucial for this task to combine knowledge of both linguistic perspectives, as well as social and cultural practices.”

Drs. Anne Tjerk Popkema

Drs. Anne Tjerk Popkema (1975) has been a researcher and a teacher in the field of Old Frisian studies since 2002. He has worked in Leeuwarden (Fryske Akademy), Kiel (Christian-Albrechts-Universität) and Groningen (RuG). Anne is the co-author of the Altfriesisches Handwörterbuch (2008).

“Old Frisian is intriguingly exotic. Sure, it is ’the first cousin of English’ but it is a beautiful language in it’s own right as well, offering a wonderful window on medieval Frisia.”

Gerbrich de Jong

Gerbrich de Jong grew up in Friesland and decided to study the two languages that are closest to her: Frisian, as her mother tongue, and Dutch, as the official language of the Netherlands. During her master’s, she started to work as a teacher of Frisian and Dutch. After graduating, she had several jobs as a teacher in both secondary and higher education. Since 2016, she works at NHL Stenden, the university of applied sciences in Leeuwarden, where she teaches Frisian and Dutch language proficiency. In our BA programme, she teaches Frisian language proficiency I and II and Frisian as a minority language.

“I am happy to contribute to more Frisians learning to write their own mother tongue.”

Dr. Arththi Sathananthar

Dr Arththi Sathananthar joined our department in 2022. She completed her PhD at the University of Leeds and gained her Associate Fellowship at the British Higher Education Academy. She is a member of the International AutoBiography Association (IABA) and the Association for Anglophone Postcolonial Studies (GAPS). Her research is positioned at the intersection of life writing and post/decolonial studies. Her work explores the socio-political dimensions of life narratives, in particular memoirs, and argues for this genre as an alternative form of historiography.

“As a post/decolonial scholar in literary and cultural studies, I’m interested in the role of narrative in shaping culture and society. My personal aim as an academic is to facilitate students’ perception of minorities not from an ethnography lens, but by giving them the tools to re-centre knowledge production – bringing the Global South and BIPOC (Black Indigenous People of Colour) artists and scholars to the forefront as they advance their studies here at the department.”