dr.ir. M (Martijn) Koster

I am an associate professor at the Sociology of Development and Change Group at WUR. My research is positioned at the intersection of political anthropology and critical development studies. My core themes are 1) the in/formal relationships between marginalised residents and the state, and 2) urban development interventions. My geographic focus is on Latin America (Brazil, Colombia and Cuba).

Currently, I am the Principal Investigator (PI) of the ethnographic research project Politics of the Periphery in Urban Latin America: Reconceptualising Politics from the Margins (POPULAR), funded through an ERC Consolidator Grant. The project focuses on housing in the urban periphery of Latin American cities. From 2016-2022 I was the PI of the research project BROKERS, financed through an ERC Starting Grant.

I am a co-founder of the Anthropologies of the State Research Network of the European Association of Social Anthropologists (EASA), of which I have been the coordinator for several years. I have published a large number of academic and non-academic book chapters and (open access) articles in international peer-reviewed journals (e.g., Antipode, Critique of Anthropology and IJURR). In addition, I have edited several special issues, including in Ethnos, Citizenship Studies, and City & Society. I am regularly invited to present my work at universities at home and abroad.

In my teaching, I zoom in on (urban) development, governance, citizenship and (informal) politics, in which I always include current affairs in society and recent debates in our field. I also supervise BA and MA theses on these and other topics.