Markha Valenta | Utrecht University (original) (raw)

I study the geopolitics of diversity, with a focus on the influence of global relations on democracies. I am interested in comparative approaches across space (North America, Western Europe, South Asia) and time (contemporary, 19th century and early modernity).

My current academic interests are in democracy and the politics of religion; the US-EU-Asian geopolitical triangle; borders as violence; afterlives of colonialism, slavery and bonded labor; and the rise of the Global South.

Trained in American Studies to ask “big” questions about pluralism, democracy, violence, and justice, I now study those questions from a globalist and comparative perspective. I work across multiple disciplines (Politics, Anthropology, History).

I give shape to this work in diverse fora and forms, including academic research projects, academic service, teaching, community engagement, public speaking and writing. Current research focuses on democracy and Muslim minorities; the global politics of religion and sexuality; and the citizenship of non-citizen migrants.

I am currently President of the Netherlands American Studies Association, as well as the Director of Community Engagement at University College Utrecht. In 2021, I was Urban Fellow at the Netherlands Institute for Advanced Studies, working closely with the Amsterdam municipality on the citizenship of the non-citizen. From 2014 to 2019, I was Director of the BA program in American Studies at Radboud University, Nijmegen (Netherlands).

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Phone: +31 (0)30 253 9456
Address: m.g.valenta@uu.nl
University College Utrecht
P. O. Box 80145
3508 TC Utrecht
The Netherlands

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