“There is room for everyone in academia.”
Interview Freek Colombijn Professor of Global Citizenship Education from an anthropological perspective
“In all honesty: before I was appointed to this chair, I had never given any thought to global citizenship.” These are the surprising first words of Freek Colombijn, the newly appointed Professor of Global Citizenship Education from an anthropological perspective. Yet the boundary-pushing chair aligns almost seamlessly with what he has stood for in his teaching and research for many years: there is room for everyone in academia.
The chair is unique because it is based on an educational profile rather than on research. Colombijn explains: “For a long time, academic careers were built on research. That is changing. We are looking differently at career paths: you can also excel in teamwork, in making an impact, or in delivering excellent teaching. I really enjoy doing research, but I absolutely love teaching.”
A moral appeal
For Colombijn, global citizenship is not a scientifically measurable concept, but a moral appeal: a call to take one another into account. “That awareness is important in education, although it can also make students insecure. They see an environmental crisis, international tensions, and people—from politicians to the so-called ‘man on the street’—who seem to disregard global citizenship altogether. As a student, it can be difficult to work out your own position within all that.”
“There is always room to chart your own course, no matter how large the world’s problems may be.”
Anthropology
It is precisely here, Colombijn says, that anthropology offers perspective. “The essence of anthropology is trying to understand the world through people’s own eyes,” he explains. “Anthropologists do not judge—not migrants, not PVV voters, not the management of KLM. We simply try to listen. That is a form of respect and inclusion, and that is exactly what lies at the heart of global citizenship.” For Colombijn, anthropology and global citizenship are therefore “almost synonymous”.
“Anthropologists do not pass judgement.”
Not judging
Equally important, says Colombijn, is allowing every society its own integrity without judging it from a Western, usually white, perspective. “This is how you learn to see the world through the eyes of others, and as a result you also look more critically at yourself. That, too, is global citizenship.”
“Global citizenship is not a scientifically measurable concept, but a moral appeal.”
Solidarity
In all his work he tries to give a voice to those who are marginalised. He conducts extensive research into waste management in Indonesia. “I speak with the directors of plastic-recycling factories and with municipal sanitation services. But I also conduct research with the people working on the rubbish dump. That solidarity is important.” He also tries to put this conviction into practice in his teaching. “Science has historically been strongly dominated by white Western men. In my lectures, I emphasise that we no longer want that, that things really have to change. There is room for everyone in academia. And from the responses of students, I can tell that they feel that.”
Self-determination and hope
Finally, Colombijn aims to show his students that, however overwhelming social structures may seem, there is always room for individual influence. “I stress in my lectures that you always have a certain degree of agency: self-determination. No matter how great the world’s problems are, there is always room to chart your own course.”
About Freek Colombijn
Freek Colombijn (b. 1961) studied Cultural Anthropology and History at Leiden University, where he obtained his PhD in 1994. He has been affiliated with VU Amsterdam since 2003. His current research focuses on the paradox of why people continue to engage in environmentally unfriendly behaviour, even though they know what is required for a sustainable lifestyle.
magazine for social sciences and humanities alumni december 2025