Inge M. Ruigrok (Free University, Amsterdam, The Netherlands)

Submitted:  Tues, 25 October 2005


Inge M. Ruigrok

Ph.D. Candidate, Free University, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Associate Member, "Culture, Politics and Inequality" Group, African Studies 
Centre in Leiden, The Netherlands
Research Associate, Centro de Estudos Africanos-ISCTE, Lisbon (Portugal).

Mail address:
Rua da Liberdade 122
Banzo Colares 2705-299
Sintra
Portugal

phone:   +351.21.9282116
fax:     +351.21.9282116
e-mail:  ingeruigrok@gmail.com


Research interests: 

Political rebuilding of war-torn societies ; Concepts of local justice ; 
Global process and local consequences ; Link between governance, culture and 
political realities ; Arts, culture and development ; Journalism and media ; 
Africa as a whole, and specifically South Africa, Mozambique and Angola.

Current research project:  

"Negotiating governance: politics, decentralisation, and cultural ideology in 
post-war Angola" ; Funded by: The Netherlands Foundation for the Advancement 
of Tropical Research/WOTRO

With its multi-sited and strongly empirical approach to governance, this 
research analyses why the Angolan state chose to `decentralize' and 
`deconcentrate' its power, despite its strong centralist tradition in the 
socialist era and as a consequence of contested state power during the war, 
and in what way this redefinition of power is taking shape. Additionally, the 
research is concerned with understanding the implications of this process of 
negotiation governance for political justice and reconciliation at the local 
level. How have political relations and identities changed under the new 
dispensation? With this focus on the functioning of the body politic, the 
making an unmaking of identity and the small history and memory of a region 
emerging from one of the bloodiest `low intensity' conflicts Africa has ever 
known, the research hopes to contribute to current debates on governance, 
reconciliation and local justice in post-conflict environments, and more 
generally, to theory formation on the intertwining of and link between 
politics and culture in a changing world order.

Selected publications:  

2005   Mozambique's 2004 general elections, African Security Review (4) 2005, 
Institute for Security Studies, Pretoria; also available as ISS Situation 
Report at http://www.iss.co.za/

       "Capacity building in developing countries," In: Ukpabi, Chudi ed. SADC 
Training Programme on Rural Energy Planning and Environmental Management, 
Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Den Haag, the Netherlands;

       Mozambique.  Landenreeks (countries-series). Royal Institute for 
the Tropics (KIT), Publishers/Oxfam Netherlands, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

2004   Shaping of new horizons: media development in Angola, Netherlands 
Institute for Southern Africa (NiZA), Amsterdam, the Netherlands.

2003   With Chudi Ukpabi.  Taking over the driver's seat: experiences with and 
ideas about ownership in the NiZA Media Sector Plan, Netherlands Institute for 
Southern Africa (NiZA), Amsterdam, the Netherlands.

2000   "Keeper of memories", In: Victor Gama, ed., Pangeia Instrumentos, 
PangeiArt, Lisbon, Portugal.