Academic staff
Social Sciences (Research MSc)
The Research Master Social Sciences is organised by the Graduate School of Social Sciences of the Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences at the University of Amsterdam.
The academic staff of this programme is actively involved in research at UvA's Amsterdam Institute of Social Science Research (AISSR). The courses in the RMSS are closely linked to the research done in the associated programme groups.
Oskar Verkaaik
Oskar Verkaaik is associate professor of anthropology at the University of Amsterdam and affiliated with the research programme group Globalizing Cultures and the Quest for Belonging.
He is especially interested in the Anthropology of religion and politics. He has previously worked in Pakistan where he conducted ethnographic fieldwork on religious-ethnic violence. The monograph that came out of this was published by Princeton University Press. More recently he has done research on citizenship ceremonies in the Netherlands in the context of new culturalised regimes of citizenship. Currently he is engaged in an ethnographic study of contemporary religious architecture, particularly mosques and synagogues, in various parts of Europe.
In addition to doing research, he thoroughly enjoys teaching anthropology theory in general as well as, more specifically, political anthropology and the anthropology of religion. Currently he is the programme director of the Research Master Social Sciences at the University of Amsterdam.
“I strongly believe that an academic career combines both research and teaching, if only because teaching forces me to stay in touch with developments outside the field of my research interests. I cannot imagine myself as a full-time researcher nor as a full-time teacher. It is great privilege to be able to do both.”
Lecturers
Below is a list of the core lecturers of this programme (teaching in the required and methodology courses). Click the name of a lecturer for more information (if available).