A team from VU Amsterdam visited four diverse locations in Colombia in preparation for new anthropological fieldwork. This exploration supports our mission to strengthen Global Citizenship. In 2026, students will have the opportunity to engage with these communities and work on real global challenges.
This month we were in Colombia, where Anthropology colleagues Eva van Roekel and Flávio Eiro and Sylvia van Glabbeek (International Relations) explored several potential field sites across Colombia. This field exploration clearly aligns with VU Amsterdam’s commitment to Global Citizenship. By creating opportunities for students to engage directly with diverse communities and global challenges, we aim to equip them with the skills, perspectives, and empathy needed to thrive as responsible, internationally oriented citizens. This upcoming fieldwork trajectory in Colombia is a clear example of how we bring this vision to life.
The purpose of our visit is to identify locations where our Bachelor’s students in Anthropology can conduct their future fieldwork. In close collaboration with our partner university, Pontificia Universidad Javeriana, we visited four promising and diverse sites.
Our first stop was a beautiful green mountain area south of Bogotá, where local farming communities are engaged with issues such as land rights, eco-farming, and post-conflict dynamics. Next, we visited an island where climate change and coastal conservation are central themes that affect both the environment and the daily lives of the residents. We then went to a village on Colombia’s Caribbean coast, a community facing multiple challenges, where wind energy development and salt mining play an important role in the social and environmental life. Finally, we visited the indigenous Arhuaco community, where land rights and audiovisual (self-)representation are key themes, offering students the opportunity to learn about indigenous perspectives, culture, and participatory research methods.
This has been a fruitful and inspiring visit, laying the foundation for the pilot planned for March 2026, when we will travel with a group of VU Bachelor students to Colombia so they can carry out their own fieldwork.