Timo Korstenbroek is a PhD candidate at the VU’s Department of Sociology. His research focuses on addressing the pernicious effects of societal polarisation within public debates concerning national identities and belonging in the Netherlands, whilst aiming to find novel ways to enable what are deemed democratically constructive effects of polarisation (i.e.: creating space for social struggle and the inclusion of profoundly different views not represented within hegemonic discourses). In his research, he makes use of various qualitative methods. These involve more 'traditional' methods, such as interviews and analyses of discourse, but also more creative methods, such as storytelling and arts-based practices.
His research is furthermore affiliated to both the Institute for Societal Resilience’s (ISR) Polarisation Lab and the Refugee Academy. For the latter, he has been engaged in a project called Learning Crossroads for Refugee Inclusion that examines the role of (Dutch) civil society initiatives promoting refugees’ inclusion.
At this moment, he is working with several artists and local communities in four different countries (France, Hungary, Slovakia, the Netherlands) on an arts-based project called Common Ground Dialogues, which focusses on addressing contentious issues through the sharing of memories and fictional storytelling. For this project, he is conducting research on the storytelling methodology developed by the artists, mainly through participant observations.
