PhD in Colonial Heritage Ecologies

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We are an internationally top-ranking university in the Netherlands that combines scientific curiosity with a hands-on attitude.

Colonial histories of extraction have shaped landscapes and human–nature relations. But how are these legacies understood, contested, and reworked today? This PhD study will examine heritage ecologies on the Dutch Caribbean island of Bonaire through participatory research with local communities and more-than-human perspectives.

How do colonial histories of extraction and exploitation continue to shape heritage landscapes and human–nature relations in the present? How can (new) heritage practices embracing bio-based materials and ecological interventions also contribute to the ecology of a context? This PhD project examines colonial heritage ecologies through an interdisciplinary and more-than-human lens, with a focus on the Dutch Caribbean island of Bonaire.

The project investigates how landscapes shaped by colonial extractivism that relied on systems of forced labour, resource exploitation, deforestation and environmental transformation can be understood as complex assemblages of human and non-human relations. It engages with concepts such as pluriversality, relational ontologies, and heritage ecologies to explore how multiple ways of knowing and valuing landscapes coexist and interact. Ultimately, the PhD candidate will contribute to the development of a renewed curatorial vision for Bonaire’s cultural landscapes, one that more carefully balances ecology, culture, and colonial histories.

Particular attention will be given to the island’s ongoing deforestation crisis, understood as a long-term consequence of plantation-based economies, as well as the impacts of global climate change. A recent landscape biography of Bonaire will serve as a point of departure for this project.

The PhD candidate will conduct research on heritage landscapes in Bonaire, examining how colonial pasts are embedded in ecological systems and spatial practices, how these are negotiated in the present, and how they help shape future adaptation. The project places strong emphasis on participatory and co-creative methods, involving local communities, heritage practitioners, and other local stakeholders. These methods may also include approaches that consider more-than-human actors in knowledge production and heritage interpretation.

Fieldwork and participatory community engagement activities on Bonaire will thus form a central component of the research. The candidate will work closely with local history and heritage organisations, such as Fu Hi Ku Bo  (Fundashon Históriko Kultural Boneriano), communities and societal partners to co-produce knowledge and explore inclusive and just approaches to heritage and climate-related challenges.

This PhD forms part of the NWA-ORC project ‘Traumas capes:
Valuing, Negotiating and Sharing Sites of Trauma, Pain, and Loss’ (2026–2032), in which transdisciplinary teams of researchers, together with societal partners, memory communities and citizens, are conducting research into…