Lidewyde Berckmoes

Lidewyde Berckmoes joined the ASSR in 2009 as a guest researcher. Since January 2009 she has been employed as a PhD candidate at the Social and Cultural Anthropology department of the VU University Amsterdam. Previously Lidewyde has studied Cultural Anthropology (2006, doctoraal – cum laude) at the University of Amsterdam (UvA) and African Studies (2008, Mphil) at the African Study Centre (ASC) in Leiden. In 2008 she pursued post graduate education at the Centre for International Development Issues in Nijmegen (CIDIN) while working as a policy advisor at the Department for Communication and Research (DCO) at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in The Hague.

In her PhD project Lidewyde focuses on peace building processes in Burundi. For this project she builds on previous research with youth in a Burundian refugee camp in Tanzania (2005-2006) and research on views on war and peace in the Burundian capital Bujumbura (2007). For her PhD research she is particularly interested in whether and how divisions of belonging and exclusion are reproduced in Burundian society. Burundian youth offer a good point of departure in shedding light on these processes in situations of ‘no peace no war’ as youth are exceptionally focussed on social change and possibilities, and are seen as both makers and breakers of society.