Otto van den Muijzenberg

Otto van den Muijzenberg is Professor Emeritus of Sociology and Modern History of South and Southeast Asia at the University of Amsterdam The Netherlands). Focussing on (South-East) Asia, his fields of interest encompass rural development, urbanization and urban lifestyle, the  role of the state in development and transnational families in a long-term perspective. He directed the Indo-Dutch research program on “Labour and Poverty in Kerala and the Philippines”; the program of  research training in the social sciences “Rural Development in Central Luzon” ( CSSP/ U.P. - CASA/UvA , 1989-1993) and coordinates the multidisciplinary research programme on “Brokers of Capital and Knowledge in Provincial Asia, 1960-2000.”

Recent publications include Two Ethnographic Collectors in the late Spanish Philippines (2004). He co-edited the recent Dutch Views issue of Philippine Studies (2003, no.3), including his article on ‘A short history of social connections between the Philippines and the Netherlands’. With Ton van Naerssen he wrote  ‘Metro Manila: Designers or  Directors of Urban Development?’ in: Peter J.M. Nas (ed.) Directors of urban change in Asia (Routledge 2005) Other recent publications include Capital and Knowledge in Asia: Changing Power Relations (Routledge, 2003 co-editor and author), 'Filipino migrants and sojourners in Europe' in: Chrissi Inglessi et al.(eds.) Immigration and Integration in Northern versus Southern Europe. Athens: NIA, 2004; Four centuries of Dutch-Philippine economic relations, 1600-2000. Manila, 2001. Forthcoming is  Brokers of Capital, Knowledge and Labour in Asia (co-ed. with Sikko Visscher).

Current research is directed at emerging urban classes  and gentrification in Asian cities and investigates the  visual representation of  19th century colonial lifestyles.