Marjo de Theije

Prof. Marjo de Theije is a Full Professor of Social and Cultural Anthropology at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam and Head of the Department of Social and Cultural Anthropology. She leads the Mobilities, Beliefs and Belonging (MOBB) research group, focusing on resource extraction’s socio-environmental impacts in Amazonia and the Guianas. Her work examines small-scale gold mining, migration, and sustainability in Brazil, Suriname, French Guiana, and Colombia.

De Theije holds visiting professorships at Unicamp’s NEPAM and collaborates with Brazilian and Latin American researchers. She investigates resource conflicts, informal economies, and transnational mobilities, contributing to global sustainability debates. Her research projects include GOMIAM, Gold Matters, and LINKAGES/ENLACES, funded by NWO/FAPESP and Norface-Belmont.

Her teaching focuses on resource governance, migration, and sustainability, supervising over 20 PhD theses. She serves on the editorial board of ERLACS and advises on mining policies. Awards include recognition for her contributions to anthropology and an ethnographic film prize.

De Theije’s research bridges anthropology, development studies, and environmental science, emphasizing marginalized communities’ perspectives in global resource chains. Her recent work explores offshore oil impacts in the Guianas and socio-biodiversity value chains in Amazonia.