معرفی
Susanne Ferwerda serves as Assistant Professor in Comparative Literature at Utrecht University within the Department of Languages, Literature and Communication under the Humanities faculty. She teaches across the BA Literary Studies, BA Liberal Arts and Sciences at University College Utrecht, and RMA Comparative Literature programs, with active involvement in the Network for Environmental Humanities and Pathways to Sustainability initiatives.
- PhD in English, University of Tasmania (Dissertation: 'Blue Ocean Stories: Climate Colonialism and Narrative Disruption in Oceania')
- Transdisciplinary training: Literary Studies and Art History (Leiden University), Gender Studies (Utrecht University)
Her research critically examines environmental and blue humanities through postcolonial/anticolonial theory, focusing on Oceanic contemporary art and literature. Key themes include Pacific Ocean dynamics, extinction narratives, migration, (de)nuclearization, and extractive colonial economies, intersecting with Indigenous studies, feminist theory, and animal studies. This work manifests in interdisciplinary projects addressing climate colonialism and narrative disruption in Oceania.
Awarded multiple Pathways to Sustainability grants and fellowships, her scientific recognition emphasizes collaborative environmental humanities research. Key projects include 'Whose Ocean?' and 'NATURICITY,' examining ocean governance and urban futures through interdisciplinary lenses.
- 2024 Pathways to Sustainability Seed Grant: 'Degrowth and Children's Education'
- 2023-25 Pathways to Sustainability Signature Grant: 'Whose Ocean?'
- 2022 Greenhouse Green Transitions Fellow (University of Stavanger)
As Principal Investigator in major sustainability initiatives, she leads interdisciplinary teams involving Casco Art Institute, NIOZ, Dutch Ministries, and international scholars. Her grant portfolio demonstrates strategic focus on decolonial environmental narratives and ocean justice, with active supervision of collaborative research across humanities-science boundaries. Current work with The Greenhouse center explores 'green' transitions through critical ocean studies.
Based at Transcomplex Trans 10 in Utrecht, she contributes to the Institute for Cultural Inquiry and Modern and Contemporary Literature research groups, with expertise spanning feminist literary criticism, queer theory, and postcolonial studies applied to Australian and Dutch literary contexts.
