Biography
Holding a PhD in Agricultural Economics, I work as an Associate Professor in Labour and Gender Economics at the International Institute of Social Studies (ISS) of Erasmus University Rotterdam in The Hague, the Netherlands. I am keen to understand how precarious workers challenge and change the social, economic and political structures that marginalize labour. This interest in emerges from my research on how precarious work is fashioned at the intersection of global economic processes with local labour markets, stratified by varying degrees of formality of work, as well as gender and other social identities. I have investigated these dynamics in the context of global production networks, global care chains and international migration more generally. Assuming that academia can make an important societal contribution, especially if the ways in which knowledge itself is produced embody alternatives to the status quo, I have increasingly conducted research jointly with actors who have a direct stake in progressive social change, such as workers’ and migrants’ organizations. The geographical focus of my work has been South Asia, Pakistan in particular. I welcome PhD supervisions that address these and related questions.
International Institute of Social Studies
- siegmann@iss.nl
More information
Work
- Hammal Aslam & Karin Astrid Siegmann (2025) - “Happy cows without happy workers?” How Migrant Justice is fighting for improved labour conditions in the US’ dairy industry
- Karin Astrid Siegmann (2024) - Migrant work and the future of food cultivation in the Netherlands
- Karin Astrid Siegmann (2024) - Migrantenarbeid en de toekomst van de voedselteelt in Nederland
- Karin Astrid Siegmann, Petar Ivošević & Oane Visser (2024) - Working like Machines: Technological Upgrading and Labour in the Dutch Agri-food Chain - Work, Employment and Society - doi: 10.1177/09500170241244718 - [link]
- Marianne Chargois, Daan Bawens & Karin Astrid Siegmann (2024) - Decriminalizing sex work is a first step towards assuring rights and recognition for sex workers in Belgium — but it is not a silver bullet
- Empower Foundation, Silke Heumann & Karin Astrid Siegmann (2022) - A Reflection on Collaborative Writing Across Sex Worker Organisations and Academia - [link]
- María Inés Cubides Kovacsics, Wáleri Santos & Karin Astrid Siegmann (2022) - Sex Workers’ Everyday Security in the Netherlands and the Impact of COVID-19 - Sexuality Research and Social Policy, 20 (2), 810-824 - doi: 10.1007/s13178-022-00729-4 - [link]
- Karin Astrid Siegmann & Sreerekha Sathi (2022) - Unfreedoms in south India’s tea value chain: reproduction and resistance: Contribution to Globalizations Special Issue on ‘Unfreedom in Labor Relations: from a politics of rescue towards a politics of solidarity?’ - Globalizations, 19 (6), 971-988 - doi: 10.1080/14747731.2022.2047437 - [link]
- Sreerekha Sathi, Karin Astrid Siegmann, Cynthia Embido Bejeno, Lize Swartz & Richard Toppo (2022) - Transformative Methodologies: Thinking Transformative Methodologies Collectively - [link]
- Jack Apostol, Helen Hintjens, Joy Melani & Karin Astrid Siegmann (2022) - Changing Minds and Policy through Collaborative Research? - [link]
- Karin Astrid Siegmann (24 October 2022) - Steps & explorations in my feminist journey
- Karin Astrid Siegmann (1 October 2022) - Lage lonen en goedkope krachten: wie doorbreekt de machtspositie van supermarkten? / Low wages and cheap labour: who will break the dominance of supermarkets?
- Karin Astrid Siegmann (25 May 2022) - Pays-Bas: Ce petit pays qui nourrit la planète
- KA (Karin Astrid) Siegmann (23 September 2021) - How Anti-trafficking Governance is Getting it Wrong: Consequences of the differential treatment of migrant worker groups in the Netherlands
- Hadia Majid & KA (Karin Astrid) Siegmann (14 September 2021) - The First to be Laid Off
- KA (Karin Astrid) Siegmann (28 April 2021) - Duurzame toekomst voor de landbouw? Niet zolang arbeidsmigranten wegwerpproducten zijn
- KA (Karin Astrid) Siegmann (30 October 2020) - Advice Migrant Worker Protection Taskforce
- Karin Astrid Siegmann (1 July 2019) - 'Mensen weten zo weinig van de prostitutie'
- KA (Karin Astrid) Siegmann (2021) - Bliss, ISS blog on global development and social justice (Journal) (Reviewer)
Activity: Editorial work › Professional - Maria Ines Cubides Kovacsics, W Santos & Karin Astrid Siegmann (2020) - ‘When something happens, they don't help’: Sex workers’ everyday security in the Netherlands and the impact of COVID-19 (Speaker)
Activity: Oral presentation › Academic - Karin Astrid Siegmann (2020) - Harvesting consent: South Asian tea plantation workers' experience of Fairtrade certification (Speaker)
Activity: Oral presentation › Academic - Karin Astrid Siegmann & Julia Quaedvlieg (2020) - Van gereguleerde wantoestanden naar eerlijk werk in de landbouw (Speaker)
Activity: Oral presentation › Professional - Karin Astrid Siegmann (2020) - Beter uit de coronacrisis? [Building back better after the corona crisis?] (Speaker)
Activity: Oral presentation › Professional - Karin Astrid Siegmann (2020) - Work, Employment and Society (Journal) (Editor)
Activity: Editorial work › Academic - Karin Astrid Siegmann (2020) - Paradoxes of migrants’ exploitation in the Netherlands (Speaker)
Activity: Oral presentation › Academic - Karin Astrid Siegmann & Hadia Majid (2019) - Has Growth Been Good for Women’s Employment in Pakistan? (Speaker)
Activity: Oral presentation › Academic - P Ivosevic, Karin Astrid Siegmann & Oane Visser (2018) - People as Robots? Exploring the effects of technological changes in the Dutch agro-food sector on Central & Eastern European migrants (Speaker)
Activity: Oral presentation › Academic - Karin Astrid Siegmann (2018) - Labour unfreedoms in the tea supply chains (Speaker)
Activity: Oral presentation › Academic
Board of Examiners
- Year
- 2024
- Course Code
- ISS-BOE-24-25
Master track GMD
- Year
- 2024
- Course Code
- ISS-GMD-24-25
GMD1 Governance of Migration and Diversi
- Year
- 2024
- Course Code
- ISS-GMD1-24-25
GMD3 History of Migration and Diversity
- Year
- 2024
- Course Code
- ISS-GMD3-24-25
Major SPD
- Year
- 2024
- Course Code
- ISS-SPD-24-25
General Information
- Year
- 2024
- Course Code
- ISSGENERAL-24-25
3105 Research Paper Preparation
- Year
- 2024
- Course Code
- ISS-3105-24-25
4338 Gender and Sexuality as 'Lenses'
- Year
- 2024
- Course Code
- ISS-4338-24-25
Transformative Methods
- Year
- 2024
- Course Code
- FW-MST-C005
4242 Gender at Work in Development
- Year
- 2024
- Course Code
- ISS-4242-24-25
GMD5 Social Inequality in the City
- Year
- 2024
- Course Code
- ISS-GMD5-24-25
4154 Critical Social Policy
- Year
- 2024
- Course Code
- ISS-4154-24-25
GMD2 Politics of Migration and Diversity
- Year
- 2024
- Course Code
- ISS-GMD2-24-25
GMD4 Sociology of Migration and Diversit
- Year
- 2024
- Course Code
- ISS-GMD4-24-25
4394 SPD: Working towards the RP
- Year
- 2024
- Course Code
- ISS-4394-24-25
5401 Research Paper
- Year
- 2024
- Course Code
- ISS-5401-24-25