Biography
Silke Heumann is a Sociologist and Assistant Professor (Senior Lecturer) in the Major Social Justice Perspectives (SJP). Her areas of expertise and interest are Gender and Sexuality Studies, Social Movements, Latin American Politics, Discourse Analysis and Social Theory. She obtained her MA (2003, honors) and PhD (2010) at the University of Amsterdam (UvA), The Netherlands, and her Licenciatura at the Central American University (UCA) in Managua, Nicaragua (1998, honors).
Before joining ISS, she taught at several Institutes and Schools of the University of Amsterdam, in the programs of Sociology; Gender and Sexuality Studies; (Medical) Anthropology; and Latin American Studies. In the 1990s, she lived in Nicaragua for a decade. During that time she studied and worked with NGOs, international organizations and public institutions in a wide range of areas, including sexual and reproductive health and rights; gender based violence; elections, democracy and regional autonomy; gender and microcredit, and awareness-raising about discrimination based on gender, age, sexual orientation, class and ethnicity.
Her teaching and research are characterized by an interest in interdisciplinary approaches, intersectionality, the relationship between power and knowledge, and the connections between personal and (inter)subjective processes, and broader socio-economic and political developments, particularly in the reproduction of structural relations of power.
The research on “Sexual politics and Regime Transition in Nicaragua” explored the relationship between the personal and political to explain debates and mobilizations around gender and sexuality in post-revolutionary Nicaragua, by tracing and comparing the histories, mobilizing strategies, as well as personal and public discourses of both the feminist and the ultra-conservative “pro-life” movements.
This concern with the intersections of sexuality, gender and social justice finds continuity in recent and ongoing collaborative work with sex workers’ organizations on work precarity in the sex industry and the adverse impact of anti-trafficking discourses and migration governance on sex workers’ working conditions and human rights.
At ISS Silke Heumann is a member of the Sexuality Research Initiative (SRI) and the Civic Innovation Research Initiative (CIRI), and an affiliate member of Governance, Globalization and Social Justice (GGSJ).
International Institute of Social Studies
- heumann@iss.nl
More information
Work
- Silke Heumann & Camilo Antillón Najlis (2023) - Gender, Sexuality and Social Justice: Unpacking Dominant Development and Policy Discourses - doi: 10.4324/9780429439483 - [link]
- Silke Heumann (2023) - Mapping the intersections of gender, sexuality, 'race' and social justice in development and policy discourses - doi: 10.4324/9780429439483-1 - [link]
- Eneze Modupe Oluwa Baye & Silke Heumann (2023) - Migration, sex work and exploitative labor conditions: Experiences of Nigerian women in the sex industry in Turin, Italy, and counter-trafficking measures - doi: 10.4324/9780429439483-15 - [link]
- Empower Foundation, Silke Heumann & Karin Astrid Siegmann (2022) - A Reflection on Collaborative Writing Across Sex Worker Organisations and Academia - [link]
- Karin Astrid Siegmann, Thea Hilhorst, Silke Heumann & MR Bashwira Nyenyezi (2021) - Understanding transactional sex in situations of humanitarian crises and reforming institutional responses - [link]
- S (Silke) Heumann & Dr. M.P.C. (Marie-Louise) Janssen (2021) - Criminalisering van seksklanten helpt niet tegen mensenhandel: Prostitutie: De nieuwe wet tegen misbruik van prostitué(e)s maakt sekswerk niet veiliger. - [link]
- Silke Heumann, Ana Portocarrero Lacayo & C Antillón (2019) - Diálogo: Cuerpos Transgéneros como Sujetos del Feminismo: Conversación y Análisis sobre la Inclusión de Personas y Políticas Trans en el Movimiento Feminista Nicaragüense - Revista Interdisciplinaria de Estudios Sociales, 15, 9-40 - [link]
- EMH Mitchell, Silke Heumann, L Sprague, DH Tesfaye, Angelique Van Dam & I Spruit (2019) - Reservoir of infection’ or ‘fount of knowledge? Forging equal partnerships and shifting power to address LTBI - International Journal of Tuberculosis and Lung Disease, 23 (5), 527-528 - doi: 10.5588/ijtld.19.0193 - [link]
- Silke Heumann, Ana Victoria Portocarrero & Camilo Antillón (2018) - Transgendered bodies as subjects of feminism: A dialogue between cis and transgendered feminist activists - Frauen*solidarität (online), 144 (2), 16-17 - [link]
- Silke Heumann (2017) - Reflections: Saskia Wieringa, interviewed by Silke Heumann - Development and Change, 48 (5), 1111-1129 - doi: 10.1111/dech.12338 - [link]
- Silke Heumann, AV Portocarrero, C Antillón Najlis, MT Blandon, G Gomez, A Larios, A Quiros Viquez & J Urbina (2017) - Dialogue: Transgendered bodies as subjects of feminism: A conversation and analysis about the inclusion of trans persons and politics in the Nicaraguan feminist movement
- Wendy Harcourt, Silke Heumann & A Asya (2017) - Introduction - doi: 10.1057/978-1-137-47780-4
- Silke Heumann, SV (Sara Vida) Coumans, T Shiboleth & M Ridder-Wiskerke (2017) - The Netherlands: Analysing shifts and continuities in the governing of sexual labour
- Silke Heumann & Karin Astrid Siegmann (2016) - Towards new perspectives on labour precarity and decent work for sex workers
- Karin Astrid Siegmann & Silke Heumann (2015) - Moving beyond feminist divides on sex work? - [link]
- Silke Heumann & Wendy Harcourt (2015) - Gender, Sexuality and Global Inequalities: Understanding the Interconnections - DevISSues, 17 (1), 2-2 - [link]
- Silke Heumann (2015) - Gender, Sexuality, and Politics: Rethinking the Relationship Between Feminism and Sandinismo in Nicaragua - Zapruder World: An international journal for the history of social conflict (online), 2 - [link]
- Silke Heumann & JW Duyvendak (2015) - When and Why Religious Groups Become Political Players: The Pro-Life Movement in Nicaragua
- Silke Heumann (2014) - Gender, Sexuality and Politics: Rethinking the Relationship Between Feminism and Sandinismo in Nicaragua - Social Politics, 21 (2), 290-314 - [link]
Board of Examiners
- Year
- 2024
- Course Code
- ISS-BOE-24-25
Major SJP
- Year
- 2024
- Course Code
- ISS-SJP-24-25
General Information
- Year
- 2024
- Course Code
- ISSGENERAL-24-25
3105 Research Paper Preparation
- Year
- 2024
- Course Code
- ISS-3105-24-25
4153 Cont Perspectives on Social Justice
- Year
- 2024
- Course Code
- ISS-4153-24-25
4226 Feminist Perspectives, Gender & Dev
- Year
- 2024
- Course Code
- ISS-4226-24-25
4338 Gender and Sexuality as 'Lenses'
- Year
- 2024
- Course Code
- ISS-4338-24-25
5401 Research Paper
- Year
- 2024
- Course Code
- ISS-5401-24-25