- Location
- Burg. Oudlaan 50, Rotterdam
- swerts@essb.eur.nl
Profile
Thomas Swerts is an Assistant Professor in Urban Sociology at the Department of Public Administration and Sociology of the Faculty of Social Sciences of the Erasmus University Rotterdam. Before joining EUR in 2018, he was a post-doctoral researcher and visiting professor at the Universiteit Antwerpen, the Université de Liège and the KU Leuven. He holds a PhD in Sociology from the University of Chicago.
Thomas is the Co-coordinator of the Master Grootstedelijke Vraagstukken en Beleid (GVB) and coordinator of the Sociology Bachelor Thesis. In the academic year 2020-2021, he teaches the course ‘Stad, Economie en Samenleving’ for the GVB Master track, 'Migration in a Globalized World’ for the Master in Governance of Migration and Diversity and is involved in the BA course ‘International Migration’ .
He supervises MA theses on urban (e.g. Resilience BoTu 2028 together with the Veldacademie) and migration-related (e.g. undocumented migrants in the Pauluskerk Rotterdam) themes.
His research focuses on the nexus between irregular migration, political sociology and urban studies. His book manuscript, 'Citizen X: Undocumented migrants as activists' (under contract at the University of Chicago Press), is a comparative ethnographic study of undocumented immigrant struggles in Chicago and Brussels. As a researcher, he is primarily specialized in ethnographic methods, participatory action research and in-depth interviewing. His most current research focuses on the dynamic of civil society in deprived neighborhoods.
His research has been funded by the SSRC, NSF and the Mellon Foundation. He has published in academic journals like Global Networks, Mobilization, the International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Antipode, Social Inclusion and the Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies. He has also contributed to edited volumes on citizenship studies, immigrant rights mobilization, research ethics and relational poverty politics.
- T.W.C. Swerts (2020). Politics Disrupted? Collective Intentionality, Inaugural Performativity, and Institutional Receptivity in Undocumented Migrant Struggles. Antipode. doi: 10.1111/anti.12662 [go to publisher's site]
- T.W.C. Swerts & S. Oosterlynck (2020). In search of recognition: The political ambiguities of undocumented migrants’ active citizenship. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies. doi: 10.1080/1369183X.2020.1772044
- T.W.C. Swerts & W.J. Nicholls (2020). Undocumented Immigrant Activism and the Political: Disrupting the Order or Reproducing the Status Quo? Antipode. doi: 10.1111/anti.12678
- S. Lambert & T.W.C. Swerts (2019). 'From sanctuary to welcoming cities': Negotiating the social inclusion of undocumented migrants in Liège, Belgium. Social Inclusion, 7 (4), 90-99. doi: 10.17645/si.v7i4.2326 [go to publisher's site]
- N. Schuermans, S. Oosterlynck, T.W.C. Swerts, J. Vandenabeele & M. Jans (2017). Solidariteit in superdiversiteit. Agora, 4, 16-19.
- T.W.C. Swerts (2017). Creating space for citizenship: The liminal politics of undocumented activism. International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, 41 (3), 379-395. doi: 10.1111/1468-2427.12480
- T.W.C. Swerts (2016). Van kwetsbaarheid naar agency: Een ethisch perspectief op etnografisch onderzoek naar mensen zonder papieren. Sociologos, 37 (1), 7-19.
- T.W.C. Swerts (2015). Gaining a voice: Storytelling and undocumented youth activism in Chicago. Mobilization, 20 (3), 385-402. doi: 10.17813/1086-671X-20-3-345
- T.W.C. Swerts (2014). Ruimte voor de strijd om burgerschap. Agora, 30 (3), 20-24.
- T.W.C. Swerts (2013). The democratic deficit of transnational environmental activism: A case study of E-waste Governance in India. Global networks : a journal of transnational affairs, 13 (4), 498-516. doi: 10.1111/glob.12009
- T.W.C. Swerts (2020). Power and empowerment. In H. Wilson & J. Darling (Eds.), Research Ethics for Human Geography: a Handbook for Students (pp. 59-66). London: Sage
- T.W.C. Swerts & A. Depraetere (2019). Publieke sociologie en activisme: Actie-onderzoek als instrument in de zoektocht naar erkenning van mensen zonder wettig verblijf. In F. Vandermoere, I. Loots, A. Berghmans & P. Raeymaeckers (Eds.), Wetenschappers in actie. Een publiek-sociologische benadering (pp. 137-152). Leuven: Acco
- T.W.C. Swerts (2018). ’Check your privilege’: Cross-status alliances in the DREAM movement. In V. Lawson & S. Elwood (Eds.), Relational Poverty Politics: (Un)thinkable forms, struggles, possibilities (pp. 166-182). Athens: The University of Georgia Press
- N. Schuermans, S. Oosterlynck, T.W.C. Swerts, J. Vandenabeele & M. Jans (2017). Voorbij de Sociale cohesie: vier handvatten voor solidariteit in superdiversiteit. In N. Schuermans, J. Vandenabeele, S. Oosterlynck, M. Jans & D. Holemans (Eds.), Solidariteit in super-diversiteit (pp. 29-56). Leuven: Acco
- T.W.C. Swerts (2017). Marching beyond borders: Non-citizen citizenship and transnational undocumented activism in Europe. In Sigona, N. and Gonzales, R (Ed.), Within and Beyond Citizenship: Borders, Membership and Belonging (pp. 126-142). London: Routledge
- M. Jans, J. Vandenabeele, T.W.C. Swerts, A. Depraetere, J. De Haene, T. Van Steenberghe & G. Verschelden (2017). Burgerschapspraktijken in de vrije tijd. In N. Schuermans, J. Vandenabeele, S. Oosterlynck, M. Jans & D. Holemans (Eds.), Solidariteit in super-diversiteit (pp. 71-88). Leuven: Acco
- T.W.C. Swerts (2014). Non-citizen citizenship in Canada and the United States. In Isin, E. and Nyers, P. (Ed.), Routledge Handbook of Global Citizenship Studies (pp. 295-303). New York: Routledge
- T.W.C. Swerts (2018). "On the run: Fugitive life in an American city by Alice Goffman" [Bespreking van het boek On the run: Fugitive life in an American city]. Sociologos, 39(3), 342-344.
- T.W.C. Swerts (2018). Els de Graauw 2016: Making Immigrant Rights Real: Nonprofits and the Politics of Integration in San Francisco [Bespreking van het boek Making Immigrant Rights Real: Nonprofits and the Politics of Integration in San Francisco.]. International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, 42, 741-742. doi: 10.1111/1468-2427.12669
- T.W.C. Swerts (2015). The DREAMers: How the Undocumented Youth Movement Transformed the Immigrant Rights Debate [Bespreking van het boek The DREAMers. How the undocumented youth movement transformed the immigrant rights debate]. American Journal of Sociology, 120(5), 1552-1555.
- S. Oosterlynck, E. Hertogen, T.W.C. Swerts & P. Debruyne (2019). Citizens and civil society organisations in a changing world: a literature survey. (Preprints, CSI Flanders Position Paper). Antwerpen: Universiteit Antwerpen
- T.W.C. Swerts (2019). Actie-Onderzoek: CollectActif. (Preprints, DieGem Working Paper). Antwerpen: Centrum OASeS, Universiteit Antwerpen
- F. Laoukili, T.W.C. Swerts, S. Oosterlynck, R. Wouters & P. Cools (2019). Omgaan met etnisch-culturele diversiteit in het middenveld: een overzicht van de paradigma’s. (Preprints, CSI Flanders Working Paper). Antwerpen: Centre for Research on Environmental and Social Change (CRESC), Universiteit Antwerpen [go to publisher's site]
- M. Moris & T.W.C. Swerts (2017). Actie-Onderzoek: Movement X Antwerpen. (Preprints, DieGem Working Papers). Antwerpen: Centrum OASeS, Universiteit Antwerpen
- T.W.C. Swerts (2017). Retrospectieve case study Movement X. (Preprints, DieGem Working Paper). Antwerpen: Centrum OASeS, Universiteit Antwerpen
- T.W.C. Swerts, E. Hertogen & S. Oosterlynck (2017). Diversiteit en Politisering: Een kritische agenda voor het middenveld. (Preprints, CSI Flanders Spotlight Paper). Antwerpen: Centre for Research on Environmental and Social Change (CRESC), Universiteit Antwerpen [go to publisher's site]
- T.W.C. Swerts, G. Verschelden, J. De Haene, F. Spijkers, J. Vandenabeele & M. Jans (2016). Vrije-tijdsparticipatie in een superdiverse samenleving. (Preprints, DieGem Working Papers). Antwerpen: Centrum OASeS, Universiteit Antwerpen
- J. Waddington, V. Pulignano, J. Turk & T.W.C. Swerts (2016). Managers, BusinessEurope and the development of European Works Councils. (Preprints, ETUI Working Papers). Brussels: ETUI
- T.W.C. Swerts & S. Oosterlynck (2019). Molenbeek (On)besproken: Dynamiek van het verenigingsleven in een achtergestelde en gestigmatiseerde buurt. (Preprints, CSI Flanders Working Papers). Antwerpen: Centre for Research on Environmental and Social Change (CRESC), Universiteit Antwerpen
3.3C International Migration
- Title
- 3.3C International Migration
- Year
- 2020
4.2 Migration in a Globalized world
- Title
- 4.2 Migration in a Globalized world
- Year
- 2020
4.2 City, Society and Economy
- Title
- 4.2 City, Society and Economy
- Year
- 2020
3.7 Bachelor Thesis
- Title
- 3.7 Bachelor Thesis
- Year
- 2020
Assistant Professor
- University
- Erasmus University Rotterdam
- School
- Erasmus School of Social and Behavioural Sciences
- Department
- Department of Public Administration and Sociology/ Sociology
- Country
- The Netherlands