Niek van de Pas

I am a PhD candidate at the departments of Cultural Anthropology and of Methodology and Statistics. My work is at the intersection of cultural anthropology and data science, and my dissertation focuses on the heritagization of Dutch cuisine.

Publications

• van de Pas, N. (2025). Ik schrijf, jij schrijft, wij schrijven? Auteurschap en Generatieve AI. In L. van Elteren (Ed.), Ik, AI: Over machtige algoritmen en verantwoordelijkheid. Internationale School voor Wijsbegeerte.
• van de Pas, N. (2023). [Review of the book Black Man in the Netherlands: An Afro-Antillean Anthropology, by F. Guadeloupe]. Etnofoor, 35(2). https://www.jstor.org/stable/27275340
• van de Pas, N., de Kort, D., Koster, M., & van Meijl, T. (2022). The Political Potential of Urban Informality in the Global North: A Rancièrian Perspective. Journal of Developing Societies, 38(2). https://doi.org/10.1177/0169796X221089463

Conferences

• Contextualizing Personality: Insights from Anthropology to Advance Personality Detection. Poster presented at BNAIC/BeNeLearn 2024, Utrecht, the Netherlands.

Teaching

2024-2025

• Thesis supervision in the master's programme in Cultural Anthropology, Utrecht University
• Thesis supervision in the bachelor's programme in Liberal Arts & Sciences (specialization Cultural Anthropology), Utrecht University

2023-2024

• Leading seminar groups in the course Anthropology of Violence, Utrecht University
• Thesis supervision in the bachelor's programme in Cultural Anthropology, Utrecht University
• Thesis supervision in the bachelor's programme in Liberal Arts & Sciences (specialization Cultural Anthropology), Utrecht University
• Mini-lecture on using quantitative data in anthropological research
• Mentoring on the closing day of the 'Academic Professional' course for Master's students

2022-2023

• Thesis supervision in the bachelor's programme in Cultural Anthropology, Utrecht University
• Thesis supervision in the master's programme in Cultural Anthropology, Utrecht University
• Mentoring on the closing day of the 'Academic Professional' course for Master's students

Professional Activities

• 2025: Co-chair of the PhD Council for the Faculty of Social Behavioural Sciences, Utrecht University
• 2021-2022: Member of the Staff-Student Council for the Social and Cultural Science Research Master, Radboud University

Some of my current favorite written works

• Bostrom, N. (2014). Superintelligence: Paths, Dangers, Strategies. Oxford University Press.
• Graeber, D. (2015). The Utopia of Rules: on Technology, Stupidity, and the Secret Joys of Bureaucracy. Melville House.
• Heldke, L. (2003). Exotic Appetites: Ruminations of a Food Adventurer. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315822068
• Matthijs Kuipers (2017): “Makanlah Nasi! (Eat Rice!)”: Colonial Cuisine and Popular Imperialism in The Netherlands During the Twentieth Century, Global Food History, https://doi.org/10.1080/20549547.2017.1279515
• Sparrow, R. (2007). Killer Robots. Journal of Applied Philosophy, 24(1), 62–77. http://www.jstor.org/stable/24355087