Tine Vekemans

When coming to the university in 2003, it was mainly her love for language and the desire to learn something entirely new, that motivated Tine to choose Oriental Languages and Cultures. She discovered the wonderful world of Hindi, Sanskrit, and Arabic. As time went by, she got more and more interested in modern South-Asian politics and religions, and in South-Asian Migrant communities. She graduated in 2007 with a master thesis titled "Hindutva and the Dalits", analyzing the ways in which the Hindu religious-nationalist movements try to incorporate the lower castes and outcasts. In the ManaMa Conflict and Development, she spent a year expanding her knowledge of contemporary India, international politics and globalization.

After graduating, Tine worked in the migration-sector, as a translator,  an intercultural advisor and a social assistant to different South-Asian migrant communities. It is from that backdrop that she started her PhD-research into the development of diasporic networks within South-Asian migrant-communities, and the effect of these changing networks on cultural identity and religion. The case she researches is Jainism in diaspora.

Additionally, she follows the South-Asian news media daily.

Specialized in:

  • Migration
  • South-Asian Diaspora
  • Modern politics of India and Pakistan
  • Jainism  

More information can be found here.