Adresse visiteur
Laboratoire d'Anthropologie des Mondes Contemporains
Avenue Jeanne, 44
Bâtiment S
Bureau S12.208
1050 Bruxelles
Belgique
Adresse courrier
Université libre de Bruxelles
Avenue Franklin Roosevelt, 50 - CP 124
1050 Bruxelles
Belgique
François Romijn, Ph.D.
Chargé de recherches F.R.S.-FNRS
Email: francois.romijn@ulb.be
Anthropologie du proche (co-titulaire) avec Sasha Newell (coordonnateur)
Research interests:
Anthropology of science; Science and Technology Studies (STS); Specialist knowledge & lay-users; Genomics as a cultural object (ancestry genomics, environmental epigenomics, ancient DNA research); social construction of the relationship to the past; Ambiguities and action; Digital humanities
Research projects
- [Upcoming] 2024-2026: MSCA Individual Fellowship (Global Fellowship). Project title: The social life of ancient DNA. How can scientists and citizens better interpret the past in light of ancient DNA research? A dual ethnographic study in Germany and Vanuatu
- [Current Position] 2021-2024: Chargé de recherche F.R.S. - FNRS (Postdoctoral Position). Project title: Genomics and the construction of the past. How ancestry genomics filters into popular culture and everyday practices? A case- study on Wisconsin-based descendants of Belgians
- 2020: Belgian American Educational Foundation Fellow: University of Wisconsin-Madison
- 2018-2020: University Grenoble-Alps, Scientific excellence and innovation (Postdoctoral Position). Project title: Epigenetics and incorporation of the environment: Which biosocial agendas for sociology and epidemiology?
- 2013-2018 : Doctorat - Aspirant F.R.S.-FNRS (Ecole des hautes études en sciences sociales et Université libre de Bruxelles)
Ongoing project as Chargé de recherches F.R.S.-FNRS (2021-2024)
Genealogy is said to be one of the most popular hobbies in the USA, where beliefs in genetic inheritance influence people’s lives in many areas of existence. This is especially true with Wisconsin-based descendants of Belgian immigrants. From the 1850s until the late 19th century, thousands of Belgians immigrated to the Northeastern counties of Wisconsin. Their descendants still constitute today an important proportion of the population in the Green Bay area (Door County, Brown County and Kewaunee County specifically), and many members of this community are active today in the exploration of their Belgian heritage and history. The study broadly focused on descendants of Belgian immigrants and their current representations and practices related to their Belgian ancestry and current identity. The (non)-practice of genomic ancestry testing is studied within this wider framework, as a way to explore the relation to Belgian identity (including Walloon language courses, genealogical research without genomics, social networks, history books, testimonies). How do Wisconsin-based descendants of Belgian immigrants – living in a mid-western, largely white, and mostly rural community – connect a perceived common Belgian ancestry to a contemporary sense of belonging through genomic ancestry testing (GAT)?
Travaux récents sélectionnés
Romijn F. (2023), “Negotiating Belgian identity through ancestry genomics. How ancestry genomics filters into a community of Wisconsin-based descendants of Belgian immigrants?”, Science as Culture, URL: https://doi.org/10.1080/09505431.2023.2178401.
Romijn F. (dir.) (2022), Masquer la contradiction. L’ambiguïté comme mode de communication et pouvoir d’agir dans les espaces numériques, Socio-Anthropologie, n° 46, Sorbonne Edition. URL: https://journals.openedition.org/socio-anthropologie/12538.
Romijn F. (2022), “We are all cousins.” Belgian ancestry and genomic testing in a close-knit community in northeastern Wisconsin, New Genetics & Society. URL: DOI:10.1080/14636778.2022.2134101.
Romijn F. (with Louvel S.) (2021), "Epidemiologists’ ambivalence towards the epigenetics of social adversity", BioSocieties. https://doi.org/10.1057/s41292-021-00248-2.
Romijn F. (2020), « Les louvoiements du patient au sein du cabinet médical. Éléments d’une pragmatique de l’exposition de l’inquiétude », SociologieS. URL: http://journals.openedition.org/sociologies/12564.
Romijn F. (2020), « Retour au cabinet médical. Pragmatique de l’exposition et du traitement de l’inquiétude », in : José Manuel Resende & Pedro Caetano (dir.) (Ar)riscar em mundos imprevisíveis e incertos: a crise, formas de (des)legitimação e modos de representação e de mobilização, Carviçais: Lema d’Origem – Editora.
Romijn F. (2017). ‘‘Exposer la découverte de ses ‘‘origines’’’’, in: Filiation, imaginaires et sociétés, Líneas, revue interdisciplinaire d’études hispaniques, n° 9. [Online], URL: https://revues.univ-pau.fr/lineas/2057.
Romijn F. (avec M. Berger) (2016), “Participer ou presque. In-actualisation de la participation du quidam aux questions de santé”, Questions de communication, vol. 30, n° 2, p. 91-118. URL: https://www.cairn.info/revue-questions-de-communication-2016-2-page-91.htm.
Romijn F. (2016). ‘‘L’évocation d’Internet dans l’espace du cabinet médical’’, Anthropologie & Santé [Online]. URL: http://anthropologiesante.revues.org/2239.