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Annuska Derks is an Associate Professor in the Department of Social Anthropology at the University of Zurich, where she co-directs the focus area 'Social Transformation Processes'. She earned M.A. degrees in Social-Cultural Anthropology and Development Studies and completed her Ph.D. at Radboud University Nijmegen, Netherlands. Derks has held teaching and research positions at the University of Social Sciences and Humanities of Vietnam National University in Hanoi, the University of Bern, and Ludwig-Maximilian University in Munich. She has also been an affiliated researcher at the Graduate Institute Geneva and the Asia Research Institute of the National University of Singapore. Her extensive research focuses on Southeast Asia, particularly issues related to social change, mobility, and inequality. Her work investigates migration and transnational labor dynamics, including phenomena such as bondage and trafficking, alongside gender and sexuality in the contexts of Cambodia and Thailand. Her projects examine development processes through a material lens, exploring the relationships between everyday objects and social lives. Currently, Derks is involved in research initiatives looking at innovation in Vietnam, especially in renewable energy, and how these innovations affect social relations and aspirations.
Department of Law