Kees van der Geest

New: holland-doc nomination for short documentary "hunt and play"

Welcome to my website. I am a Dutch human geographer, working as a researcher and junior lecturer at the Amsterdam institute for Metropolitan and International Development Studies (AMIDSt) of the University of Amsterdam (UvA). I specialised in the environmental geography of developing countries. In my work, I am primarily interested in rural livelihood dynamics. I am especially intrigued by one simple question: "how do people in poor and risk-prone areas manage to make a living?" 

Presently I am doing a PhD research about the economic and environmental consequences of rural migration in Ghana. More specifically, I study the migration of Dagara people from the Upper West Region to the Brong Ahafo Region. Keywords are migration, remittances, land use, agricultural intensification, sustainability, environment, development and non-farm activities. For the PhD research, my supervisors are Prof. Dr. Ton Dietz (promotor) and Dr. Kees Burger (co-promotor)

For my M.A. research, I studied how rural households in the Upper West Region of Ghana have adapted their livelihoods to changes in the local climate and how they have survived droughts and floods. Keywords are climate change, drought, livelihood, vulnerability, insurance strategies, coping strategies, adaptation and life history.  

Since a few years, I am also active as a documentary film maker. So far, this has resulted in two short documentaries: Shit and Chicks and Hunt and Play. I hope it will be possible to combine academics and documentary in the future. When I finish my PhD, I hope I can dedicate some more time to film making.

In the menu (left) you can find links to my research activities, my publications, my curriculum vitae (cv), my overland trip to Ghana, and the construction of two new rooms in Mr. Kontana's traditional mud castle where I live when I am in Ghana.