Prof.dr. Sawitri Saharso

Prof.dr. Sawitri Saharso is als hoogleraar Burgerschap en Morele Diversiteit verbonden aan de Universiteit voor Humanistiek in Utrecht en de Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. Ze is geïnteresseerd in vraagstukken rond migratie, morele diversiteit en burgerschap vanuit een Europees vergelijkend perspectief. Haar huidige onderzoek richt zich op gender, migratie en gezondheid.

Ze heeft sociologie gestudeerd aan de Universiteit van Amsterdam, waar ze in 1992 is gepromoveerd op een onderzoek naar de identiteitsbeleving en discriminatie- en vriendschapservaringen van migrantenjeugd. Ze is manager van de Graduate School van de Universiteit van Humanistiek en aan de Vrije Universiteit coördinator van het onderzoeksprogramma Identity, Diversity and Inclusion. Ze is gasthoogleraar ‘Democracy and Difference in Europe’ aan de Universiteit van Wenen (Oostenrijk) geweest en is hoofdredacteur van het tijdschrift Comparative Migration Studies. http://comparativemigrationstudies.springeropen.com/.

Current projects

Ethical dilemmas in multicultural medical contexts: towards a gender and culturally sensitive bioethical framework
In a society marked by ethnic diversity health workers are increasingly confronted with patients who hold diverse moral values in particular regarding gender and sexuality, which may lead to moral dilemmas. This project aims to develop a gender and culture sensitive bioethical framework that addresses the moral dilemmas of health professionals and takes into account the moral perspectives of the women concerned. 

Taking care of caregivers (ZonMW Memorabel)
(Co-applicant. Applicant: Pharos Expertise Centre Health Disparities)
Over 10% of dementia patients in the Netherlands have migrant backgrounds and this percentage is increasing. Taking care of dementia patients is intensive, especially for migrant informal carers who often know little about dementia. In the general population 1 in 6 informal carers feels overburdened (Dementiemonitor Mantelzorg 2016, NIVEL). This project studies for caregivers of migrant background caring for a person with dementia: What are elements for successful sharing of care and how could these be stimulated and improved? What tools and interventions are needed to achieve awareness and improvement of sharing care?

Toward a healthy psychosocial adjustment of diverse foster children: Practical guidance with religious normative dilemmas in Dutch foster care (ZonMW Ethiek & Gezondheid)
(Co-applicant. Programleader: dr. D. van Bergen, UHD Interculturele Pedagogiek, RUG.)
A substantial, and growing group of foster children in The Netherlands lives with a religiously non-matched foster family. This project examines how the best interest of foster children who grow up in non-matched religious placements can be safeguarded in order to provide them with a healthy psychosocial adjustment.

Bekijk het profiel op Researchgate

Overzicht van publicaties (research portal)


Ahmad, M., van den Broeke, J., Saharso, S., & Tonkens, E. (2019). Persons with a Migration Background Caring for a Family Member With Dementia: Challenges to Shared Care. The Gerontologist.

Saharso, S. (2019), Who needs integration? Debating a central, yet increasingly contested concept in migration studies. Comparative Migration Studies 7:16.Published on: 1 May 2019 + see the Commentaries series on the same subject.

Vijlbrief, A., Saharso, S., & Ghorashi, H. (2020). Transcending the gender binary: Gender non-binary young adults in Amsterdam. Journal of LGBT Youth, 17(1), 89-106. 

Coene, G., & Saharso, S. (2019). Gender and cultural understandings in medical nonindicated interventions: A critical discussion of attitudes toward nontherapeutic male circumcision and hymen (re) construction. Clinical Ethics, 14(1), 33-41. 

Slootjes, J., Saharso, S. & Keuzenkamp, S. (2019). Ethnic Minority Health and Employment: Ethnic Differences in the Protective Effect of Close Social Ties. Journal of International Migration and Integration, 20 (2), 619-638. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 20(2), 619-638.

Current PhD supervision UvH: 4

International networks and activities

• Founder and since 2013 editor-in-chief Comparative  Migration Studies.
• Member of the IMISCOE Research Network.