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Prof. Dr. R. S. (Ruben) Gowricharn

Mr. Ruben Gowricharn is a professor of multicultural cohesion and transnational studies. He studied sociology at the University of Leiden and development studies at the Institute of Social Studies in The Hague. After obtaining MA degrees from the two establishments, he received a PhD at the University of Utrecht in 1990. Since the 1980s, Gowricharn has researched issues such as small scale entrepreneurship, societal effects of changes in the social security system, and the underclass: poverty, marginalization and fraud. Issues he has been involved in that relate to the multicultural debate include poverty, integration of ethnic minorities, and the developing multicultural society in the Netherlands. Prof. Gowricharn’s publications relate to these topics, sometimes specifically emphasizing the Caribbean contribution to the Dutch multicultural development. In the late 1990s, at the University of Amsterdam, prof. Gowricharn researched the emergence of ethnic minority elites and its effect on the Dutch elite.

Prof. Gowricharn has received awards from the Dutch media, and Surinamese and Antillean communities for his involvement in the multicultural debate. He is a member of the editorial board of the journal Migrant Studies and scientific advisor of the Verwey-Jonker Institute.

Some of his important publications are:

• Dutch Contrasts: About the Reverse of Integration (Hollandse contrasten: Over de keerzijde van integratie)
• Different thoughts: About the Multicultural Society (Andere Gedachten: Over de Multiculturele Samenleving)
• Journal of International Migration and Integration on ethnic minority elites in Western democracies