The Jacob Gelt Dekker Institute for Advanced Cultural Studies
Opened in December 2000, The Jacob Gelt Dekker Institute for Advanced Cultural Studies, also known as The Dekker Institute, serves as an international exchange center for people and ideas relating to cultural developments in the Atlantic Rim.

Centrally located in the southern Caribbean on the Netherlands Antilles island of Curacao, The Dekker Institute provides an environment of direct association and involvement with major universities, researchers and postgraduate students from Europe, Africa, North and South America and the Caribbean.


The Dekker Institute is an international scientific center of learning that organizes seminars, produces publications and allows for an atmosphere that stimulates the free exchange of ideas among scholars and researchers.

The Institute tackles serious and pertinent issues in the region today, and brings historical perspective to modern problems. In April 2001, the institute hosted the World Archaeological Congress (WAC) lnter congress on the African Diaspora and in March 2003 it will serve as the site for a major conference on cultural heritage an tourism.

A primary focus of The Dekker Institute is African Studies and the African Diaspora. In
addition, the institute serves as a prominent research center for the multi-cultural aspects of human diversity in the region. Curacao, with its range of 60 nationalities among a population of 147,000, is a prime example of a multi-cultural society with a strong African heritage influence.


COURSES AND SEMINARS
The Dekker Institute conducts scheduled courses, seminars and other events dealing with topics of current significance to cultural studies in the Atlantic Rim. Seminars are geared toward graduate student level participants and advanced private sector researchers. The seminars range from three-day to six-week courses having either concurrent or sequential visiting professors from partner universities. The general format of these seminars is lectured courses with an extensive opportunity for free discussion and open debate. In most cases, university level accreditation can be arranged for successful completion of courses.


PARTNER UNIVERSITIES/ORGANIZATIONS
The Dekker Institute has established a network of links among important universities and research institutions from around the Atlantic Rim. The links are designed to bring together leading experts from the academic community with graduate students and other researchers. Each partner university or institution contributes professors and graduate students for courses and seminars at the institute.

Primary Partner Universities:
    - University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida (North America)
    - Universiteit te Leiden, Leiden, Netherlands (Europe)
    - University of Cape Coast, Cape Coast, Ghana (Africa) 
    - University of the West Indies, Jamacia, West Indies (Caribbean) 
    - Universidade Federal da Bahia, Bahia, Brazil (South America)

Associate Partner Organizations:
    - Royal Institute of Language and Ethnography, Leiden, Netherlands 
    - Portland State University, Oregon, USA 
    - Universidad de Cartagena, Cartagena, Colombia 
    - University of the West Indies, Barbados, West Indies 
    - University of the West Indies, Trinidad, West Indies 
    - Johannes Gutenberg - Universitat Mainz, Germany 
    - University at Dar es Salaam, Tanzania 
    - Anton de Kom University of Suriname, Paramaribo, Suriname 
    - Rijksmuseum voor Volkenkunde, Leiden, Netherlands 
    - Universidad de Zulia, Maracaibo, Venezuela 
    - Virginia Foundation for the Humanities, Charlottesville, VA