Sankatsing Nava, MA Tibisay
Tibisay Sankatsing Nava is a PhD researcher and community engagement coordinator at KITLV, working as part of the NWO Spinoza-funded research project CaribTRAILS. Her research focuses on the co-creation of heritage research with Caribbean island communities.
For her PhD work, Tibisay investigates how the co-creation of heritage research can contribute to decolonization practices in the Caribbean, and to the decolonization of research in general. She is interested in best practices in co-creation and how to support communities to engage with science throughout the research process.
Tibisay implemented public engagement with science initiatives in her roles at the IAU Office of Astronomy for Development (South Africa), Sterrewacht Leiden (the Netherlands), and Parke Nacional Arikok (Aruba). Between 2017 and 2019 she coordinated the co-development of an international exhibition about indigenous Caribbean heritage with 20+ partners in 12 countries. This exhibition, called Caribbean Ties, was part of the ERC Synergy-funded project NEXUS1492 (Leiden University). Tibisay continues to coordinate the Caribbean Ties project as the exhibitions simultaneously travel through the Caribbean in 2020 and 2021.
Selected Publications
(With C.L. Hofman). ‘Engaging Caribbean island communities with indigenous heritage and archaeology research’, Journal of Science Communication 17(04): CN06, 2018.
