The purpose of this research is to examine what distinguishes Japanese women who have attained managerial positions from those who haven't, with a specific focus on social capital. The main...Show moreThe purpose of this research is to examine what distinguishes Japanese women who have attained managerial positions from those who haven't, with a specific focus on social capital. The main question is “How did Japanese women in managerial positions negotiate their surroundings and utilized their social capital for their career advancement?”, which we have attempted to answer through the conduct of through life-history research. We found that all informants were supported by their parents in various life choices, such as education and job perspectives. This equipped them not only with the cultural capital needed to find employment, but we also suggest this has influenced their attitude towards work and may have provided them with certain non-cognitive skills that helped them in their career advancement. Moreover, the roles of social networks became particularly explicit in the context of negotiating childcare with the full-time job responsibilities. It was however not a matter of expanding the network, but strengthening the already existing ties that was essential for these women. Finally, we saw that the composition of the family also played a significant role in the women's career advancement: in particular the husband's occupation and help from the parents enabled working mothers to combine their careers with childrearing activities.Show less
Indonesia is named the third largest polluter, the second biggest contributor to waste in the oceans, the second highest emitter, and the second biggest deforester of the world. This is worrisome...Show moreIndonesia is named the third largest polluter, the second biggest contributor to waste in the oceans, the second highest emitter, and the second biggest deforester of the world. This is worrisome as Indonesia is home of one third of natural tropical forests, hence the nick-name ‘the lungs of the earth’, and has the second highest level of biodiversity. There has been a growing pressure on the environment caused by industrialization, urbanization and a growing population. Natural resources have been exploited for economic development, and policies and regulations have been neglected or did not exist. But the Indonesians are not blind for this, and it has been my personal observation that an environmental awareness is present in Indonesia. This thesis is a sociological study, analysing the social movement of environmentalism in Indonesia today, in the form of (inter)national organisations, communities and groups performing collective action – including political – in defence of the environment, and individual practices through sustainable lifestyles. The different forms are mainly identified by depending on case studies and (self-)conducted qualitative research. It takes into consideration the impact of environmentalism on Indonesia as a whole, on economics, society, politics, and the environment.Show less
China’s exceptional growth, since the early 1980s, has been accompanied by a startling rise in gender-wage inequality. Gendered occupational segregation is identified as a primary cause, and has...Show moreChina’s exceptional growth, since the early 1980s, has been accompanied by a startling rise in gender-wage inequality. Gendered occupational segregation is identified as a primary cause, and has been a prominent feature of China’s economic transition and integration into the global economy. The channeling of women into low-skill, low-wage occupations is an often neglected factor in the story of China’s export-led economic growth and the development of its growing service industries. The purpose of this thesis is to establish how the revival of traditional gender norms in China has contributed to high levels of occupational gender-segregation and rising wage inequality. In particular this thesis focuses on changing constructions of gender as advanced by the state, through social policy and labour regulations, and in state media.Show less
Textiles serve as a medium in the migration of cultural elements between civilizations since ancient times. This study seeks to investigate the migration of cultural aspects through textiles from...Show moreTextiles serve as a medium in the migration of cultural elements between civilizations since ancient times. This study seeks to investigate the migration of cultural aspects through textiles from India to Java between the first millennium and the eighteenth century, and from Java to Santiniketan, a town in Bengal, in the Indian subcontinent, in the early twentieth century. These regions shared an intriguing history of textile exchange during the periods mentioned. The case study will be a resist-dyed fabric called batik, which is popular in Bengal as well as Java, and the focus will lie on design elements such as motifs and patterns. Scholarly literature on the origin and evolution of batik in Java emphasize on the processes of ‘diffusion’, ‘adaptation’, and ‘acculturation’, while discussing foreign influences. These theories discuss the dissemination and the transformation of Indian foreign design elements in the recipient Javanese culture, but to a limited extent. In the case of Santiniketan batik, scholarly focus lies on describing batik as an indigenous tradition. Though Javanese inspiration is accepted, the transmission process from Java is not adequately dealt with. Interestingly, both in the case of Javanese batik and Santiniketan batik, foreign influences were transformed to an extent that they became ‘native’ in the local context. This thesis seeks to justify the significance of the process of ‘naturalization’, that is, the process of inclusion and transformation of foreign motifs and patterns in the context of the receiving culture to an extent that the original source of dissemination becomes of secondary importance.Show less
This thesis examines the impact of the transfer of Bencoolen (Bengkulu) from British colonial authority to the Dutch East Indies in March 1825, under the terms of the 1824 Treaty of London (Anglo...Show moreThis thesis examines the impact of the transfer of Bencoolen (Bengkulu) from British colonial authority to the Dutch East Indies in March 1825, under the terms of the 1824 Treaty of London (Anglo-Dutch Treaty), on the people who were resident there at the time. Taking a subaltern studies approach, and using the life histories of four individuals/groups of people, it demonstrates that the transfer of power did not involve a discrete rupture between British and Dutch periods, but involved a long-drawn process whose impact lasted well into the 19th century. Likewise, it shows that the impact of the transfer was not spatially circumscribed to Bencoolen or the Dutch East Indies, but led to a reshaping of networks of commerce and migration (including penal transportation) within the broader Indian Ocean. By challenging these divisions of time and space and situating Bencoolen within the broader Indian Ocean world, the thesis demonstrates the potential of examining other 19th century transfers of power within a wider context: Cape Town, Malacca and Mauritius, among others.Show less
In this thesis I will analyze the representation of modernity in the commercials of Garuda Indonesia and Malaysia Airlines between 2013 and the first half of 2015. Their commercials give an exalted...Show moreIn this thesis I will analyze the representation of modernity in the commercials of Garuda Indonesia and Malaysia Airlines between 2013 and the first half of 2015. Their commercials give an exalted perspective on the nations they represent. I will focus on what Malaysian- and Indonesian modernity looks like, how these two national ‘modernities’ overlap or differ, and hopefully this can tell us something about Southeast Asian modernity in general.Show less
Documentaries have a history of being the mouthpiece of the Chinese government; an important medium to present a good image of the country. The Party knows that at the same time a critical...Show moreDocumentaries have a history of being the mouthpiece of the Chinese government; an important medium to present a good image of the country. The Party knows that at the same time a critical documentary can do harm. Nevertheless, especially economic reasons have made the government less rigid on documentary making—the times that the only documentaries in the country were pure Party propaganda is over. Internet has been another influence that weakened Party control. Crowdfunding gives the crowd the possibility to gather together, share ideas and financially support the creation of products. Although through crowdfunding of documentaries a different voice can be heard, the existence of these websites does of course not mean the disappearance of censorship. Therefore we cannot expect a big shift in the democratic potential of documentaries just because of the better possibilities for active audience participation through crowdfunding. Research on recent prohibited documentaries showed most of the banned documentaries regard suppression by the government of citizen rights: the government wants to prevent an upsurge of social tensions. The fact that the documentaries of the case study that address social issues are allowed to be shown across the country backs this. Crowdfunding in China thus does offer more people the opportunity to voice their opinion through documentaries, also critical opinions, but it does not increase the democratic potential in Chinese documentary art.Show less
The Three Kingdoms hero Guan Yu has long been a very interesting subject of study due to his gradual rise from the status of tragic hero to that of deity. Over the course of this image-building...Show moreThe Three Kingdoms hero Guan Yu has long been a very interesting subject of study due to his gradual rise from the status of tragic hero to that of deity. Over the course of this image-building process he has accumulated a number of different titles and functions. This thesis seeks to contrast this image has taken shape through the literary and religious realms in which he played a role.Show less
The 'kizuna' discourse in Japan is about bonding as people. After the 3.11 disaster this bonding became more important. The women in the disaster areas were faced with the pressure this discourse...Show moreThe 'kizuna' discourse in Japan is about bonding as people. After the 3.11 disaster this bonding became more important. The women in the disaster areas were faced with the pressure this discourse placed on the gender role women have. With all the stress they themselves already went through, it was still their responsibility to care for everyone. There was hardly any particular attention for the needs of women in disaster areas. This thesis discusses first the theory on disaster and how such an event affects women in particular. Next a history of women and the role they take in society is discussed, followed by the situation of women after the disaster and during recovery.Show less
The Batavian society consisted of people of different nations. It was a society that started from scratch with the building and populating of Batavia in 1619. The process of people arriving in the...Show moreThe Batavian society consisted of people of different nations. It was a society that started from scratch with the building and populating of Batavia in 1619. The process of people arriving in the city and creating a living for themselves made visible the underlying organization: the formation of groups, leadership and the establishing of power. I relate and refer to texts on the topics of racialism, social biology, cultural communication and awareness, and colonial culture that allow insights in the Batavian situation.Show less
This thesis contains the results of my research on the topic of the Austrian town of Hallstatt and its Chinese replica Hallstatt see. My research will introduce China’s predilection for replicating...Show moreThis thesis contains the results of my research on the topic of the Austrian town of Hallstatt and its Chinese replica Hallstatt see. My research will introduce China’s predilection for replicating some of the biggest architectural achievements of the West by examining the case of Hallstatt. The main goal of this research will be to find out to what extent the Chinese copy town has influenced Hallstatt to date, regarding economy, tourism, atmosphere and quality of life. In that regard I especially focus on how the residents of the original Hallstatt have reacted to the fact that their town has been copied in China without consultation or permission. Furthermore, this thesis will discuss the history of copying in China, the emerging ‘duplitecture’ (copied architecture) trend in China and the Chinese meanings associated with the copy - with the aim of providing a complete overview of the copy phenomenon. Methodically, I will gather information by conducting empirical research in the form of an online questionnaire, which will be submitted to the residents of the Hallstatt area. Apart from that a lot of attention will be devoted to theory and the academic debate concerning the topic.Show less
In the postwar period, developments and changes, among the others, occurred also within yakuza organizations. On both levels, local and international, different reasons lead to the decision of...Show moreIn the postwar period, developments and changes, among the others, occurred also within yakuza organizations. On both levels, local and international, different reasons lead to the decision of taking action against the organized crime. Due to local factors, mostly a deeper involvement of the citizens in gang related activities, implying more danger in the daily life; and due to international factors, mainly the union of the ‘democratized countries’ against the fight of organized crime, with particular reference to drug related offences, Japan moved for the first time in a serious way against yakuza. In 1992 The Bōtaihō暴対法, or ‘Anti-bōryokudan law’, law No. 77 was implemented. Together with the anti- bōryokudan law, through the years, other laws have been improved, or enacted, with the purpose of controlling, or confining yakuza activities out of the Japanese society. The most recent is the introduction of prefectural ordinances: these, carrying the same purpose of isolating暴力団員bōryokudan-in “bōryokudan members” through the ban of their commercial relations with the societies’ members. Looking at yakuza activities and developments during the twenty years between the first anti-bōryokudan law enforcement (1992) and the recent enactment of the prefectural ordinances (2012), did the laws do what they were supposed to? Have the goals that the laws were aimed at been realized?Show less
The Quran is one of the most influential texts in the world, being the ultimate religious authority for the Muslim community, which is estimated at 1.5 billion people worldwide. This paper provides...Show moreThe Quran is one of the most influential texts in the world, being the ultimate religious authority for the Muslim community, which is estimated at 1.5 billion people worldwide. This paper provides a closer look at the Japanese translations of this important text, with focus on the translation of the cultural references (CRs) within it. The aim of this research was to provide a set of translation techniques that can be used in the translation of CRs from Arabic to Japanese. Furthermore, it aimed to test the applicability of the Retranslation Theory to the Japanese translations of the Quran. Both these aims were fulfilled by analyzing Japanese translations done by three different translators of a group of CRs found in the Quran. The analysis was done using the translation techniques proposed by Pedersen (2005). The result showed that Pedersen’s list of techniques was able to account for the majority of the techniques used, with the need for one additional technique, resulting in a total of 8 techniques that may be used in future translations of texts from Arabic into Japanese. The analysis also proved that the Retranslation Theory is applicable in the case of the translations of the Quran from Arabic to Japanese.Show less
The development of Buddhism in modern China is really a big issue to deal with, especially for a short Master thesis. In order to narrow down my subject, I would like to focus on the posts on Sina...Show moreThe development of Buddhism in modern China is really a big issue to deal with, especially for a short Master thesis. In order to narrow down my subject, I would like to focus on the posts on Sina Weibo regarding Buddhism. Chinese Buddhism always tries to apply new media technologies to promote its teaching. For Sina Weibo is one of the most active online platform in China, taking a look at the Buddhist elements on it must be interesting. There were a lot of non-humorous Buddhist anecdotes about the Chan Master on Weibo. But from several years ago, the Buddhist jokes which share the similar structure with those anecdotes began to prevail Weibo. Although these jokes also spread on other online platforms, because of the large user base of Weibo, Sina Weibo is the biggest gathering place for these jokes, and users of Weibo continue to create new jokes about the Chan Master on it. In my thesis, I would like to find out, what the characteristics are of the Buddhist anecdotes and the Buddhist jokes posted on Weibo? How did Buddhist jokes develop over time? What are the possible reasons for the popularity of those anecdotes and the appearance of those jokes? In order to answer these questions, I first collected relevant posts about Buddhist anecdotes and jokes on Weibo and made them into a corpus for research. I have translated them into English and attached them to the end of this thesis. I then analyzed them, which led to the following chapters of my thesis. Chapter 1 is the present Introduction. Chapter 2 discusses the Buddhist anecdotes. It outlines their main characteristics and gives possible reasons for their popularity. Chapter 3 centers on the Buddhist jokes. All the jokes are divided into three categories according to the time order: “Pre-Chan Master Style” jokes, “Chan Master Style” jokes and “Post-Chan Master Style” jokes, and they are analyzed respectively by the theories of jokes and humor. In addition, a case study is done on one specific joke in order to reveal the big social context of these jokes. At last, Chapter 4 gives out a brief conclusion.Show less
This dissertation assesses the impact of sustainable development and livelihood strategies on the indigenous communities of Maolin National Scenic Area (NSA) in Taiwan. I examine the relationship...Show moreThis dissertation assesses the impact of sustainable development and livelihood strategies on the indigenous communities of Maolin National Scenic Area (NSA) in Taiwan. I examine the relationship between the directives of indigenous policy relevant and the sustainability indicators for small islands proposed by Jesinghaus (2002) to answer the leading question: What is the influence of sustainable tourism strategies present in the CIP policies on the Maolin NSA indigenous communities in the matters of land conservation practices, heritage protection and risk management? This dissertation offers two leading hypothesis: [1] the sustainable development indicators for Maolin are the same as for all Taiwan, [2] the sustainable development strategies should not be evaluated per se, but only in relation to the particular case study. The aim of this dissertation is to present how the indigenous policies inspired by the Taiwan's cultural transition, indigenous rights movement and idea of sustainable development influenced Maolin NSA. Synthesizing the most relevant theories in indigenous tourism studies and sustainable development studies, this research attempts to show Maolin’s case study in a broad context. The most important contribution of this thesis is explaining new tendencies in Taiwanese inbound tourism on the example of recently established protected area. Using Maolin NSA case analysis, this research explored the role of the indigenous policy implementation in the process of protected area establishment and management. This dissertation offers an insight into the latest tendencies in indigenous tourism development and management in Taiwan.Show less
The diverse and intense usage of the Ganga has caused a big pollution problem to the river. Because the local communities interact with the river on a daily basis, they should be able to reduce the...Show moreThe diverse and intense usage of the Ganga has caused a big pollution problem to the river. Because the local communities interact with the river on a daily basis, they should be able to reduce the pollution.Show less
In 1956, the Chinese government began to encourage people all over the country to speak Mandarin in accordance with government policy. This policy was regarded as an effective way to remove...Show moreIn 1956, the Chinese government began to encourage people all over the country to speak Mandarin in accordance with government policy. This policy was regarded as an effective way to remove linguistic barriers among the different provinces, but later it was found that it was also one of the most important reasons behind the vanishing of dialects. Shanghainese 上海话 (Shanghaihua), is the indigenous language in Shanghai. It developed rapidly in the first half of the last century and is regarded as a cultural symbol by the local people of Shanghai. It enjoyed a dominant position in the area until the implementation of the national language policy. After 2000, more and more local people in Shanghai have begun to speak Mandarin in daily life. This thesis aims to study political, social and cultural factors which have led to this kind of linguistic change. I will explore the social function of Shanghainese and give an analysis on why and how people speak specific languages in various social domains. After demonstrating that the social function of Shanghainese is at present rather limited, I will investigate the prevalence of the awareness that favors saving the language and promoting local culture in Shanghainese for the goal of retaining local uniqueness. The thesis will consist of five chapters. The first chapter will include the introduction of Shanghainese, the interdependent relationship amongst languages, society and people and the central question and research methods. The second chapter will be the literature review. Then, I will discuss about how the social context has impacted peoples’ attitudes to Shanghainese and Mandarin and explore incentives behind the switching of languages. Different public and private space, including schools, governmental institutions, media, work places, home and so on, will be analyzed respectively in the third chapter. In ‘Chapter Four’, I will sketch how people consider Shanghainese to be a key part of their cultural identity. The last chapter will be the conclusion of thesis.Show less
It is well known that Thailand’s official historiography paints Burma as their cruel enemy. Even in this era of ASEAN regional integration, where the Socio-Cultural Community’s goal is to create a...Show moreIt is well known that Thailand’s official historiography paints Burma as their cruel enemy. Even in this era of ASEAN regional integration, where the Socio-Cultural Community’s goal is to create a mutually understanding society conscious of its ties of history, investigation into current history textbooks and recent popular representations reveal little to no change. It is argued in this thesis that the Thai-Burmese war episodes have been embedded with a specific set of desirable Thai values, keeping them politically persistent despite the ASEAN talk. However, a look into online communities and the results from the electronic survey conducted for this research show that the ASEAN discourse, nonetheless, is making a positive impact on the society, prompting, among Thai people, more questioning and increased interests in traveling and learning about Burma. This seems to bring about improved, positive attitudes towards Burma, and an increasing contestation towards the Thai official narration.Show less
