This thesis uses a collection of North Korean printed posters to question the existing understanding of gender politics in North Korea studies. It does so by combining gender theory with a...Show moreThis thesis uses a collection of North Korean printed posters to question the existing understanding of gender politics in North Korea studies. It does so by combining gender theory with a synchronic and diachronic visual analysis of a selection of posters. In doing so, it adds in diversifying an all too often monolithic understanding of North Korea.Show less
A study of the ways in which contemporary Japanese photographers visualized the Tōhoku disaster (the trifold disaster that destroyed the Tōhoku region in Japan in 2011). The concept of the sublime...Show moreA study of the ways in which contemporary Japanese photographers visualized the Tōhoku disaster (the trifold disaster that destroyed the Tōhoku region in Japan in 2011). The concept of the sublime functions as a theoretical framework, explored in relation to moral and aesthetic dilemmas that occur when representing death, disaster and trauma.Show less
This paper examines the impact of democratization on the social spending behavior of Indonesia and the Philippines. Comparing social spending as a percentage of central government spending and as a...Show moreThis paper examines the impact of democratization on the social spending behavior of Indonesia and the Philippines. Comparing social spending as a percentage of central government spending and as a share of GDP over a period of approximately ten years before and after democratization, one can’t observe a significant change in the social policy priorities of politicians. Although theory would suggest that democratization would increase the awareness of politicians to focus more on the social well-being of its citizen, investments in human capital remained largely unchanged. This paper argues that the persistence of elites, both at national and local level, prevents a substantial change in social spending to materialize. Drawn from several empirical studies and secondary literature, this paper shows how the rent-seeking attitudes of elites translates into a major burden for lower-class groups to enter the political domain and to change social policy (spending) to their favor.Show less
This thesis analyses the effectiveness of parliamentary oversight of intelligence and security services in the United States during the Iran-Contra affair.
To get hands on Dutch fricative devoicing and to find the insides of the devoicing process, it is useful to take a sharper look at child’s language acquisition. How do children acquire their...Show moreTo get hands on Dutch fricative devoicing and to find the insides of the devoicing process, it is useful to take a sharper look at child’s language acquisition. How do children acquire their fricatives in a dialect with voicing fricatives counterparts and with fricatives that nearly stand alone in their place of articulation, like the post-velar fricative? Are these fricatives acquired similarly? To answer these questions, one needs to find out first whether children make a distinction at all between fricatives, and moreover what acoustics they use to distinguish these sounds. In order to learn more about the development of fricative acquisition, an apparent time research including different age groups will be described. In this way, it can be determined whether young and old children use the same acoustic characteristics, and whether there is a development trajectory detectable in the voicing distinction. As has been known from the literature (Hermans & Van Oostendorp 2011), the occurrence of voiced and voiceless fricatives in Dutch is not only determined lexically, but it has very much to do with the phonological context as well. Do children use this context and is there a development in the use of this phonological rule? To gain insights into the above issues, this study attempts to discover how Dutch children cope with the production of the distinction between the fricative counterparts of three different places of articulation. It seems that children first learn to produce different fricatives and, unexpectedly, after a few years they change their use of the voicing counterparts of fricatives. This thesis shows the fricative phonetics of children in kindergarten and children around ten years of age, and suggests a possible explanation for their phonetics at different stages of their childhood.Show less
From the early 1990's onwards, increasing number of immigrants have settled in South Korea. As a result, the South Korean state transitioned from defining South Korea as an ethnically and...Show moreFrom the early 1990's onwards, increasing number of immigrants have settled in South Korea. As a result, the South Korean state transitioned from defining South Korea as an ethnically and culturally homogeneous nation-state towards defining South Korea as a 'multicultural society'. This raises the question what the South Korean government means by 'multiculturalism' and how its 'multicultural' laws and policies redefine South Korea's prevailing notion of ethnic national identity in order to allow for the full incorporation of immigrants into South Korean society. In order to answer these questions, this thesis analyzes South Korea’s laws and policies on immigration, integration and multicultural education.Show less
Bachelor thesis | Griekse en Latijnse taal en cultuur (BA)
closed access
In deze scriptie wordt er een vergelijking gemaakt van de manier waarop Livius en Florus in hun werk Hannibal karakteriseren. Door middel van close reading en woordveldanalyses zal er gekeken...Show moreIn deze scriptie wordt er een vergelijking gemaakt van de manier waarop Livius en Florus in hun werk Hannibal karakteriseren. Door middel van close reading en woordveldanalyses zal er gekeken worden naar de persoon Hannibal.Show less
This study deals with the effects of the war on printing, publishing and bookselling in the Netherlands. In a time in which society was changing fast, the book trade witnessed new legislation and...Show moreThis study deals with the effects of the war on printing, publishing and bookselling in the Netherlands. In a time in which society was changing fast, the book trade witnessed new legislation and increasing regulation, as well as more collaboration between the government, employers and employees to create better conditions, while actions were undertaken to limit the negative effects of the war.Show less
The departure of this study was shaped by my attempt to answer how literature denies losing contact with the events. In other words, my concern was one’s state of getting used to their frequent...Show moreThe departure of this study was shaped by my attempt to answer how literature denies losing contact with the events. In other words, my concern was one’s state of getting used to their frequent appearance in the everyday: in conversations, in newspapers, in topics of discussion. This is because habituating oneself to any event, to any disaster, would bring an end to every possible response to life. Nothing meaningful can remain after the event, if there is none of its impacts to be sensed. Literature, on the other hand, has the aesthetic capacity to resist such idea. It has the capacity to be attentive to the sensation of events: to how every moment will, and should continue to make us startled, to make us disturbed, and provoked. This is also the very reason why Sylvia Plath and Ingeborg Bachmann, whose texts are central to this study, are writing for the sake of what comes, and should come after the event. By telling about this, they deny, in their own writing, to bring an end to the ability to response.Show less
In 1430 werd het hertogdom Brabant geannexeerd door het Bourgondische Rijk en zocht het Brusselse stadsbestuur een manier om de Brabantse geschiedenis en de herinnering aan diens helden levend te...Show moreIn 1430 werd het hertogdom Brabant geannexeerd door het Bourgondische Rijk en zocht het Brusselse stadsbestuur een manier om de Brabantse geschiedenis en de herinnering aan diens helden levend te houden. Deze scriptie gaat over nationalisme en identiteitsvorming in Brussel in de vijftiende eeuw aan de hand van de Rijmkroniek van Jan van Heelu (1294), als onderdeel van zes kronieken (1415-1445) die het stadsbestuur liet vervaardigen.Show less
In this study, a comparison is made between dyslexia as experienced by both L1 and L2 speakers. In addition, L1 dyslexia in English, German, Hebrew and Hindi is compared with L1 dyslexia in Japanese.
Bachelor thesis | Griekse en Latijnse taal en cultuur (BA)
closed access
In Plautus's Casina, the title character never once makes a physical appearance. Why does the play omit such a pivotal character from the stage, and what meaning does Casina's absence produce? I...Show moreIn Plautus's Casina, the title character never once makes a physical appearance. Why does the play omit such a pivotal character from the stage, and what meaning does Casina's absence produce? I argue that the play, in leaving an opening where Casina would be expected to be, creates a space used to develop the comedic female subversion of male power at its heart. Using gender theory, Wolfgang Iser's concept of the blank, and an analysis of the metatheatrical dimensions of the play, I show how the purposeful absence of Casina in the end leaves us with a commentary on the interaction of identity and stories, and the power implied in the knowledge thereof.Show less
Wat was de wisselwerking tussen de repressieve houding van de Russische staat en de naar vrijheid strevende niet-geregistreerde baptistengemeenten onder de jaren van het communisme?
De Democratische Partij van Volkeren (Halkların Demokratik Partisi) werd in 2012 opgericht. Deze jonge partij, die verschillende linkse clustergroepen onder een paraplu trachtte te brengen,...Show moreDe Democratische Partij van Volkeren (Halkların Demokratik Partisi) werd in 2012 opgericht. Deze jonge partij, die verschillende linkse clustergroepen onder een paraplu trachtte te brengen, baseerde haar ideologie op de radicale democratie en richtte zich tijdens de parlementaire verkiezingen van 7 juni 2015 tot een aantal strategische groepen waarvan de jeugd van Turkije een belangrijk deel uitmaakte. In dit onderzoek wordt bekeken hoe de HDP tijdens deze verkiezingen te werk ging, waarom de jeugd van Turkije een belangrijke doelgroep vormde en van welke campagnemanoeuvres zij gebruikmaakte om dit publiek te bereiken.Show less
De vraagstelling die centraal staat in dit onderzoek is: Wat zijn de juridische regels over de economische exploitatie van natuurlijke hulpbronnen? Dit onderzoek analyseert de juridische maritieme...Show moreDe vraagstelling die centraal staat in dit onderzoek is: Wat zijn de juridische regels over de economische exploitatie van natuurlijke hulpbronnen? Dit onderzoek analyseert de juridische maritieme regels over de soevereiniteit van economische exploitatie aan de hand van het geschil tussen Argentinië en het Verenigd Koninkrijk die door partijen respectievelijk Malvinas en Falklands genoemd worden. Beide landen zijn bevinden zich in een eeuwigdurende discussie en de laatste 30 jaar lijkt het Verenigd Koninkrijk aan de winnende hand te zijn. Een interessant onderwerp van discussie, niet enkel uit historisch, maar ook uit economisch en juridisch oogpunt.Show less
Master thesis | Classics and Ancient Civilizations (MA)
open access
This thesis aimed at understanding better pilgrimage in antiquity, through the case study of Aelius Aristides. Through close reading of the Hieroi Logoi, an autobiography written by Aristides, I...Show moreThis thesis aimed at understanding better pilgrimage in antiquity, through the case study of Aelius Aristides. Through close reading of the Hieroi Logoi, an autobiography written by Aristides, I concluded that the initial working definition of pilgrimage should be adapted, which resulted in a new definition: "pilgrimage is travel towards a special place to make contact with the god, in order to give something to the god to get something in return which solves a problem the pilgrim has", furthermore I proposed some ideas for a new typology of pilgrimage, thus trying to understand better pilgrimage in antiquity.Show less
This master thesis examines how the decision to intervene in Syria became thinkable, even logical, in the context of François Hollande’s discourse. It aims to answer the question how François...Show moreThis master thesis examines how the decision to intervene in Syria became thinkable, even logical, in the context of François Hollande’s discourse. It aims to answer the question how François Hollande legitimises the military intervention in Syria in the context of foreign policy discourse, and how this discourse in return is constructed and reinforced by France’s foreign policy ideology. Building on poststructuralist ontology, it inquires into the theoretical concept of foreign policy identity and the underlying mechanisms that allow and legitimise actions. It offers a thorough analysis of French foreign policy ideology as represented by the most influential political figure of France. In addition, it investigates how certain behaviour, e.g. the intervention in Syria, is made possible in the context of discourse. This thesis thus aims to illustrate how the discourse on a specific event – military action in Syria – relates to the foreign policy identity of France. It shows the mutual constitution of behaviour and ideology; French foreign policy behaviour is rooted in the context of ideology, but ideology in its turn also reinforces foreign policy.Show less
This thesis will analyse the continuing significance of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice in contemporary media, through an analysis of the attempts made to modernize the novel. It will do so, by...Show moreThis thesis will analyse the continuing significance of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice in contemporary media, through an analysis of the attempts made to modernize the novel. It will do so, by providing an in-depth analysis of The Lizzie Bennet Diaries, which makes use of multiple modern media platforms to update the plot of Austen’s novel and make it more plausible and recognizable in modern society, and conducting a comparison with another adaptation, namely Gurinder Chadha’s Bride and Prejudice (2004). In doing so, I shall argue that miscommunication is the main theme in Austen’s Pride and Prejudice and that this theme continues to be relevant and echoes through both adaptations regardless of their time, culture, or social settings.Show less
Research master thesis | Literary Studies (research) (MA)
open access
2017-06-01T00:00:00Z
Between 1617-1672, the Spanish comedia nueva was immensely popular in Amsterdam. While the comedia nueva was originally devised by playwright Lope de Vega (1562-1635) in Spain where he also had his...Show moreBetween 1617-1672, the Spanish comedia nueva was immensely popular in Amsterdam. While the comedia nueva was originally devised by playwright Lope de Vega (1562-1635) in Spain where he also had his first successes, his comedias were transferred to other European countries, such as the Dutch Republic. This Master Thesis reflects on the seemingly contradictional popularity of the comedia nueva in Amsterdam, while the Dutch Republic was revolting against its Spanish overlord. As such, the comedia nueva is being compared to the native Dutch Senecan-Scaligerian tradition, which promoted patriotism. This thesis aims to understand how the comedia nueva and Senecan-Scaligerian plays functioned alongside each other, while it is hypothesized that the emotional response of an audience provided for the popularity of a play. Through an analysis of both the dramatic macrostructure and microstructure, this is made clear, showing that both dramatic traditions were able to successfully instil emotions in the auditor ignoring political hostilities between the Spanish Empire and the Dutch Republic.Show less
