Master thesis | Cultural Anthropology and Development Sociology (MSc)
open access
Throughout the last 50 years the Spanish countryside has emptied due to the rural migration from villages to main industrial cities such as Madrid, Bilbao or Barcelona. Now, after decades of...Show moreThroughout the last 50 years the Spanish countryside has emptied due to the rural migration from villages to main industrial cities such as Madrid, Bilbao or Barcelona. Now, after decades of demographic decline, depopulation has become central in public and academic debate about rural development. This growing concern of emptying villages has raised questions about the precarious life and the sense of threat to people who live in these spaces and who are exposed to a loss of services and stable livelihood. This research is an ethnographic analysis of locals’ perspective living in the depopulated village of Yanguas, in Tierras Altas in the province of Soria, the most depopulated area in Spain. Departing from the concept of precarity within global capitalism I will focus on how people of Yanguas sustain a livelihood and how they perceive the village’s livability, while addressing the future perspective of development based on infrastructure creation. The findings in this research suggest that the struggles some people experienced while living in a depopulated village were not derived strictly from the fact that they live in a small community. On the contrary, the experience of depopulation, rather than being the source of precarity, was very often a symptom of other large-scale issues and social changes such as industrialization, delocalization, and patterns of social mobility and migration. This thesis combines audiovisual and text, and the outcome is this article and a film.Show less
Master thesis | Cultural Anthropology and Development Sociology (MSc)
open access
With increasingly pressing and widespread ecological, social and personal crises, the forward march of progress has come to a dead end, and this time is ripe for sensing precarity, as Tsing (2015)...Show moreWith increasingly pressing and widespread ecological, social and personal crises, the forward march of progress has come to a dead end, and this time is ripe for sensing precarity, as Tsing (2015) announces. A sense of precarity is prevalent among practitioners in the Plum Village meditation center. In a case study, I join practitioners to encounter opportunities for engaging with the challenges of precarity and new possibilities for progress. With these experiences I point out the relevance of the Plum Village tradition in our earthwide precarious predicament. My aim in this thesis is to speak to the possibility of changing with mindfulness practice the dualist worldview that is at the root of widespread unsustainable progress practices. The devastating consequences of the forward march toward limitless growth demand a change of direction. My commitment to sustainable, inclusive living leads me to assess to what extent wholesome directions emerge for people and our planet in the other-than-modern views and practices that are taught in the Plum Village tradition.Show less
Master thesis | Cultural Anthropology and Development Sociology (MSc)
closed access
The global ideas and outlooks on immigration policies become more and more contentious. This has resulted in immigration approach that oscillates between ‘legality’ and ‘illegality’ based on...Show moreThe global ideas and outlooks on immigration policies become more and more contentious. This has resulted in immigration approach that oscillates between ‘legality’ and ‘illegality’ based on administrative structures like the possession of papers or otherwise. Hence, to survive, those who are considered ‘illegal’ function within informal spaces, that is out of the state’s reach. The role of humanitarian projects and processes like undocumented centers have taken a bigger role as they can operate within the informal spaces. My paper investigates the role of Rotterdam Undocumented Center as a part of the growing humanitarian approach to ‘illegal’ migrants. This investigation is done through analyzing policies the organization enacts and turns to practice in an attempt to navigate this informal space. Analysis of ethnographic data has shown that the approaches shift and differ based on conditions, and circumstances which have been outlined within the essay.Show less
Master thesis | Cultural Anthropology and Development Sociology (MSc)
open access
Within the context of over-saturated cities and global exponential urban growth, the context of Gentrification has gained increasing academic and interdisciplinary momentum. This ethnographic...Show moreWithin the context of over-saturated cities and global exponential urban growth, the context of Gentrification has gained increasing academic and interdisciplinary momentum. This ethnographic research engages with the notion of the Gentrification of Place, by analyzing the way redevelopment programs are experienced by neighborhood inhabitants of Amsterdam North. The research encompasses a multimodal approach, as both literary and audiovisual component encompass the way inhabitants of historic neighborhoods experience urban change bound to Gentrification. The findings suggest that institutional place-making practices bound to the past, have generated collective notions of disregard, and stigmas that are accentuated when experienced through new place-making practices today, employed as part of ongoing neo-liberal policies, manifested through Gentrification. To further engage with the political aspects of the Gentrification of Place, Lefebvre’s urban spatial theory will be engaged with. Urban changes crystalize through altered notions of livability of neighborhood inhabitants, that lead to the experiencing of a precarious state of experiencing Place. The audio-visual component, composed by a collaborative photo project and by the ethnographic film Tijd voor Noord (Time for North) engages with similar notions, and functions as an ethnographic bike ride through Amsterdam North. The film explores perspectives of neighborhood brokers, who are affected by the changes bound to their neighborhoods.Show less
Master thesis | Cultural Anthropology and Development Sociology (MSc)
closed access
Costa Rica is a country known for its natural beauty and eco-friendly attractions, making it an attractive country to visit or migrate to. The main focus of this research is to get a closer look at...Show moreCosta Rica is a country known for its natural beauty and eco-friendly attractions, making it an attractive country to visit or migrate to. The main focus of this research is to get a closer look at how Costa Rican life has changed over the years as landownership laws have affected the landscape of the Pacific seashore in the peninsula of Nicoya. Tourism has become the primary source of work in the area of Montezuma, giving new meanings to a lifestyle often referred to as "Pura Vida." As other sources of income, such as fishing, diminished over the years due to changing environmental policies, the local people in the surroundings of Montezuma have had to change their lifestyles to adapt to the growing tourism industry. This research builds on the experiences of four main interlocutors, each of them representing a different way of life in the village. Luis, Irene, Israel, Rolando, and his wife, Maria, who all explain what the consequences of changing environmental policies are for them, and what the so-called ‘Pura Vida lifestyle’ means to them, now it has taken over as the national ‘slogan’ to attract tourists. In the accompanying documentary (Changing Tides) and text, I explored how their lives are being transformed by tourism and how national policies that include landownerships laws are affecting the lifestyle of the old and new inhabitants in the area. Visual Ethnography was used as a method in order to better convey the sense of ‘Pura Vida’ and how the different characters that are the protagonists in the film relate to their land, life and changes in lifestyle over the last 40 years in Montezuma.Show less
Master thesis | Cultural Anthropology and Development Sociology (MSc)
open access
The current economic system was never actually designed. With global shifts in priorities and the sudden momentum associated the COVID-19 pandemic, which severely impacted this research, the...Show moreThe current economic system was never actually designed. With global shifts in priorities and the sudden momentum associated the COVID-19 pandemic, which severely impacted this research, the opportunity to redesign an economic system that reflects the values of our community is significant. This paper explores the values of residents in Pernis, workers from the Port of Rotterdam and residents in Parramatta, inviting them to explore their own values and co-create a vision of the future. It uses a Futures Anthropology and Design Anthropology approach, incorporating a workshop to push the methodological boundaries of the discipline. This process revealed core values that align with the Sustainable Development Goals, which form the social floor of the Doughnut Economics model. This model is evaluated with respect to the visions of interlocutors and processes for better community engagement and co-creation are explored, with the suggestion that future anthropological research focuses on citizen’s assemblies as an improved method of participation. This paper finds that co-creative approaches are hindered by political, economic, green, built, technological and global infrastructures, but that they can also be facilitated by them. Through a cocreative approach, the ‘who’ of community can become transparent and resentment and scepticism towards government could be addressed. It is argued that if we are to develop regenerative communities there is much work to be done, but the key to this lies in co-creative, future focused research and engagement, with attention paid to the infrastructures that shape our communities in time and space.Show less
Master thesis | Cultural Anthropology and Development Sociology (MSc)
closed access
Using the Disabilities studies and Anthropological method of entangled ethnography, this research found thatsome disability experts and parts of Leiden University aim for more explicit, systemic...Show moreUsing the Disabilities studies and Anthropological method of entangled ethnography, this research found thatsome disability experts and parts of Leiden University aim for more explicit, systemic framing towards seeing studying with disabilities and dyslexia though the social model of disabilities. However, Leiden University has predominantly used an individualistic framework in keeping with the medical model of disabilities. Any changes or aims for the university usually occur also within the individualistic framework. Further, a possible culture of constructivism at LIACS aligns to the individualistic framing of LU to further put the blame and burden of studying with dyslexia onto the individuals with it. Although studying with a disability like dyslexia at LU isa centralised system and has many great experts working on it, there is an absence of knowledge on and education about studying with a disability and dyslexia in staff and students. This might have led to dyslexia primarily being dealt with using extra-time adjustments. A strategy of avoidance is highlighted as a way some students at LIACS deal with the barriers of studying with dyslexia. Overwhelmingly, even if some parts of LU wish for change towards the social model or beyond model of disability, LU currently operates with a medical model of disability in practice. Until active steps are taken to move past the medical model of disability at the university, it will be difficult to see what advantages might lie beyond.Show less
Master thesis | Cultural Anthropology and Development Sociology (MSc)
open access
Although the Netherlands is o1en seen as a country which is far ahead when it comes to women’s emancipa9on, stranger harassment of women is s9ll very common. In an effort to bring a@en9on to this...Show moreAlthough the Netherlands is o1en seen as a country which is far ahead when it comes to women’s emancipa9on, stranger harassment of women is s9ll very common. In an effort to bring a@en9on to this o1en normalized form of gender based violence, this ar9cle explores what kind of harassment women in Amsterdam experience in public spaces and how this harassment and its poten9ality influences their behaviors in these spaces. The ar9cle is based on an audiovisual, ethnographic study in which women from Amsterdam were extensively interviewed and accompanied on their daily movements through the city. Apart from this ar9cle, the study and its findings are presented in the ethnographic film Hé Meisje (‘What’s Up, Girl’). Findings reveal that women, in an effort to avoid uncomfortable situa9ons and as an answer to their fear of geKng physically harassed, o1en make evalua9ons on where to go or how to behave in public. This shows how they have incorporated the poten9ality of harassment into their daily lives. The fear of harassment restricts women’s mobility, showing how this emo9on is poli9cal, as it helps to reinforce patriarchal ideas on who ‘owns’ public spaces. Although experiencing harassment some9mes might seem subjec9ve, we should not forget that this is a shared experience between all women who are moving through public spaces which are gendered. S9ll women resist harassment by being resilient and by speaking up about it (mainly) outside of actual harassment incidents.Show less
Master thesis | Cultural Anthropology and Development Sociology (MSc)
closed access
Achieving universal primary education is both promoted as a global development goal and as a priority for the Tanzanian government. To reach this goal, the government is committed to making primary...Show moreAchieving universal primary education is both promoted as a global development goal and as a priority for the Tanzanian government. To reach this goal, the government is committed to making primary education accessible for as many children as possible by making it both compulsory and free of charge. Nevertheless, there is still a problem with absenteeism in Tanzania. This ethnographic research explores the range of factors and reasons, besides tuition fees, that influence children's absenteeism through a case study of three primary schools in rural northern Tanzania. It analysesthe collaboration between these three schools and the Dutch-Tanzanian NGO Kamitei Foundation in addressing this issue. Based on interviews with teachers, parents, and pupils themselves, the main argument of this thesis is that the different roles that children have within rural households have consequences for their level of attendance. These household activities differ according to gender, and to the extent of how indispensable the children are within their household. Moreover, I found that differences in classroom pedagogy and in schools' policies of dealing with absenteeism also influenced the rate of absenteeism among pupils. Based on my findings, I argue that punishment or ignorance by the teachers as a response to not being present at school is one of the main factors that makes absence recurring, which makes it hard to reduce it. The Kamitei Foundation and the schools try to reach a consensus on this issue by working together to offer good quality education, even though it can be hard to reach the same level of understanding.Show less
