The mirror in its cultural and literary traditions is known for its versatile meanings of reflection, truthfulness or simply as a means to staring at oneself. In the Iranian literary tradition, the...Show moreThe mirror in its cultural and literary traditions is known for its versatile meanings of reflection, truthfulness or simply as a means to staring at oneself. In the Iranian literary tradition, the mirror was used as a metaphor of a woman: a passive, objective tool, emphasising the selflessness of a woman. Zhâle (1883-1946) and Farrokhzâd (1935-1967) are two Iranian female authors who both suffered from their society's oppressive assumptions of womanhood. They especially disputed the way Iranian literary and cultural traditions symbolised the mirror. This thesis analyses and compares Zhâle's and Farrokhzâd's personal backgrounds, poetry, and the use of the mirror in their poetry.Show less
In this thesis I will explore the meaning of the term "Himyaritic" as used by the early Islamic scholar Muhammad al-Hamdani in his description of the linguistic landscape in early Islamic Yemen. I...Show moreIn this thesis I will explore the meaning of the term "Himyaritic" as used by the early Islamic scholar Muhammad al-Hamdani in his description of the linguistic landscape in early Islamic Yemen. I will compare his description with both pre-Islamic inscriptions as well as modern-day dialectological data.Show less
We know black women struggled to obtain more rights; they did in abolitionism and they did in the suffrage movement. We know black suffragists existed – for example, Sojourner Truth, Ida B. Wells,...Show moreWe know black women struggled to obtain more rights; they did in abolitionism and they did in the suffrage movement. We know black suffragists existed – for example, Sojourner Truth, Ida B. Wells, or Harriet Tubman, yet they are left out of the picture. They were women who had to live under the same patriarchical structures as any other woman. But at the same time, these black women had to endure a second type of injustice, solely because of the colour of their skin. Race plays a crucial part in this, as it became an intricate barrier preventing wide-scale cooperation between black and white suffrage activists. How did race as a divisive factor become apparent in the women’s movement?Show less
This thesis seeks to demonstrate how the expansion of Dutch colonial power led to the transformation of the social environment of the region of Sintang. To enrich the historiography of Sintang,...Show moreThis thesis seeks to demonstrate how the expansion of Dutch colonial power led to the transformation of the social environment of the region of Sintang. To enrich the historiography of Sintang, this thesis has focused on tracking the transformation of the social environment under the influence of Dutch colonial power from 1913-1941, after the last documented people's resistance in 1913 and before the Japanese occupation in Borneo in 1941. To conclude, by expanding their power into Borneo Island in the period 1913-1941, the Dutch colonial government established Sintang as the heart of trading access in the Kapuas River region and a strategic place for enabling control the interior area in the western part of Borneo.Show less
This thesis offers a historical and political analysis of the recurring pattern of polarized political advocacy found among print and online newspapers in the Republic of Korea (ROK). It argues...Show moreThis thesis offers a historical and political analysis of the recurring pattern of polarized political advocacy found among print and online newspapers in the Republic of Korea (ROK). It argues that the authoritarian imprint left on the political system’s institutional features by democratic transition has contributed to the politicization of print newspapers initially, and that of online newspapers subsequently. It also provides a critical reading of the methodological framework found in D. Hallin and P. Mancini’s Comparing Media Systems from the viewpoint of the ROK democratization experience.Show less
This thesis discusses the similarities and differences between the portrayal of knights and their battles in medieval romances and medievalist video games, the representation of knights and battles...Show moreThis thesis discusses the similarities and differences between the portrayal of knights and their battles in medieval romances and medievalist video games, the representation of knights and battles in these video games and romances, and explores why these similarities and differences have occurred. To obtain an idea of what kind of differences there are, three video games were chosen to be compared alongside three medieval texts. The games in question are Dragon Age: Origins, Mount & Blade: Warband, and World of Warcraft. The medieval texts are Le Morte d’Arthur, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, and Ywain and Gawain.Show less
This thesis has investigated whether it is worthwhile to incorporate explicit strategy instruction in EFL-classes in Dutch secondary education. The case study performed at Christiaan Huygens...Show moreThis thesis has investigated whether it is worthwhile to incorporate explicit strategy instruction in EFL-classes in Dutch secondary education. The case study performed at Christiaan Huygens College shows that Dutch secondary students portray a relatively low frequency of strategy use. Unlike many international studies on strategy research no correlation was found between overall strategy use and achievement. A positive relationship was found between motivation and achievement. This indicates that, for secondary students, it might be more effective to invest time and energy in enhancing students’ motivation than to merely focus on strategy instruction.Show less
This thesis argues for the importance of the socio-economic perspectives of the Barrier fort history. The Barrier was a string of fortresses in the Austrian-Netherlands, garrisoned by the Dutch...Show moreThis thesis argues for the importance of the socio-economic perspectives of the Barrier fort history. The Barrier was a string of fortresses in the Austrian-Netherlands, garrisoned by the Dutch paid soldiers. Employing arguments that reside within the statemaking debates, the peculiar nature of the Barrier fortresses, and the conflicts between the various actors, are laid bare. Furthermore, the Barrier influenced the statebuilding, or rather, the absence of it, of not only Austria in their Southern-Netherlands territories, but also of the United-Provinces itself.Show less
This thesis focusses on the use and function of music and the so called Flower-flute in the Aztec culture, as well as the Toxcatl festival, in which this instrument played an important role. The...Show moreThis thesis focusses on the use and function of music and the so called Flower-flute in the Aztec culture, as well as the Toxcatl festival, in which this instrument played an important role. The Aztecs knew three different categories of music instruments; the aerophones, membranophones, and the idiophones. These instruments were mainly played by priests during public rituals. In the Aztec culture, music was seen as the voice of the gods through which the gods communicated with the world of humans. This was also the case with the Toxcatl festival, in which the Flower-flute played a central part. During this festival, one prisoner was chosen to impersonate the deity Tezcatlipoca for one year. During this year he would play the Flower-flute after which he would break it on the stairs of a temple. In this festival and instrument, a lot of symbolical meanings are embedded; like the fact that the breaking of the flutes stood symbol for the temporary break of relations between the gods and humans. In this thesis, the Flower-flute was mainly analysed as a sound artefact, leaving slightly aside its symbolical meanings. For instance, there is a possibility that this instrument was played in a major pentatonic scale. There is also a possibility that the flute had a more rhythmic function than a solely melodical function. The exterior of the flute does contain some decorations that possess a symbolical meaning; on some flutes the 4-tonalli sign is present, which refers to the four cardinal directions of the Aztec cosmovision. The flute also has a decoration in the form of two or three red stripes that resemble the fabrication of ancient reed flutes, therefore, suggesting a connection with ancestor veneration.Show less
The aim of this thesis was to determine whether the translators of three major British Bibles have translated these Bibles in the way they themselves argued the Bible should be translated. The...Show moreThe aim of this thesis was to determine whether the translators of three major British Bibles have translated these Bibles in the way they themselves argued the Bible should be translated. The Bibles selected for this study were the King James Version, the New English Bible, and the English Standard Version. The translation approaches investigated in this study were ‘literal translation’ or word-for-word translation and ‘free translation’ or sense-for-sense translation, as they have been defined by Cicero and St Jerome. The sample of this study was a random selection of 50 verses from the Book of Proverbs. The decision was made to look at a number of syntactic features: tense, grammatical number of both subject and object, word order, and the avoidance of the verb ‘to be.’ Because the Book of Proverbs contains a number of present day sayings, the possible influence caused by the formation of sayings based on those verses was taken into account. The results indicated that there was no influence caused by the sayings. The analysis of the British Bibles, and the comparison to the analysis of the Hebrew source text, showed that none of the Bibles corresponded with the Hebrew word order as much as expected. The correspondence with tense, however, was very high. The most striking results were found for the avoidance of the verb ‘to be,’ which was hardly avoided in the King James Version, while the avoidance in the New English Bible was the highest. It was concluded that further investigation into the avoidance of the verb ‘to be’ in similar contexts is needed.Show less
This thesis explores the clique-wallflower dynamic in four seminal teenage high-school films: Carrie (1976), The Breakfast Club (1985), Heathers (1988) and Mean Girls (2004).
The Dutch East India Company formally started their trade operations in Bengal in the early 1630s. Throughout the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries the VOC employed officers and servants of...Show moreThe Dutch East India Company formally started their trade operations in Bengal in the early 1630s. Throughout the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries the VOC employed officers and servants of various ranks to secure their "kantoor‟ or regional trade office as well as fortifications and establishments. Apart from this, many travelers, explorers, and merchants visited Bengal during the peak days of the Dutch connection with the Indian Ocean world. This study aims to explore the social lives of the Dutch people in the society of Bengal and analyze the nature of the cross-cultural relationship between the two communities.Show less
Archaeology on television has been a widely debated subject amongst academic archaeologists. Perhaps the dilemma that archaeologists face is that archaeology – its practice, its interpretations and...Show moreArchaeology on television has been a widely debated subject amongst academic archaeologists. Perhaps the dilemma that archaeologists face is that archaeology – its practice, its interpretations and the archaeological record it studies – is much like television, in that they both require high degrees of involvement to give them meaning. Thus concerns arise over the validity and ambiguity of the television programme’s information, and the archaeologist’s authority in discerning the past. However, should archaeologists be concerned about portrayal of archaeology in television documentaries? To provide answers to this question, the presentation of archaeological research, sites, objects and researchers in nine documentaries on the National Geographic Channel in the Netherlands in 2013, that were produced in 2012 and 2013, were analysed through ethnographic content analysis. The documentaries mainly focused on the practice of research, including the scientist’s fascination with research. Sometimes research methods were repeated before the camera after it initially had taken place, or they were shown ‘live’ and its results were analysed first-hand. However, the appearance and discussion of the research processes varied per type, possibly due to the structure of the method. In particular, archaeological fieldwork is a difficult process to capture on film, but the process of archaeological interpretation was often embedded in the entire storyline. Amongst other researchers, archaeologists appeared few in number. However, the archaeologists had a specific authoritative role as guides in understanding the past, and they would appear several times in a documentary to provide context or to interpret research results. It was found that certain narrative styles enabled, or disabled, involvement in the research and interpretation processes. There were many cases in which archaeology was presented in an open, yet informative way, while regarding the archaeologists (and researchers in other fields) as authorities. However, research can also be faked or appear unauthentic and authority can be abused. Therefore in communicating archaeology to the public a high degree of transparency is key.Show less
An examination of private diplomatic and political contacts between the United States and Great Britain during the escalation of the Falklands conflict, from the ascent of the Galtieri government...Show moreAn examination of private diplomatic and political contacts between the United States and Great Britain during the escalation of the Falklands conflict, from the ascent of the Galtieri government in December 1981 till the final defeat of Argentina in June 1982. Newly released primary sources, often secret in nature, are used to investigate the consequences for the Anglo-American relationship.Show less
