Master thesis | Cultural Anthropology and Development Sociology (MSc)
closed access
This article traces the connections between failure and masculinity at Dean Lane skatepark. My research is based on 10-weeks of ethnographic research at a skatepark in Bristol, U.K., where I used...Show moreThis article traces the connections between failure and masculinity at Dean Lane skatepark. My research is based on 10-weeks of ethnographic research at a skatepark in Bristol, U.K., where I used audiovisual means and sensory participant observation to produce an ethnographic film, a scrapbook, and a textual thesis. In this thesis, I explore how skaters would narrate experiences of failure and negotiate their masculinity within these stories. I build on Geckle & Shaw (2020) study on queer failure, by using the concept of ‘sticky’ masculinity to show how stories of failure often celebrate masculine values of hardness and bodily sacrifice. Moreover, I draw connections between ‘sticky’ masculinity and the neoliberal idea of the self-made man to argue that the celebration of failure can take place through meritocratic ways of thinking. Finally, the interviews highlight what is expected of skaters within the environment, what cultural norms become the ‘stickiest’ and how they relate to larger structures.Show less
Master thesis | Cultural Anthropology and Development Sociology (MSc)
open access
The global climate crisis shows the need to take measures to reduce our emissions. With agriculture taking up more than half of the land in The Netherlands, policies to achieve this primarily focus...Show moreThe global climate crisis shows the need to take measures to reduce our emissions. With agriculture taking up more than half of the land in The Netherlands, policies to achieve this primarily focus on the agrarian sector. Consequently, the uncertainty for farmers’ future practices led to big national farmers’ protests, followed by a national win for the farmers’ party on a provincial level. With farming deeply rooted in culture and place, acknowledging the need to look at the social side of the issue is vital for establishing a sustainable agricultural system. This research uses visual ethnography’s strengths, giving insight into a sustainable practice in the Anthropocene and providing a new view of human-environment relationships. It does so by looking at a Dutch agroforestry farmer who acknowledges an inherent connection between humans and non-humans within his practices. Moreover, the motivation for his practices lies in his ideologies, prioritising non-human nature over humanity. These perspectives can help us find a way to overcome the agrarian crisis in The Netherlands by producing an alternate view on human-environment relationships. It overall inspires us to think that when we care for the non-human, we will ultimately take care of ourselves.Show less
