This thesis critically approaches the notion of nostalgia as a site for negotiating the way communities in Ladakh reproduce the past in the present. Multiple nostalgias are explored and the various...Show moreThis thesis critically approaches the notion of nostalgia as a site for negotiating the way communities in Ladakh reproduce the past in the present. Multiple nostalgias are explored and the various nostalgic postures are unpacked as they encounter and engage with modernity. The aim is to understand through ethnographic analysis, the temporalities within which nostalgia occurs and the interplay between nostalgia and cultural practices that provide a site to study how the past is maintained in the present.Show less
In the wake of The Supreme Court of India's decision to decriminalise homosexuality, this paper studies how British colonialism structured the perceptions and representations of same-sex intimacies...Show moreIn the wake of The Supreme Court of India's decision to decriminalise homosexuality, this paper studies how British colonialism structured the perceptions and representations of same-sex intimacies and sexual fluidity in India. Combining discourse analysis and historiographical approaches, this paper focuses on various aspects of Indian history and society, from the many examples of homo-eroticism in Indo-Muslim literature and Indian religious traditions to the medicalisation of sexuality and the internalisation of British ideals of masculinity and sexuality in the discourse around same-sex intimacies, as well as the parallels between this and the modern Hindutva movement.Show less
Jan Jacob Maria de Groot (1854 – 1921) was an important scientist who worked as a sinologist for the Dutch government and taught at the university of Leiden and Berlin. During his life, he studied...Show moreJan Jacob Maria de Groot (1854 – 1921) was an important scientist who worked as a sinologist for the Dutch government and taught at the university of Leiden and Berlin. During his life, he studied the religious customs of Chinese people in Indonesia as well as elsewhere. He was one of the great curators of the Leiden collection and also curated in Berlin, but his work was removed after his death. In this thesis, the progressive development of his works will be sketched; an attempt will be made to understand his relevance and function within the history of sinology in Leiden; and finally, his relationship to the Dutch colonial government will be put in a post-colonial perspective. Ultimately, the goal of the work is find out what Jan Jacob Maria de Groot’s goals and ambitions meant for the Dutch colonial government, and why his relevance in the history of sinology is often understated.Show less
People’s physical appearances and beauty ‘from the outside’ have been part of a variety of cultural discourses for a long time in history. Though, in more recent times, human bodies have...Show morePeople’s physical appearances and beauty ‘from the outside’ have been part of a variety of cultural discourses for a long time in history. Though, in more recent times, human bodies have increasingly fell subject to the democratization of social norms and values, and as a result the body has become a reflection of symbolic meanings (Baghel et al., 2014). In culturally-diverse India, the image of beauty has been changing continuously but it is argued that one perspective on Indian physical beauty has remained quite stable (or at least appears to exist in contemporary India): the aspiration of having lighter skin colors (Kumar, 2002; Glenn, 2008). Even though many researchers recognized that racial categorizations based on skin colors have been reduced in different parts of the world, there still appears to be a correlation between beauty, skin color and social identity among some people in the Indian society today (Glenn, 2008). In examining to what extent skin lightening practices and aspirations have shifted from India to the Netherlands in a transnational context, the goal is to find out the perceived sense of racial consciousness of first-generation Indian migrants living in diaspora in the Netherlands. Grounded in the theories of Social Constructivism by Berger and Luckmann and Racial Identity theory by Helms, this thesis concludes that 1. Migration to the Netherlands has not changed the racial awareness of first-generation Indian migrants consciously 2. Skin color does play a role - though marginal - in migrant’s Indian intracultural environment in terms of marriages, but it is not significant in their Dutch intercultural environment. 3. Most of the first-generation Indian migrants living in the Netherlands do not use fairness creams, and if they do, it is for medical reasons rather than to match cultural and aspirational expectations.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
The study intends to take up a full-length analysis of the tradition of writing Keralolpatti chronicles and to understand the historical time it represents or claims to represent. The study will...Show moreThe study intends to take up a full-length analysis of the tradition of writing Keralolpatti chronicles and to understand the historical time it represents or claims to represent. The study will view Keralolpatti as a changing textual form that imbibed the historical changes and needs of Kerala society. The major focal point of study will be in its hypothesis that Keralolpatti was not just a Brahmin traditional chronicle that carried legends and tales for Brahmin legitimacy but also a textual form for legitimising the historical needs of and developments in the regional politics leading to early modern state formation in Kerala. The study will look at how the so-called Brahmin tradition was constructed, implemented and later appropriated in multiple ways, adapted to specific contexts, and imbued with diverse meanings by different social groups.Show less
The means of identification of the population determine the institutional practice. The census in India led to the institution of the caste-system in order for the British to better manage the...Show moreThe means of identification of the population determine the institutional practice. The census in India led to the institution of the caste-system in order for the British to better manage the population. Under the Foucauldian governmentality paradigm, this thesis argues that the modern practices used by the government for identifying the population are a continuation of the earlier census method of identification. The extrapolation of characteristics to determine the structure of Indian society was a system that relayed information from the population back to the government through the census. Segregation or exclusion of people who fell outside of the proposed structure presented in the census were homogenised within castes. Contemporary systems for the population to relay information to the government may move beyond the earlier traits of structure. However, as the government becomes increasingly dependent on technology to identify and gain insight into the issues facing the population, the role of technology in providing the government with data becomes an issue. Essentially, the government is in a process of increasing automation in institutions in order to better assess the population. It is capable of putting in place the systems that register the issues facing the population. Yet, as the institutions begin to provide an assessment of the data to the government in order for them to act. Those people within the population who are not registered in- or providing relevant data to – institutions therefore fall outside of the assessment of the government. As they do remain part of the population this thesis will argue that the big data systems (1) are dependent on the means that the government to collects data, (2) do not include the whole population and thus policy recommendations, based on big data assessment, require the government to extrapolate the perceived issues to the whole of the population, (3) the welfare of the population as the end-goal of the government will see a changing role in citizenship when the policy of the government becomes increasingly determined by the information the citizen provides.Show less
Bachelor thesis | South and Southeast Asian Studies (BA)
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In 1857 a group of Indian soldiers in the British army, the sepoys, rebelled against the British which started a revolt in different parts of British-India. Many historians claim that nationalism...Show moreIn 1857 a group of Indian soldiers in the British army, the sepoys, rebelled against the British which started a revolt in different parts of British-India. Many historians claim that nationalism was the cause of this ‘Sepoy Mutiny'. This research looks at the events and causes of this revolt to find out if nationalism was the cause.Show less
