Keroncong is a style of music that combines cultural influences of both Southeast Asian and European origin. Through the course of its history, keroncong has become a style of music that arguably,...Show moreKeroncong is a style of music that combines cultural influences of both Southeast Asian and European origin. Through the course of its history, keroncong has become a style of music that arguably, both the Indo-Dutch community in the Netherlands and the Indonesian community consider part of their intangible cultural heritage (ICH). Despite a recent surge in archival heritization activity, keroncong music has as of yet not been acknowledged by international heritage organizations such as UNESCO as ICH, likely due to problems that arise when the cultural heritage of keroncong needs to be ‘shared’ among cultural groups that engage with the genre in different ways. By analyzing the history and main characteristics of keroncong, this thesis aims to establish a more in-depth understanding of the ‘shared intangible cultural heritage’ (SICH) phenomenon and the problems that arise therein. The thesis will argue that, even though keroncong has not yet been recognized by UNESCO, it can rightfully claim to be ICH in its different cultural manifestations. The thesis concludes that, if keroncong music is to be acknowledged as SICH, it would likely be best to do so by inscribing both its Indonesian and Indo-Dutch manifestations (i.e. keroncong and krontjong) into the Representative List as the genre came to carry and convey different meanings in the two cultural contexts, thereby suggesting a change in the way in which the ‘sharing’ of heritage takes place.Show less
There are few issues as contentious in modern South Korea as reform of the Supreme Prosecutor’s Office, the country’s highest investigative authority. Over the past several years, feuds over the...Show moreThere are few issues as contentious in modern South Korea as reform of the Supreme Prosecutor’s Office, the country’s highest investigative authority. Over the past several years, feuds over the direction of the prosecution have at times completely dominated political discourse. President Moon Jae-in has spent a considerable amount of political capital on prosecution reform (kŏmch'al kaehyŏk) since his election in 2017, and bitter battles on multiple fronts erupted over the president’s drive to remove power from the prosecution and shift it to different institutions. The cornerstone of these reforms finally passed the legislature in 2020 after decades of effort from civic groups and politicians. High-profile debates over the future of the prosecution elevated former Prosecutor General Yoon Seok-youl to a top presidential contender, despite never having held elected office. This thesis takes the following as its central question – why has prosecution reform become associated with the South Korean democratization and the political fault lines that emerged in its wake? It is an attempt to interrogate the motivations behind this quest for reform and situate it as part of a political and historical era – that is, the continued and contentious legacy of democratization and the transition to a more open civil society in the 1980s and 1990. This investigation will begin with a summary and analysis of the particular roles and responsibilities of the South Korean prosecution, as well as a brief overview of some of the existing literature. The first chapter will cover the prosecution’s history under Japanese rule, the American occupation, and the South Korean governments that followed the end of American rule in 1948. The institution’s historical formation is important to understanding the way the prosecution has been viewed by reformers in more recent years. The second chapter concerns the methods by which the prosecution was deployed during authoritarian rule, conflicts between the prosecution and legal activist groups, and the institutional continuity the prosecutor’s office displayed after the transition to democracy in 1987. The third chapter explores the ways through which the issue of prosecutorial reform has been framed, debated, in the context of changes in South Korean governance and society from the 1990s onward. The final chapter briefly discusses the successful implementation of reforms under the Moon Jae-in administration. This research draws on primary sources including newspaper archives from databases such as Naver News Library and the Korea Integrated Newspaper Database System, government and court case records, and documents from the civic organizations that first proposed sweeping changes to the country’s prosecution. This thesis is part history and part histography, as it charts the way the prosecution’s past has been interpreted to reorder its present powers. Ultimately, it is my hope that this investigation will shed a light on how an issue that has an enduring impact on modern South Korean politics came to be theorized and discussed as representing an unfinished legacy of democratization.Show less
This thesis explores the deeper impact of the newly discovered Guochao-trend in China through a lens of consumer nationalism and a comparison with the South Korean wave.
This thesis revolves around the representation of exile in Chinese exile literature, specifically the fiction of Ma Jian: how is exile represented in Ma Jian’s fiction? The aim of the project is to...Show moreThis thesis revolves around the representation of exile in Chinese exile literature, specifically the fiction of Ma Jian: how is exile represented in Ma Jian’s fiction? The aim of the project is to primarily shed a light on the ‘personal’ engagement of exile by Ma Jian, as exile is neither a mechanical nor a predictable affair, as it crucially involves individual choices and strategies by the author in question. Secondly, to show the importance and significance exile still has nowadays, as characterized and interrelated with the given socio-political, economic, and cultural context.Show less
Chinese migrant workers, who have moved from rural to urban areas to work, are structurally marginalized in cities and rarely get to speak for themselves in public discourses. In this thesis, I...Show moreChinese migrant workers, who have moved from rural to urban areas to work, are structurally marginalized in cities and rarely get to speak for themselves in public discourses. In this thesis, I explore how migrant worker women’s voices were negotiated in the community theater project The Maternity Chronicles (生育纪事). The relationship between director and participants in community theater is inherently inequal. In this case, migrant worker women themselves played a significant role in most parts of the making of this play, thanks to the community leadership, the attitude of the director, and choices of form. Including the women in the play required not only a space for them to speak, but also active encouragement to take that space. The Maternity Chronicles provided a platform for migrant worker women and others to speak about their experiences with abortion, which is normally considered taboo. The methods of community theater in combination with the tight social fabric and trust within the community facilitated the process of breaking this taboo. This theater project also shows the important emotional function of having voice for those who speak and get to tell their stories. As a community theater project, The Maternity Chronicles aimed to prioritize the voices of participants, and I think it succeeded in creating a space for participants to speak as individuals and as part of the community. We still need to ask to what extent individuals can speak and dissent when they speak as part of a group. Intergenerational differences and claims to the ownership of the experiences portrayed exemplify the diversity that exists within the group of migrant worker women.Show less
In this thesis, I will explain how the tanuki can be seen as an example of a mythological “trickster” (a paradoxical figure who combines god-like powers with a chaotic nature and a love for...Show moreIn this thesis, I will explain how the tanuki can be seen as an example of a mythological “trickster” (a paradoxical figure who combines god-like powers with a chaotic nature and a love for deceiving and general trickery) and how these trickster tendencies function within different forms of Japanese popular imagination such as art and literature. In my research, I have identified three primary functions. First, the trickster’s shape-shifting tendencies and powers of illusion contribute to a sense of “uncannyness” and tie the tanuki to the mysterious and unknown. As such, “unexplainable” natural phenomena were often attributed to acts of this supernatural being. Secondly, the foolishness of the trickster figure makes it an excellent character for comedic and/or satirical works. The tanuki is no exception to this, as seen in folktales and Edo-era artwork. Lastly, the duality behind the trickster also makes him the perfect mediator between two polar opposites. The tanuki in particular has often been used to signify clashes between urban society and the countryside, as seen for example in the Studio Ghibli film Pompoko.Show less
