In the last few years, the question of land expropriations has become a major source of discontent in Taiwan. Even if these kinds of policy have had a long history, it is particularly in the last...Show moreIn the last few years, the question of land expropriations has become a major source of discontent in Taiwan. Even if these kinds of policy have had a long history, it is particularly in the last decade that they have triggered rural unrest, causing a dramatic increase in rallies and protests against seizures and inadequate compensations. As a result, land grabs are perceived as one of the biggest threats to the stability of the entire system. This thesis analyses the case of the rural social movement in Dapu Village in Taiwan’s Miaoli County, well known for the high number of people involved and the court victory against the Ministry of the Interior (MOI) and the Miaoli County Government. In doing so, it argues that in order to evaluate the outcomes of a social movement it is also necessary to take into account other factors such as the nature of the issue, the perceived opportunities and threats, and the interactions between the movement’s actors and the authorities. As such, this thesis begins by exploring the reasons for land conflict, describing how neoliberalism impacted on Taiwanese land governance to create two different but simultaneous forces driving the process: the central government’s need (and right for public interest) to expropriate land in order to create developmental zones, and underfunded local governments’ power in the reallocation of lands, ultimately leading to cases of corruption and misallocation of resources. Following this, through the application of political opportunity structure and resource mobilization theories, this thesis will answer the main question: how did the social movement and the authorities mobilize their resources during the conflict over land grabs in Dapu? In doing so, a more nuanced view of the conflict’s outcomes will be gained as well as a deeper insight into the overall successes and failures of the movement.Show less
My fieldwork concentrates on the district Rajapolah in Tasikmalaya, West Java. The economic development of this area is largely due to non-governmental organizations (NGOs). This is not unusual;...Show moreMy fieldwork concentrates on the district Rajapolah in Tasikmalaya, West Java. The economic development of this area is largely due to non-governmental organizations (NGOs). This is not unusual; many rural Indonesian regions have been partly abandoned by governmental services. In most cases, secular or international NGOs will fill the gap through developmental aids and welfare programs. Yet, the main NGO in Rajapolah, Persatuan Islam (Persis), can be distinguished from its peers. Not only does it have a strong Islamic foundation, it also based most of its organization on local knowledge, customs and religions. But at the same time they were adapted to current circumstances. The Islamic community of Rajapolah had already modernized their alms distribution before the religious NGO took over finances in 2007. This thesis will consider how this modernization took place and how Persis eventually started administrating it. By adapting local customs, Persis could easily enter the local economy. Moreover, as a religious institution it stood closer to the local Islamic communities than the government or the World Bank ever would.Just as Islamic charity systems merged together with local cultures. As a consequence, religious aids are frequently used for social welfare and development in rural and urban areas.In this thesis, I demonstrate how they managed to do so in Rajapolah. With this purpose in mind, focus is put one three particular forms of institutionalized Islamic charity; namely Zakat, Sadaqah and Infaq. These three types of alms formed the basis of modernized institutions providing affordable credit for small businesses.The efficiency with which the Rajapolah NGO circulated money through the district proved to boost economic prosperity significantlyShow less
Corruption is a popular topic subject to much generalisation and debate over issues of morality, democracy and economy, but rarer are true categorisations that seek to label different types of...Show moreCorruption is a popular topic subject to much generalisation and debate over issues of morality, democracy and economy, but rarer are true categorisations that seek to label different types of corruption and analyse them as having the potential for good and bad. This paper devises four categories of corruption: selfish, political advantage, economic advantage, and functional, then studies their impact and response to anti-corruption measures within Southeast Asia.Show less
This thesis explores the relationship between censorship of the authoritarian government of early modern Japan and the sharebon and kibyoshi sub-genres of gesaku literature, with reference to M.E....Show moreThis thesis explores the relationship between censorship of the authoritarian government of early modern Japan and the sharebon and kibyoshi sub-genres of gesaku literature, with reference to M.E. Berry's notion of the private public sphere (1998), and compares the situation of these literary sub-genres with the situation of ukiyo-e prints.Show less
This study focuses on the anti-footbinding movement initiated by the Western missionaries in late Qing China. Western missionaries were the first group of people who advocated the abolishment of...Show moreThis study focuses on the anti-footbinding movement initiated by the Western missionaries in late Qing China. Western missionaries were the first group of people who advocated the abolishment of footbinding, and their activities had facilitated the spread of this movement. However, as the intention of western missionary in China was to Christianize the Chinese, did their anti-footbinding movement contribute to the recruitment of more Chinese converts? If not, why? Centering on this research question, the thesis is divided into four chapters. Chapter 1 introduces the general missionary history in China and the positions of the Catholics and the Protestants on the issue of footbinding. Chapter 2 is a case study on Rev.John Macgowan’s anti-footbinding effort in Amoy. This case shows how missionary handled the anti-footbinding issue in a local area of China and what problems the missionary met during his practice. Chapter 3 is another case study on Young John Allen and the famous newspaper Wanguo gongbao he launched which had great influence in the modern history of China. Through the discussions of anti-footbinding in the newspaper, Allen successfully drew the attention of the Chinese reformers on the anti-footbinding issue. Young’s case signals a transition of the anti-footbinding movement from missionaries to a wider public. This transition led the anti-footbiding movement to a further development in China. However, it also implies the loosening of ties between anti-footbinding movement and the evangelical cause. Chapter 4 is a study of the larger social context of late Qing China which produced much antagonism and few support for the Western missionaries’ anti-footbinding movement, as the Western imperialists’ advancement in China affected the images of missionaries and made people unwilling to associate themselves with Christianity, even if they might support the abolishment of footbinding.Show less
The aim of this MA Thesis is to study and compare domestication and foreignization in the manga translations of scanlation and official publications by analyzing and comparing the translations of...Show moreThe aim of this MA Thesis is to study and compare domestication and foreignization in the manga translations of scanlation and official publications by analyzing and comparing the translations of the verbal and visual text of the original manga. This study is a comparative analysis of three translations of the same source text. The material employed in this study is the first volume of Azumanga Daioh (2000) along with the translated versions of the same volume in English by two English publishers, namely ADV Manga (2003) and Yen Press (2009) and the scanlation by Manga- Basket (2008). The translations have been analyzed using five categories of verbal and visual text, which are culture specific elements, wordplay, overall writing style, onomatopoeia and pictorial elements. By looking at the translation methods used in the five categories I will determine whether and to which degree the translations are foreignized or domesticated.Show less
Although racism and racial issues are not about the color of people’s skin in itself, the symbolic meanings given to color do determine who is affected by acts of discrimination and who is not. But...Show moreAlthough racism and racial issues are not about the color of people’s skin in itself, the symbolic meanings given to color do determine who is affected by acts of discrimination and who is not. But there is more to racism than it simply being about dark skin versus fair. Even among skin tone, variations that exist in terms color across the range of dark to fair, the type of discrimination faced by people differs. On a related yet deceptively different topic skin color is also strongly tied to beauty ideals. The focus for this thesis lies on the Japanese market. The question that is answered is: what does white skin stand for within Japanese society and is this beauty ideal of fair skin directly linked to a desire to emulate white people?Show less
