Master thesis | Cultural Anthropology and Development Sociology (MSc)
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De thesis is een zoektocht naar de manier waarop hiphop vanaf eind jaren ’80 begin jaren ’90 in het overwegend islamitische Indonesië vorm heeft gekregen en welke rol de populaire cultuur speelt in...Show moreDe thesis is een zoektocht naar de manier waarop hiphop vanaf eind jaren ’80 begin jaren ’90 in het overwegend islamitische Indonesië vorm heeft gekregen en welke rol de populaire cultuur speelt in het dagelijkse leven van jongeren in steden. Hierbij ligt vooral de nadruk op de achtergrond, motieven en muzikale producties van de artiesten (voornamelijk rappers) die hiphop muziek en cultuur maken en uitdragen, en niet in het bijzonder op de cultuurindustrie en de jonge consumenten van zowel binnen- als buitenlandse hiphop en bijbehorende stijlen. Bijzondere aandacht gaat in de case studies naar 'islamitische hiphop' in Jakarta.Show less
Master thesis | Cultural Anthropology and Development Sociology (MSc)
open access
Deze scriptie exploreert de positionering van vier beeldend kunstenaars met een Turkse achtergrond, wonend en werken in Nederland, en hoe deze positionering eventueel tot uitdrukking komt in hun werk.
Master thesis | Cultural Anthropology and Development Sociology (MSc)
open access
Deze scriptie gaat over de constructie en dynamiek van de collectieve Kaapverdiaanse identiteit van de Kaapverdiaanse gemeenschap in Rotterdam. Hoe wordt door deze gemeenschap de Kaapverdiaanse...Show moreDeze scriptie gaat over de constructie en dynamiek van de collectieve Kaapverdiaanse identiteit van de Kaapverdiaanse gemeenschap in Rotterdam. Hoe wordt door deze gemeenschap de Kaapverdiaanse identiteit op collectief niveau geconstrueerd en wat zijn de percepties hierover op individueel niveau? De percepties op individueel niveau geven hierbij de dynamiek aan die onder de constructie van deze Kaapverdiaanse identiteit schuil gaat. Het uitgangspunt is het concept van 'stille migranten', een vorm van labeling die deze gemeenschap uniek maakt binnen Nederland.Show less
Master thesis | Cultural Anthropology and Development Sociology (MSc)
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The mitumba trade of second-hand clothing in Kenya has been growing rapidly the last twenty years, making the street vendors selling from huge piles of second-hand clothing very familiar in the...Show moreThe mitumba trade of second-hand clothing in Kenya has been growing rapidly the last twenty years, making the street vendors selling from huge piles of second-hand clothing very familiar in the street view. The complexity of this network behind the import, unpacking, distribution, adjusting, selling and buying of second-hand clothes, has been examined through a three month field study in Mombasa, the biggest harbor city of Kenya. By taking this chain of relationships as departure, trust and distrust have been uncovered as mechanisms which create tensions, chooses, manipulations, commitments and expectations for second-hand clothing traders. Trying to make a living in this trade requires the strategic use of reputation, social connections and information, making the complexity and applications of trust in this value chain of key importance for the study of the second-hand clothing market.Show less
Master thesis | Cultural Anthropology and Development Sociology (MSc)
open access
In Hindu North India marriage is a family-centred event. The vast majority of marriages is arranged, which means that family elders have an important input in the choice for a prospective spouse...Show moreIn Hindu North India marriage is a family-centred event. The vast majority of marriages is arranged, which means that family elders have an important input in the choice for a prospective spouse for their younger members. When arranging a marriage, the family seeks to form an alliance with another family with whom they share a number of characteristics and whose background is thus considered compatible in terms of caste, class and religion. Therefore, apart from the formation of new kinship ties, marriage is a crucial act in confirming and reproducing existing social and economic boundaries. However, the marital landscape appears to be changing as young individuals increasingly prefer what they label as love marriages. In this thesis I focus on how such love marriages are perceived amongst Hindus in North India and in which manner they differ from arranged marriages. Furthermore I look at how this increased preference for love marriages impacts local family and gender relations. I argue how love marriages are not dichotomous to arranged marriages but instead show a lot of overlap. I show how not only young individuals, but their family elders and close kin as well creatively invent strategies in order to adapt marriages to the changing socio-economic circumstances.Show less
Master thesis | Cultural Anthropology and Development Sociology (MSc)
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Museums today, as the International Council of Museums (ICOM) portrays, are viewed as non-profit institutions, open to the public, promoting education, research, study and entertainment. They are,...Show moreMuseums today, as the International Council of Museums (ICOM) portrays, are viewed as non-profit institutions, open to the public, promoting education, research, study and entertainment. They are, like James Clifford suggests, institutions that serve as a communication point for different cultures. Additionally modern museums are considered to have a strong social character as oppose to their past nationalistic one. Taking into account all these elements, this inquiry attempts to understand the meaning that a modern Ethnographic museum tries to communicate to the public. In order to achieve that, an Ethnographic exhibition in the making is being examined. To understand the importance and sensitivity of the subject displayed, past museum exhibitions of the same culture are mentioned along with the social impact they carried. Different stages of this exhibition, as well as the decision making process are being presented. A more thorough and complete image of meaning construction in an Ethnographic museum is given by introducing other recent exhibitions displayed by the same museum. Through interviews conducted with the museum personnel, this study anatomizes meaning construction in an Ethnological museum. The negotiation of the different views and agendas of the individuals, and the communities, participating in the exhibition making process, as well as external factors influencing that procedure, are being analyzed. Concluding, this study explores on what level, meaning created in a modern Ethnological museum is educational or recreational and to what expense.Show less
Master thesis | Cultural Anthropology and Development Sociology (MSc)
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This thesis is a result of anthropological research that I conducted at the Volkenkunde Museum in Leiden (Museum of Ethnology). The research is about the change in the organization of the museum in...Show moreThis thesis is a result of anthropological research that I conducted at the Volkenkunde Museum in Leiden (Museum of Ethnology). The research is about the change in the organization of the museum in the last 25 years. The change of organization had an influence on the decision making process and consequently on the image that is being formed in exhibitions. The aim of this thesis is to explain how image-forming is been done in a decision making process. Specifically I will do this in relation to permanent and temporary Indonesian exhibitions at the museum. I use the term ‘imagined community’, introduced by Benedict Anderson, to show that the image that is formed in Indonesian exhibitions is an imagined one. When the museum went through a change of organization in the 1990’s, it also redecorated the exhibition halls. For the discussion on the new design of the museum I use the distinction made in Sally Price’s book ‘“primitive art in civilized places” between objects displayed in art and ethnology museum. As a case study I will describe my internship at the Volkenkunde Museum on the Queen Wilhelmina doll collection.Show less
Master thesis | Cultural Anthropology and Development Sociology (MSc)
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This thesis investigates the ways in which metalfans in the Netherlands cope with prejudice and stigma. This thesis explores the collectivity of metalfans in order to explain how the group they...Show moreThis thesis investigates the ways in which metalfans in the Netherlands cope with prejudice and stigma. This thesis explores the collectivity of metalfans in order to explain how the group they belong to attaches great importance to authenticity. The concept of authenticity is used to show how the issues that contribute to prejudice and stereotypes about metalfans and the metalscene, are also the issues that contribute to being a more authentic metalfan. Another major issue is the indiffernt reaction of metalfans to their stigmatization and the prejudices that exist, which is in conclusion also explained through the authenticity concept.Show less
Master thesis | Cultural Anthropology and Development Sociology (MSc)
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The thesis looks at how collectors of three types of dolls (Barbie, Blythe, Ball-jointed dolls)shape their collections, how they form a relationship with the collected objects and how collectors...Show moreThe thesis looks at how collectors of three types of dolls (Barbie, Blythe, Ball-jointed dolls)shape their collections, how they form a relationship with the collected objects and how collectors interact with each other both online and offline.Show less
Master thesis | Cultural Anthropology and Development Sociology (MSc)
open access
A shared understanding of the world may seem to be absolutely 'true', because empirical experience may confirm its legitimacy. I illustrate and argue that such belief in an 'all encompassing truth'...Show moreA shared understanding of the world may seem to be absolutely 'true', because empirical experience may confirm its legitimacy. I illustrate and argue that such belief in an 'all encompassing truth' requires a deceptive illusion that the collective of individuals together uphold and by which each individual perpetuates her of his own deception and that of the others. This thesis discusses the results of an in depth experience with the construction of what is the 'truth' in the experience of participants in a 'cult'. This argument is then used to reflect on the origins of the life world that may underlie any certainty that academic conceptions of the world conjure up.Show less
Master thesis | Cultural Anthropology and Development Sociology (MSc)
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Asking grand questions has long been found problematic in anthropology. The focus is usually put on the smaller issues. This thesis will research how we can unpack these trends. I investigate a...Show moreAsking grand questions has long been found problematic in anthropology. The focus is usually put on the smaller issues. This thesis will research how we can unpack these trends. I investigate a macro‐approach by using literature on shamanism and cosmovision. Grand questions are a compelling topic. Various disciplines, from history to archaeology and anthropology, have developed great talents in focusing on grassroots problems and micro‐issues. Small‐scale and area‐fixed studies are the norm. Not only is the focus put on the smaller issues, it is also considered too risky to present grand statements and promises, for it almost seems to beg for criticism. My criticism is that although these processes are essential, in that they provide the data for larger research questions, these studies often do not themselves get back to the broader perspectives. The hybridity, as well as the larger implications, thus easily remain obscured. In this thesis I take on the challenge to combine and reconnect the richness of different types of data with the theory‐based literature. Through a critical assessment of the literature, I will research how we can look at small‐scale issues from a broader perspective. Simultaneously, I will analyse how research with a focus on large‐scale issues can be analysed. This brings me to the connections that exist among the various approaches and perspectives used in anthropological and interdisciplinary research. It is precisely the combining of divergent approaches that challenges us, anthropologist, in our research and that is the topic of my research. The idea of interconnectedness will be put on the agenda by discussing how the topic can or cannot be studied. This means that I will look at approaches used in the literature and make an attempt in reconnecting the concepts that have been disconnected by researchers in the past. In conclusion, the main question of this thesis will focus on how we can research large topics by bringing research outcomes of projects that focus on small‐case issues together. One could say that in these small‐scale projects there is a trend to work within a fixed set of boundaries. This raises the question whether we, as anthropologists, are able to cross the boundaries of such delimited thinking.Show less
Master thesis | Cultural Anthropology and Development Sociology (MSc)
open access
Hoe worden verzwegen gebeurtenissen en ervaringen uit het verleden van de eerste generatie Indische Nederlanders en Indonesiërs in Nederland onderzocht en gepresenteerd door de tweede en derde...Show moreHoe worden verzwegen gebeurtenissen en ervaringen uit het verleden van de eerste generatie Indische Nederlanders en Indonesiërs in Nederland onderzocht en gepresenteerd door de tweede en derde generatie? Ik beantwoord deze vraag door eerst een impressie van de historische context te geven. Vervolgens bespreek ik de daaruit volgende integratie van de Indische Nederlanders in Nederland, waarbij Indisch zwijgen en hun manier van aanpassen centraal staan. Daarna komt mijn casus uitgebreid aan bod: de zoektocht van mijn tante naar het verleden van haar ouders, uitgaande van persoonlijke objecten uit de koffer van haar vader. Tenslotte bespreek ik voorbeelden van resultaten van zoektochten naar het verzwegen verleden van de eerste generatie en manieren van generatieoverdracht van de tweede en derde generatie Indische Nederlanders. Mijn casus loopt als een rode draad door de scriptie heen.Show less
