Een onderzoek naar verborgen vrouwelijke perspectieven die in de gedichten van Iduna Paalman, door middel van intertekstuele verwijzingen, voor het voetlicht worden gebracht. In de gedichten van...Show moreEen onderzoek naar verborgen vrouwelijke perspectieven die in de gedichten van Iduna Paalman, door middel van intertekstuele verwijzingen, voor het voetlicht worden gebracht. In de gedichten van Paalman die in deze scriptie worden behandeld ontmoeten we vrouwen die in de geschiedenis ofwel géén representatie kennen, éénzijdig gerepresenteerd worden, en zien we het effect van representaties als ‘de fatale vrouw’. Uit mijn analyses van een aantal gedichtencycli blijkt dat de perspectieven van verschillende historische 'figuren' in deze gedichten ons iets vertellen over de 'vrouwelijke situatie' van toen, maar ons ook confronteren met de hedendaagse 'vrouwelijke situatie'. Er is vooruitgang, maar ook overlap, en veel van de verwachtingen en kaders van de vrouw zijn immer nog aanwezig.Show less
For millions of people in Southeast Asia, Buddhism is more than a religion in the Western sense; it is a lifestyle. Theravada Buddhism in Thailand is intimately connected to Thai governance,...Show moreFor millions of people in Southeast Asia, Buddhism is more than a religion in the Western sense; it is a lifestyle. Theravada Buddhism in Thailand is intimately connected to Thai governance, society, and culture. Since the 1980s Thai Buddhism has created links with environmentalist movements. The Buddhist Environmental movement in Thailand has two terms related to monks: firstly, Development Monks or phra nak phatthana, and secondly, Forest Monks or phra nak anuraksaa. By 1991, there were some 250-300 Development Monks, comprising an important network in village grassroots communities, especially rural communities, and premised the desire to introduce a ‘Buddhist way of sustainable development'.Show less
The occupation of Palestine by Israel is rarely studied from an environmental colonial perspective. Environmental issues, especially with the growing concerns over climate change, are instead...Show moreThe occupation of Palestine by Israel is rarely studied from an environmental colonial perspective. Environmental issues, especially with the growing concerns over climate change, are instead discussed in the dualist framework of nature versus society, in which human civilization is separated from the environment. Consequently, the environmental landscape is frequently perceived as ‘natural,’ and therefore: apolitical. In addition, the blame for the effects of climate problems in ex-colonies in the MENA is often put on the mismanagement of local people. In this way, the wider socio-political, cultural, and economic structures embedded in the environment, are overlooked. This thesis argues that in the last decennia art projects in Palestine highlight these often-ignored connections. They counter Israeli environmental colonialism in the West Bank, and show that the deterioration of the Palestinian environment is not an unfortunate byproduct of settler colonialism, but a factor that influences the entire ecology and various aspects of Palestinian life. Through the revival of ecology, (agri)cultural traditions, and communities, the art projects expose Israeli colonial practices that destruct Palestinian ecology. Within a human and ‘more-than-human’ ecology, they revive cultural and communal ties that are constantly threatened by settler colonial erasure. The artists resist these Israeli environmental colonial practices through sumud (‘steadfastness’), shifting away from the earlier symbolic display of landscape in Palestine, toward artistic interventions in the local ecology.Show less
Research master thesis | Classics and Ancient Civilizations (research) (MA)
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This thesis focuses on the epigraphic material found in monumental tombs from both Palmyra and the Nabataean kingdom in the ancient Middle East, discussing the use of the various terms for funerary...Show moreThis thesis focuses on the epigraphic material found in monumental tombs from both Palmyra and the Nabataean kingdom in the ancient Middle East, discussing the use of the various terms for funerary architecture in their dialects of Aramaic and Greek. The subject is approached from a sociolinguistic perspective, discussing the socio-cultural implications of the distribution and the use of the vocabulary. The combined evidence shows that the funerary sphere, as the most local sphere visible through the epigraphic evidence, is strongly impacted by social change. Different terms are used for different funerary complexes, depending on their location above or below the surface, or on whether they housed individual or grouped burials. The socio-economic developments in Palmyra and Nabataea in the first centuries of our era led to groups from a new upper middle class gaining interest in expressing their cultural identity through funerary complexes, which were previously reserved for the upper elite. These social developments and their consequences are also partly reflected in the vocabulary used for funerary architecture. This thesis hopes to show what a thorough analytical approach on a specific set of vocabulary can bring to the study of identity in the Roman Near East. Diachronic developments in the Aramaic and Greek vocabulary, divisions across region, tomb type and time will be examined, as they show how the funerary landscape developed in the ancient Middle East from the 1st century BCE up to the 3rd century CE. A database of all attested terms for funerary architecture will be provided and analysed, allowing for a detailed view into the use of these different terms across time and place.Show less
Most scholars agree that the Japanese amphibious strategy is fundamentally flawed by the lack of cooperation between the Japanese Self Defense Forces’ (JSDF) ground and maritime branches, as well...Show moreMost scholars agree that the Japanese amphibious strategy is fundamentally flawed by the lack of cooperation between the Japanese Self Defense Forces’ (JSDF) ground and maritime branches, as well as the latter’s lack of dedicated amphibious capabilities. However, while the struggles of the Japanese Ground Self Defense Force (JGSDF) have been extensively documented in papers and interviews by academics, retired JGSDF and United States Marine Corps (USMC) officers, research on its Japanese Maritime Self Defense Force (JMSDF) counterpart has lagged behind. The JMSDF’s amphibious warfare unit, counterintuitively or perhaps fittingly called the Mine Warfare Force (MWF), is only mentioned contextually, and portrayed as an inadequate JMSDF counterpart to the JGSDF’s marines. Yet, the archipelago nation, standing as the greatest obstacle to China's seaward expansion, cannot afford to possess ineffective amphibious forces. Whether it is from the perspective of containing, deterring, or fighting the People's Liberation Army (PLA), for Japan, the ability to quickly deploy and sustain forces on its islands is essential. Why was arguably the most professional Navy in Asia unable to develop an effective amphibious counterpart for Japan's naval infantry? By conducting a comprehensive analysis of Japanese naval literature from official and quasi-official sources, this thesis aims to demonstrate that, contrary to common wisdom, neither Japan's pacifist nature nor a preconceived lack of JMSDF interest in amphibious capabilities shaped this result. Instead, the deeper reasons for this failure must be sought in intra- and inter-organizational politics within the JSDF. To prove this point, the thesis will analyze the MWF's evolution from its inception to the present day, focusing on three transformational moments that occurred in the periods of 2011 to 2013, 2014 to 2017, and 2018 to 2023.Show less
Subnational climate diplomacy is a concept that has been gaining attention in the field of International Relations in recent years. It refers to the way in which state and local governments are...Show moreSubnational climate diplomacy is a concept that has been gaining attention in the field of International Relations in recent years. It refers to the way in which state and local governments are increasingly taking part in international negotiations and cooperation to advance global climate objectives. This signifies a sizable shift in the traditional approach to state-to-state diplomacy. However, the value of subnational climate diplomacy to the global fight against climate change is currently almost exclusively measured in terms of clearly quantifiable outputs, which largely overlooks its less directly quantifiable contributions and broader social, economic and political impacts. Therefore, this thesis analyzes how subnational climate diplomacy can contribute to transformative change through more indirect impacts. The indirect impacts that are measured are ‘rescaling’ and ‘entrenchment,’ based on the frameworks developed by authors van der Ven, Bernstein and Hoffmann (2017) and Setzer (2017). These two concepts serve to guide the analysis undertaken in this thesis, which aims to answer the following research question: How can subnational climate diplomacy contribute to transformative change through rescaling and entrenchment? To answer this question, the thesis includes a detailed case study of the international climate agenda of the U.S. state of California. The analysis of California's international climate agenda shows how the state’s subnational climate diplomacy is contributing to a rescaling of climate governance. By establishing international linkages along both the vertical and the horizontal axis, California is triggering a rescaling of climate governance on the subnational, national and international/supranational level. Additionally, California’s subnational climate diplomacy is fostering entrenchment by generating effects in climate governance that are durable and difficult to reverse. Overall, this study emphasizes that subnational climate diplomacy can contribute to transformative change in global climate governance, not only through producing directly quantifiable emission reductions, but also through rescaling climate governance and entrenching durable change.Show less
The world has witnessed many years of advocacy and attempts to improve the lives of menstruating women. This was done by trying to address access to sanitary products and facilities, as well as a...Show moreThe world has witnessed many years of advocacy and attempts to improve the lives of menstruating women. This was done by trying to address access to sanitary products and facilities, as well as a non-material threat – the menstrual stigma. Kenya is no exception to this, and in fact, it has been considered at the forefront of menstrual awareness campaigns in the Global South with its ‘free pads for schoolgirls’ policy and menstrual health management agenda. Yet in the context of all that, 2019 was shaken by a girl committing suicide after feeling the shame of leaking in school, and 2023 began with a “scandal” of a Kenyan senator who was sent home for wearing blood-stained pants. These medialized events and many others happening in the private lives of ordinary people highlight that the menstrual stigma is still very present and powerful. For this reason, this research attempted to find out how women in Kenya talk about menstruation in a private, family context in ways that influence the cultural knowledge and understanding of young women, and how these young women engage with this information to reinforce or change perceptions. It was found that there is still considerable silence and stigma surrounding the transmission of period-related knowledge, which reproduces menstrual stigma among young women. Nonetheless, the younger generation is influenced by their own experience, current campaigns, and social media to become more open and approachable parents in the future.Show less
Research master thesis | Middle Eastern Studies (research) (MA)
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This study seeks to account for the atrocious violence perpetrated by the Assad regime in response to the Syrian uprising that erupted in 2011. Academic scholarship, media reports, and public...Show moreThis study seeks to account for the atrocious violence perpetrated by the Assad regime in response to the Syrian uprising that erupted in 2011. Academic scholarship, media reports, and public opinion tend to understand the state’s violence against its civilians as a resort to exceptional means under exceptional circumstances. This study, in contrast, contends that atrocious violence constitutes a well-established practice, core to this regime’s modus operandi. The study’s objective is to substantiate, illustrate, and critically assess the proposition that atrocious violence perpetrated by the Assad regime is best understood not as a series of incidental exceptional ‘events’ but as a core practice, consisting of a set of sub-practices. The thesis analyzes a selection of primary and secondary sources in answering the research question ‘How to account for the Assad regime’s atrociously violent response to the popular uprising in 2011?’. Primary sources include leaked government documents, legal testimonies, speeches, and memoirs, operationalized with the help of the praxeology research method and a single case-study design. The massacre in Houla in 2012 serves as a primary case study, a narrative anchor from which to assess the strength of the proposition that the regime’s response to the 2011 popular uprising is best understood as the manifestation of a long-standing practice of atrocious state violence sustained by a set of subpractices that effectively make it virtuous across time and space. Specifically, the study identifies the sub-practices of legalizing atrocious violence, narrativizing reality, and consolidating the perpetrator elite.Show less
In recent years, Automated Influence, understood as “the use of artificial intelligence to collect, integrate and analyse people’s data, and to deliver targeted interventions based on this analysis...Show moreIn recent years, Automated Influence, understood as “the use of artificial intelligence to collect, integrate and analyse people’s data, and to deliver targeted interventions based on this analysis, intended to shape their behaviour” (familiarly referred to as ‘algorithms’) has stirred up many debates among the public, as well as within academia (Benn & Lazar 2022, 127). While much of the discussion has focused primarily on issues of privacy in the light of Big Data, this thesis seeks to analyze how Automated Influence impacts the deliberative, discursive, and fundamentally social space on which society depends on, in particular for collective decision-making/politics. I argue that Automated Influence deployed on social media platforms violates people’s fundamental interest in social agency, which is defined as the ability of a person to act and reflect on her own motives all the while taking part in the fundamentally social process of forming, defending, and adapting the reasons according to which she acts. Moreover, it undermines people’s autonomy and social trust, which both serve as preconditions for their exercise social agency. After reviewing contemporary EU regulation seeking to address some of the problematic aspects related to Automated Influence, I explain why there cannot be a purely top-down approach to mitigating the harms emanating from Automated Influence, which results in my conclusion that only through educating people about its potential harms could mitigate the problem in the long run.Show less
This thesis delves into the early modern Dutch and Flemish chroniclers' perceptions and the trust or distrust of newspapers, particularly focusing on the emergence of newspapers in 1618 and their...Show moreThis thesis delves into the early modern Dutch and Flemish chroniclers' perceptions and the trust or distrust of newspapers, particularly focusing on the emergence of newspapers in 1618 and their evolving role in chronicles over time. This study uses computational methods, in which a macro-level analysis of a corpus of 275 early modern Dutch chronicles and a micro-level case study are combined. The research aims to explore how these chroniclers incorporated newspapers into their accounts, shedding light on their trust or distrust in this new medium. The study shows that chroniclers used newspapers as sources in their works, indicating a level of faith in the newspaper's content. The analysis of the full corpus supports previous findings on prevalent themes, source utilization, and the integration of newspapers into society. It appears that newspaper integration began in the second part of the seventeenth century and peaked in the eighteenth century. This corresponds to the increasing popularity of newspapers at the time. Notably, the chroniclers' mentions of newspapers remained consistent in frequency, indicating that newspapers held a similar level of importance despite changes in their content. The research emphasises the importance of chronicles as historical sources for understanding early modern news consumption and views. Given the obstacles faced by historic languages and imperfect transcriptions, it also emphasises the importance of close reading alongside computational tools. In conclusion, this research contributes to the understanding of early modern newspaper reception, emphasizing the trust chroniclers placed in newspapers while acknowledging occasional expressions of doubt. It also provides insights into the limitations and possibilities of computational methods in historical research, emphasizing the remaining importance of close reading.Show less
De onthullingen van Edward Snowden over grootschalige spionage door Amerikaanse inlichtingendiensten hebben vanaf 2013 geleid tot een enorme hoeveelheid nieuwe literatuur over dit onderwerp. Een...Show moreDe onthullingen van Edward Snowden over grootschalige spionage door Amerikaanse inlichtingendiensten hebben vanaf 2013 geleid tot een enorme hoeveelheid nieuwe literatuur over dit onderwerp. Een aanzienlijk deel daarvan gaat over de impact van (digitale) overheidssurveillance op het werk van journalisten en hun omgang met vertrouwelijke bronnen. Dit onderzoek is een aanvulling op de overwegend Amerikaanse literatuur die al beschikbaar is. Aan de hand van semigestructureerde diepte-interviews met tien Nederlandse onderzoeksjournalisten is onderzocht hoe zij de dreiging van overheidssurveillance ervaren en op welke manier dit de omgang met vertrouwelijke bronnen beïnvloedt. Waar in theorie bij journalisten en bronnen een chilling effect kan optreden, is daar in dit onderzoek geen bewijs voor gevonden. Wel blijkt uit de gesprekken dat bewustzijn over de mogelijke gevaren, invloed heeft op de manier van communiceren en het gebruik van informatiebeveiligingstechnologie. De conclusies uit dit onderzoek zijn toepasbaar op onderzoeksjournalisten die ervaring hebben met thema’s als nationale veiligheid, politie, justitie, inlichtingendiensten en (georganiseerde) criminaliteit. In hoeverre de bevindingen ook opgaan voor de Nederlandse journalistiek in het algemeen, zal toekomstig onderzoek moeten uitwijzen.Show less
Femicide staat volop in de mediabelangstelling. Steeds meer kranten besteden aandacht aan de problematiek rondom vrouwenmoord. Toch is het aankaarten van femicide als probleem pas een zeer recente...Show moreFemicide staat volop in de mediabelangstelling. Steeds meer kranten besteden aandacht aan de problematiek rondom vrouwenmoord. Toch is het aankaarten van femicide als probleem pas een zeer recente ontwikkeling. Voordien werden zaken waarin een vrouwelijk slachtoffer door haar (ex-)partner werd vermoord zelden binnen dit frame geplaatst. Om te kijken of dit ook opgaat voor de berichtgeving in het Leidsch Dagblad, is er middels deze scriptie onderzocht welke frames in het Leidsch Dagblad voorkomen tijdens een periode van dertig jaar (1990-2022). Deze periodisering maakte het daarnaast mogelijk de veranderingen in de berichtgeving over het onderwerp in kaart te brengen. Op basis van een kwalitatieve framinganalayse van 64 artikelen uit het Leidsch Dagblad werden er drie overheersende frames gevonden: het blaming-the-victim-frame, het geëxcuseerde-dader-frame en het ‘moord is een relationeel drama’-frame. Aan de hand van de framinganalyse van Van Gorp, zijn deze frames vervolgens onderverdeeld in reasoning devices en framing devices. Hierdoor konden enerzijds de oorzaken van de frames achterhaald worden, als ook de tekstuele elementen in kaart worden gebracht. Hoewel vooral het blaming-the-victim-frame in de tweede helft van de onderzochte jaren minder hardnekkig bleek dan verwacht, was er geen kritisch frame die deze leegte opvulde. Mogelijke verklaringen voor dit gegeven zijn het brongebruik van journalisten en de nieuwswaarde van deze specifieke categorie van misdaadnieuws. Omdat er nauwelijks onderzoek gedaan is naar het onderwerp binnen de Nederlandse context, loont vervolgonderzoek naar femicide. Dit onderzoek kan vervolgens uitwijzen of de conclusies ook opgaan voor andere titels in het Hollandse medialandschap.Show less
this thesis compares two important works, Aviezer Tucker's Our Knowledge of the Past and Mark Bevir's The Logic of the History of Ideas, to a novel theory in epistemology, William Talbott's...Show morethis thesis compares two important works, Aviezer Tucker's Our Knowledge of the Past and Mark Bevir's The Logic of the History of Ideas, to a novel theory in epistemology, William Talbott's Learning from our Mistakes. It argues that William Talbott's approach to knowledge can solve longstanding issues within the philosophy of history, particularly pertaining to the normative epistemological question: what should we be believing about the past?Show less
