This research investigates the increasing importance of the Kazakh language in Kazakhstan, a process referred to as Kazakhization, and its implications for employment opportunities and economic...Show moreThis research investigates the increasing importance of the Kazakh language in Kazakhstan, a process referred to as Kazakhization, and its implications for employment opportunities and economic outcomes. The study highlights several key factors contributing to this linguistic shift, including governmental language policies, educational reforms, and the rising bilingual requirements in the job market. Concurrently, the study highlights that demographic shifts, particularly the decreasing proportion of ethnic Russians and the increasing share of ethnic Kazakhs, further bolster the use of Kazakh. Contrary to earlier findings that suggested a significant income gap between Russian and Kazakh speakers caused by language proficiency in Russian, this research demonstrates that income disparities are more influenced by demographic and socio-economic factors such as age and regional economic conditions rather than linguistic factors.Show less
The thesis explores how the abject reproductive system in Ulysses conveys a sense of a lost future and how it reveals the discourse of reproductive futurism in Irish Roman Catholicism in early...Show moreThe thesis explores how the abject reproductive system in Ulysses conveys a sense of a lost future and how it reveals the discourse of reproductive futurism in Irish Roman Catholicism in early twentieth century.Show less
Research master thesis | Literary Studies (research) (MA)
open access
This thesis explores to what extent water bodies in ancient poetical texts materially influence the poetics of the text in which they appear. Ancient poetical texts, such as self-reflexive poems...Show moreThis thesis explores to what extent water bodies in ancient poetical texts materially influence the poetics of the text in which they appear. Ancient poetical texts, such as self-reflexive poems and literary-critical treatises, often use water bodies as metaphors to formulate aesthetic value judgements or poetical ideas. When scholarship on such texts chooses to concentrate on the text’s water bodies, the focus has been predominantly put on their function as metaphor. As such, there has been a lack in the interpretative discourse on ancient poetics in which water is not only treated metaphorically, but literally and materially as well. Employing recent advancements made in the emerging, ecocritical field of Blue Humanities, in specific the theory and methods provided by hydropoetics, this thesis offers a viable way to read water in ancient poetical texts literally. Taking as main case studies Callimachus’ Hymn to Apollo, Longinus’ On the Sublime and Catullus 64, the thesis investigates how water’s material formations such as seas, rivers, springs, flows, trickles and whirlpools autonomously contribute to the poetical constructs of these texts. It thereby serves to further classical scholarship on ancient poetics, as well as employ and reflect on present-day reading methods that help or fail to do justice to the material agency of water bodies. (Formally, this thesis is a double thesis in order to fulfill both the programs of Literary Studies and Classics and Ancient Civilizations.)Show less
An analysis of the emergence of the farmal in the Netherlands between the period of 1850 and 1950. The work details the emergence of industrialised, banked and householder farms in the Netherlands...Show moreAn analysis of the emergence of the farmal in the Netherlands between the period of 1850 and 1950. The work details the emergence of industrialised, banked and householder farms in the Netherlands and shows how there is no correspondence between the farmal farm and the communal farm.Show less
Integrating into the host society is an important aspect of migration. Yet this does not always go smoothly and there are several bumps to overcome. For instance, there may be cultural differences...Show moreIntegrating into the host society is an important aspect of migration. Yet this does not always go smoothly and there are several bumps to overcome. For instance, there may be cultural differences between the newcomer and the native society, which can lead to mutual misunderstanding. In addition, municipalities have an important and decisive role in the integration of a newcomer. They make and implement local or national integration policies and thus determine which requirements a newcomer has to meet. Based on the cases of the municipalities of Rotterdam and Vleuten-De Meern, this thesis examines to what extent local integration policies differ from each other and how this difference affects the integration process of newcomers. In other words, does it matter where in the Netherlands a newcomer integrates? The term local turn is important here: how does a local government implement national policy? This study on the integration policies of Rotterdam and Vleuten-De Meern found, based on policy documents, that differences are indeed visible between local policies. Rotterdam has developed its own integration policy due to the size of the municipality and their focus on discrimination and crime. In addition, the tone of their integration policy can be described as negative, mainly caused by the interference of the right-wing party Leefbaar Rotterdam. Vleuten-De Meern, on the other hand, was less susceptible to political discussions, as it was - first unofficially and from 2001 officially - attached to the municipality of Utrecht and followed national integration policy. In addition, the municipality of Vleuten-De Meern was small compared to Rotterdam, making it easier to resolve conflicts internally. It can therefore be argued that integrating in a large, multicultural municipality poses different challenges than integrating in a small municipality.Show less
With the awareness of climate change our experience of literature has fundamentally changed. Using the heideggarian notions of world and earth, as well as key insights of Timothy Morton regarding...Show moreWith the awareness of climate change our experience of literature has fundamentally changed. Using the heideggarian notions of world and earth, as well as key insights of Timothy Morton regarding the experience of climate change and the experience of literature according to Maurice Blanchot, this thesis tries to show how our experience of literature has changed. The literary texts may have stayed the same, the way in which we read them has certainly not. The awareness of climate change has forced us to recognize that we are connected to and have a bearing on everything else on earth. This awareness makes it so that we read literary texts according to this awareness.Show less
In this thesis we analyse the ways in which Huaraz, a Peruvian city in the Andes, presents itself culturally to the world, in particular to the tourist world, and compare those with the cultural...Show moreIn this thesis we analyse the ways in which Huaraz, a Peruvian city in the Andes, presents itself culturally to the world, in particular to the tourist world, and compare those with the cultural identity as perceived by the people in this city. For the first part we have analysed tourism promotion websites, and how history and actuality are presented in various ways: in museums and archaeological sites, in handicrafts, and in street nomenclature. We addressed the second part, the perceived cultural identity, through interviews and participant observation. We conclude that the cultural identity perceived by the inhabitants of Huaraz is totally different from the cultural self-representations, and we give a beginning explanation for this difference.Show less
Research master thesis | African Studies (research) (MA)
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This research aims to centre the perspectives and experiences of the host community of Nanyuki, Kenya, in the discussion of the impact of the British Army Training Unit Kenya (BATUK) on the social...Show moreThis research aims to centre the perspectives and experiences of the host community of Nanyuki, Kenya, in the discussion of the impact of the British Army Training Unit Kenya (BATUK) on the social relations of this ‘base’ town. Employing the Aberystwyth School theoretical foundation, this thesis aims to prioritise often overlooked voices and explore the intersections of identity, community relations, and critical security in the civil-military field. Through conducting an extended observation method of various communities and quotidian life in Nanyuki, this method aims to highlight the social tensions that have emerged in the community hosting the British Army in Kenya. Coupled with colonial racial-capitalist tensions, this thesis reveals that beyond the focus on increasing geopolitical security and military capacity, the presence of the military base in Nanyuki furthers insecurity in the host community’s relations. This research argues that the British Army’s presence in Nanyuki emphasises existing class, racial and urban-rural divisions in the social relations of Nanyuki. This thesis will argue that local communities feel that their actions and abilities are constrained due to the sizeable presence and economic importance of BATUK, the illusiveness of personal connections with the soldiers, and the simultaneous feelings of not being able to change the conduct BATUK nor being listened to by the base, makes the local communities feel insecure. This insecurity of the base creates divisions in the urban community as people conform to existing racial and class divisions due to the financial weight of the base over the town of Nanyuki. In the rural area, a different division emerges. Here, the rural community feels abandoned and separate from the town due to the perspective that they experience the detrimental impacts of BATUK yet none of the benefits that they perceive the urban community to receive. Without understanding the insecurity that these bases cause in the local community, these military bases may create security for the national, regional, and international at the expense of the local.Show less
Research master thesis | African Studies (research) (MA)
open access
Amongst the Asian giants, little attention has been paid to the relationship between Japan and Africa, let alone Japan and Zimbabwe. This thesis traces the development of trade and diplomatic...Show moreAmongst the Asian giants, little attention has been paid to the relationship between Japan and Africa, let alone Japan and Zimbabwe. This thesis traces the development of trade and diplomatic relations between Japan and Rhodesia (Pre-independence Zimbabwe). The central argument in the thesis is that relations between Japan and Rhodesia were borne out of a ‘quid-pro-quo’ arrangement between the two with Rhodesia supplying critical raw minerals to Japan’s industrial players whilst Japan invested in cash and kind into Rhodesia’s critical industries, greatly contributing to Rhodesia’s state survival once Rhodesia became a sanctioned pariah state. This argument is built up by looking at Japan’s foreign affairs policy objectives at the inception of diplomatic contact with Rhodesia which was in 1924, a year after the colony gained responsible self-governance from the British South Africa Company. Through archival research undertaken in Zimbabwe and the United Kingdom, the research unearths the commercial agreements that came to dominate Japan’s relationship with Rhodesia; especially the 1961deal for a £41⁄2 million steel plant at Que Que (Rhodesia) between the Rhodesian Iron and Steel Company and Kawasaki. The thesis shows how post-World War II World Bank loans to Japanese steel manufacturers such as Kawasaki Steel and Kobe Steel were used by these firms to invest in Rhodesia’s iron and steel industry, helping the country develop Africa’s only integrated steelworks north of the Limpopo and South of the Sahara. In return, Rhodesia exported hundreds of thousands of tonnes of pig iron and iron ore to Japan, which helped sustain Japan’s modern iron and steel industry. As the ‘Wind of Change’ blew throughout Southern Africa, Rhodesian and Japanese trade ties surprisingly intensified, in stark contrast to other states that began to boycott the racist white regime. The thesis will utilise Japan’s 20th century Black Africa and White Africa policy to explain the motives and Japanese actors responsible for aiding the survival of Ian Smith’s regime. Based on this policy, Japan clustered African states into two cohorts: Black Africa consisting independent states and White Africa which were the Southern African states dominated by white minority regimes. Through this policy, Japan worked to secure access to raw materials whilst securing political support at the United Nations form countries in the Asian- Africa bloc. This analysis of Japan-Rhodesia relations comes at a time where there has been a resurgence of interest into Africa by Japan; a policy shift motivated by the rush by Western and Asian economic giants to secure mineral resources for their Green Transition.Show less
China's rich cultural heritage, deeply rooted in Confucian principles and traditional family values, has historically shaped societal norms and expectations. However, as the nation embraces...Show moreChina's rich cultural heritage, deeply rooted in Confucian principles and traditional family values, has historically shaped societal norms and expectations. However, as the nation embraces globalization and modernization, the discourse on sexuality is also changing. New and diverse sexual identities are becoming increasingly more visible in the mainstream Chinese heterosexual society. The once hidden queer community is also gradually emerging from the shadows, often using art as a vessel to express its sexuality (Cowley et al., 2016) and assert its presence as a legitimate component of the broader Chinese social context. Amongst the queer artists that are actively reshaping narratives around homosexuality is Mu Cao, China’s first openly gay poet. His avant-garde writing provides a unique take on the portrayal of the homosexual experience, serving as a reflection of the societal attitudes towards LGBTQ+ identities within various socioeconomic strata in the Chinese contemporary context. As a matter of fact, Mu Cao is also a dagongren, one of the hundreds of millions of migrant workers who left rural China to work in a metropolis; his oeuvre provides an unfiltered reality that combines his struggles as a member of both the LGBTQ+ and migrant workers communities, thus offering a nuanced exploration of the intersectionality within his lived experiences. By examining Mu Cao's cultural production within the socio-cultural context of contemporary China, I ask: How does Mu Cao’s writing portray the homosexual experience in contemporary China. Through an analysis of both Mu Cao’s poetry and short stories, this research seeks to shed light on the intersection of personal identity, social norms and modern struggles that are portrayed in his work.Show less
Research master thesis | African Studies (research) (MA)
open access
This fieldwork explores plant-human relations through an embodied ethnographic methodology which couples physical and photographic practises in varied field/forest settings. The research loosely...Show moreThis fieldwork explores plant-human relations through an embodied ethnographic methodology which couples physical and photographic practises in varied field/forest settings. The research loosely follows the work of l’Association G.A.R.A.B (Groupe d’Action pour la Reforestation des Arbres et de la Biodiversité), a diverse group of roughly one hundred professional and non-professional vegetal experts; the Wolof garab meaning both tree and healing. Following this group has taken me on a multi-site, or multi-patch, ethnography, moving between different vegetal spaces in the Dakar-Thies-Mbour region, with a particularly concentrated focus on the urban frontier town of Sébikhotane. As a researcher, co-gardener, co-farmer, and amateur photographer, my interactions, and relations with people have facilitated a closer relationship with research participants, both human and non-human. Through social proximity, I explore how it is that research participants’ relationships with their landscape have changed, through the plants they tend to, the plants they eat, farm, work and breathe with. The experimental ethnographic approach has allowed for an intimate research experience, where local embodied knowledge is prioritised and seen as fundamental to understanding changing Senegalese natures.Show less
