This thesis examines the patient registers of the Stadsziekenhuis in Hoorn. A database was constructed to analyse the patterns in patient admission and patient mortality between 1867 and 1915....Show moreThis thesis examines the patient registers of the Stadsziekenhuis in Hoorn. A database was constructed to analyse the patterns in patient admission and patient mortality between 1867 and 1915. Firstly, the function of the hospital as an institution is investigated. Subsequently, this thesis explores the characteristics of the patients that were admitted. Finally, the mortality patterns are examined to provide an answer to the question of which patients were most likely to die during their hospitalisation.Show less
This thesis investigates the way in which the thirteenth-century Cistercian Alberic of Trois-Fontaines dealt with manifestations of the supernatural in his universal chronicle. Firstly, both...Show moreThis thesis investigates the way in which the thirteenth-century Cistercian Alberic of Trois-Fontaines dealt with manifestations of the supernatural in his universal chronicle. Firstly, both quantitative and qualitative research on all entries dealing with the supernatural, as well as a comparison to Helinand of Froidmont’s chronicle, show that his work is characterised by a consistently critical attitude towards his sources and a striking passion for chronology, truth, and historical knowledge. Alberic was not a credulous lover of fanciful miracle stories; he was a diligent scholar who took pride in his skills as a historian. Secondly, a case-study on entries dealing with demonic activity highlights Alberic’s exceptional interest in this type of supernatural event. These entries reveal a strong anxiety about heresies (which were intrinsically connected to the demonic) and especially the possibility of clergymen and monastics falling prey to both heresy and demonic possession. In some entries, even demons prove more orthodox and morally sound than certain Christians. A desperate desire for clarity and knowledge, including that which could be obtained from demons, is a subtly recurring theme. The chronicle thus reveals the very fine line between strong abhorrence of heresy on the one hand, and Alberic’s own insatiable – but potentially soul-endangering – thirst for knowledge on the other hand.Show less
This thesis examines how Belgians who fled the Congo in the wake of the Congolese independence (1960) experienced their return migration and reintegration into Belgian society. Long ignored in...Show moreThis thesis examines how Belgians who fled the Congo in the wake of the Congolese independence (1960) experienced their return migration and reintegration into Belgian society. Long ignored in public and academic debates, the narratives of postcolonial returnees provide insight into the demographic consequences of the end of empires on the one hand, and the effects of whiteness on migrant trajectories on the other hand. Through a unique combination of oral history, visual analysis, and media analysis, this thesis explores how returnees shaped their memories of colonial life and decolonization. It also examines how this narrative differs from the contemporary media and government narrative on the Anciens du Congo.Show less
This thesis examines and contextualises the thought of the Dutch officer, politician, and administrator Johannes van den Bosch (1780-1844). Van den Bosch was an important political figure under the...Show moreThis thesis examines and contextualises the thought of the Dutch officer, politician, and administrator Johannes van den Bosch (1780-1844). Van den Bosch was an important political figure under the reign of King Willem I and held high positions both in the Dutch metropole and overseas in the Dutch West Indies and the Dutch East Indies. He is mainly known for the Society of Benevolence, a poverty alleviation scheme in the Netherlands and the introduction of the cultivation system, a system of rural taxation in the Dutch East Indies. This thesis studies his thought by examining and contextualising Van den Bosch’s ideas on history, poverty, and race in two treatises written by him in 1818. Following the Cambridge School of Intellectual History, it contextualises these thoughts through primary texts of contemporaneous authors and secondary literature. It argues that we should pay attention not just to the actions but also to the ideas of Van den Bosch. He appears as an enlightened conservative, meaning he advocated change but wanted it through slow evolution rather than rapid revolution. He combined this with progressive ideas on the alleviation of poverty and a racialised understanding of human difference. This thesis makes the case that rather than enigmatic, as it has often been described, Van den Bosch’s thought is consistently modern.Show less
Research master thesis | Arts, Literature and Media (research) (MA)
open access
There is a problem with identity. Although people tend towards identifying themselves as something absolute, identity does not coincide with itself. This leaves people's sense of identity open to...Show moreThere is a problem with identity. Although people tend towards identifying themselves as something absolute, identity does not coincide with itself. This leaves people's sense of identity open to manipulation and exploitation. In this thesis, I explore how Catherine Lacey's novel Pew and Toby Fox's video game Undertale deal with this problem. Both works trouble the notion of a stable, internal identity that can be expressed through clean-cut identity categorisations, showing how such a view of identity is unrealistic, restrictive, and potentially harmful. I draw inspiration from Michel Foucault's treatment of art in his Order of Things, in which Foucault gives art the privileged position of being able to foretell a shift in epistemes. Analysing Pew and Undertale alongside the concept of genre as theorised by Jacques Derrida and the concept of the monster as grounded in Jeffrey Jerome Cohen's writing, I show that these works prefigure an episteme that expects difference rather than sameness, reconfiguring the problem of identity into a source of possibilities.Show less
Research master thesis | Literary Studies (research) (MA)
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This study examines de Digitale Stad, or the Digital City, a pioneering virtual community in the Netherlands (1994-2001), as a metaphorical urban space. Drawing from urban theory, play theory and...Show moreThis study examines de Digitale Stad, or the Digital City, a pioneering virtual community in the Netherlands (1994-2001), as a metaphorical urban space. Drawing from urban theory, play theory and media theory, this thesis analyzes how users navigated and positioned themselves in the virtual realm. By focusing on DDS and the early Web, it sheds light on the Digital City's significance as an experimental space reflecting and influencing the evolving Dutch internet landscape.Show less
Research master thesis | Literary Studies (research) (MA)
open access
This study examines de Digitale Stad, or the Digital City, a pioneering virtual community in the Netherlands (1994-2001), as a metaphorical urban space. Drawing from urban theory, play theory and...Show moreThis study examines de Digitale Stad, or the Digital City, a pioneering virtual community in the Netherlands (1994-2001), as a metaphorical urban space. Drawing from urban theory, play theory and media theory, this thesis analyzes how users navigated and positioned themselves in the virtual realm. By focusing on DDS and the early Web, it sheds light on the Digital City's significance as an experimental space reflecting and influencing the evolving Dutch internet landscape.Show less
In 1895, the Dutch Social Democratic Workers’ Party (SDAP) convened for its first party conference. Two years later, the first SDAP members were elected to Parliament. Between these years and the...Show moreIn 1895, the Dutch Social Democratic Workers’ Party (SDAP) convened for its first party conference. Two years later, the first SDAP members were elected to Parliament. Between these years and the Second World War, the SDAP transitioned from a party with revolutionary aspirations to a fully normalized parliamentary entity. This thesis studies the SDAP’s assembly culture (vergadercultuur) in both the House of Representatives and their own party conferences. The first part of the thesis utilizes a combination of traditional and innovative digital methodologies to demonstrate that the normalisation of the position of the SDAP in the House of Representatives peaked in the mid-1920s. The second part of the thesis explores the development of the internal assembly culture of the SDAP, focusing on the role of the chairperson, procedures, time management, and usage of ‘persoonlijke feiten’, a phenomenon originating from Parliament. This section shows that while the internal assembly culture of the SDAP matured in many respects, this process was non-linear in many other respects, rendering the metaphor of maturation insufficient.Show less
Research master thesis | Linguistics (research) (MA)
under embargo until 2026-01-31
2026-01-31T00:00:00Z
Like other Bantu languages, Kîîtharaka (Guthrie E54, Central Kenya Bantu) allows indexing the object on the verb by inserting an object prefix in front of the verb stem. Object marking is...Show moreLike other Bantu languages, Kîîtharaka (Guthrie E54, Central Kenya Bantu) allows indexing the object on the verb by inserting an object prefix in front of the verb stem. Object marking is prohibited in case of an overt object. However, if the object is dislocated, this marker sometimes occurs obligatorily, while in other cases, it is prohibited. Hence, Kîîtharaka poses a classical case for differential object marking (DOM). The main outcome of this thesis is the finding that a complex interplay of a variety of factors is responsible for differential object marking in Kîîth araka. These factors include cross-linguistically well-known triggers for DOM such as animacy and accessibility, but also lesser-known factors such as predicate class and verum. In addition to proposing a hierarchy according to which the established factors apply, individuation is given as a possible theoretical explanation to account for the diversity of factors found.Show less
