Master thesis | Cultural Anthropology and Development Sociology (MSc)
open access
This thesis embarks on a journey of birthing women in the Netherlands and their experiences with the contentious and divided birthing system that claims to be women centred. The thesis carries on to
Master thesis | Cultural Anthropology and Development Sociology (MSc)
open access
This moral anthropological study has explored the moral narratives of right- and far-right users of the subreddit pages /FreeDutch and /Forum_Democratie, and compared these to the tactical choices...Show moreThis moral anthropological study has explored the moral narratives of right- and far-right users of the subreddit pages /FreeDutch and /Forum_Democratie, and compared these to the tactical choices of the Dutch political party Forum voor Democratie. The central elements of these moral narratives were freedom and personal responsibility as ways to navigate the changing cultural circumstances in which my interlocutors felt blamed, demeaned and sidelined. These feelings were tied to a perceived moral judgment by political adversaries, and were most evoked regarding the perceived charge of racism. The Dutch far-right populist party Forum voor Democratie has capitalized on these emotional experiences by subsuming them under a narrative that epistemologically and emotionally discredits and distances outside parties by painting them as corrupt and ill-intentioned, facilitates social and political polarization, and ultimately delegitimizes democracy as a whole.Show less
Master thesis | Cultural Anthropology and Development Sociology (MSc)
open access
The type of waves that arrive in Scheveningen are often considered mediocre from an international surfing perspective. Even though water-temperatures can drop to 4 degrees during the coldest months...Show moreThe type of waves that arrive in Scheveningen are often considered mediocre from an international surfing perspective. Even though water-temperatures can drop to 4 degrees during the coldest months, there is a quickly growing community of surfing enthusiasts who enter the water year-round. By using visual-ethnographic methodologies during fieldwork such as observational and participative methods, combined with several semi-structured interviews, this study explores how different aspects of surfing such as the uncertainty of waves, the experience of surfing, stoke, and the never-ending search for the ever-changing perfect wave, contribute to the mindset, dedication and closeness among surfing enthusiasts in Scheveningen. The following thesis consists of both a textual component and an ethnographic film of 30 minutes. The written part analyzes various concepts related to the experience of surfing, and moreover how the appeal and experience of surfing relate to the mentality and mindset of surfers, both within and outside of the water. The natural component of surfing is explored, as surfing is not merely conducted in nature, but with nature, and the experience of surfing is formed partly because of the elements that one is engaging with. Types of weather, the moon, the wind, the tide and countless other natural circumstances, such as the dependency of waves and forecasting are all deemed important to understand for surfers in Scheveningen and often become part of the everyday life of surfing enthusiasts. I moreover examine concepts such as experience, forming of identity, and the importance of stoke through comparing my own research with the academic discourse surrounding culture and surfing. The documentary film provides audiovisual means to help understand the experience of different surfing conditions that can occur within Scheveningen through the following of four participants, the researcher herself included. It portrays various people experiencing different kinds of stoke through both surfing and surf-related activities. Through both observational, participatory and sensorial aspects, the documentary-film is created to compliment the written thesis. The key finding of this research is that the aforementioned uncertainty and never-ending search for the ever-changing perfect wave has an impact on the mindset of surfing enthusiasts in and around Scheveningen, creating higher levels of stoke, causing them to continue surfing on a daily basis, whether through surfing or by preparing for the next swell.Show less
Master thesis | Cultural Anthropology and Development Sociology (MSc)
open access
By advertising nature based recreation, companies associated with the winter sport industry are inherently reliant on reinscribing a dualistic nature/culture opposition. While nature is advertised...Show moreBy advertising nature based recreation, companies associated with the winter sport industry are inherently reliant on reinscribing a dualistic nature/culture opposition. While nature is advertised as something ‘out there’, the practise of nature based recreation, offered by skiing resorts, is excessed in fully regulated human made spaces. By turning an infrastructural lens on the high alpine region, the practical ontologies of human and nonhuman co-creation are examined. While the practise of nature based recreation has positive effects on the environmental attitudes of practitioners, the ecological irony of winter sports tourism is stretched. By employing the techniques of audiovisual research and infrastructural inversion as analytical strategies, the hidden workings of regional infrastructures are explored. By analysing infrastructural changes within and outside the skiing resort Kitzsteinhorn (AT) a correlation between infrastructural arrangements and environmental attitudes was examined. This is a multimodal thesis submitted in the course of the Master Specialisation in Visual Ethnography at the faculty of Cultural Anthropology and Development Sociology of Leiden University. Its results are presented in the form of this written thesis and an ethnographic short-film Surfing Frozen Oceans (26 min.)Show less
