Master thesis | Cultural Anthropology and Development Sociology (MSc)
open access
Indonesia is one of the countries vulnerable to the impact of climate change due to its geography. Climate change has threatened the agriculture industry and the country’s ability for food security...Show moreIndonesia is one of the countries vulnerable to the impact of climate change due to its geography. Climate change has threatened the agriculture industry and the country’s ability for food security which can be a severe problem in the future. However, there are problems with how the government of Indonesia is trying to manage the impact of climate change on agriculture, especially on rice paddy farming, due to the impacts of the past neo-liberal policy (the green revolution) and challenges within the political reformation after the downfall of the Soeharto regime. In this thesis, I am trying to explore the implications and the causes of agricultural and climate issues management problems in Indramayu, Indonesia, by utilizing Aryo Danusiri’s (2018) visual methods of menjaring (trawling) and berburu (hunting). In understanding the implications, I was using the trawling method where I argue that climate change and agricultural management problems in Indonesia are creating a precarious situation for the rice paddy farmers, in line with Anna Tsing’s (2015: 20) statement of precarity being the condition of our time. Lastly, I was using the hunting method where I found out that ‘sectoral ego’ problems within the government and aggressive neo-liberal politics as one of the major causes.Show less
Master thesis | Cultural Anthropology and Development Sociology (MSc)
open access
Together with the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic, something else started spreading just as fast as the novel coronavirus: misinformation and disinformation. An infodemic was born, and groups...Show moreTogether with the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic, something else started spreading just as fast as the novel coronavirus: misinformation and disinformation. An infodemic was born, and groups and pages focused on Covid-19 related conspiracy theories started popping up all over the internet. In this digital ethnography, I examine the online community of Dutch-speaking truth seekers, who claim that the corona restrictions are a first step towards a dystopian, global, totalitarian regime. The resulting thesis consists of an ethnographic video essay and a written text. Through the combination of a reflexive voiceover, screen recordings, interview fragments, found footage and screenshots, the film explores both the thoughts and experiences of my research participants being part of this community, as well as those of me doing this research. Focusing on the themes of truth, community and freedom, the written part examines the individual and social dynamics behind the rapid growth of this community. My findings are in line with earlier research on conspiracy belief and suggest that the appeal of the Dutch-speaking truth seeker community is threefold. It answers a desire to reduce the complexity of a chaotic reality, it provides social support in a world where many experience a lack of a sense of community, and it gives a sense of control in uncertain times.Show less
Master thesis | Cultural Anthropology and Development Sociology (MSc)
open access
Throughout the last 50 years the Spanish countryside has emptied due to the rural migration from villages to main industrial cities such as Madrid, Bilbao or Barcelona. Now, after decades of...Show moreThroughout the last 50 years the Spanish countryside has emptied due to the rural migration from villages to main industrial cities such as Madrid, Bilbao or Barcelona. Now, after decades of demographic decline, depopulation has become central in public and academic debate about rural development. This growing concern of emptying villages has raised questions about the precarious life and the sense of threat to people who live in these spaces and who are exposed to a loss of services and stable livelihood. This research is an ethnographic analysis of locals’ perspective living in the depopulated village of Yanguas, in Tierras Altas in the province of Soria, the most depopulated area in Spain. Departing from the concept of precarity within global capitalism I will focus on how people of Yanguas sustain a livelihood and how they perceive the village’s livability, while addressing the future perspective of development based on infrastructure creation. The findings in this research suggest that the struggles some people experienced while living in a depopulated village were not derived strictly from the fact that they live in a small community. On the contrary, the experience of depopulation, rather than being the source of precarity, was very often a symptom of other large-scale issues and social changes such as industrialization, delocalization, and patterns of social mobility and migration. This thesis combines audiovisual and text, and the outcome is this article and a film.Show less
