This paper explores why Hinduism acts as a source of empowerment for Hindu Surinamese women in The Netherlands following Sanātan Dharm to answer the research question: ‘Why does Hinduism act as a...Show moreThis paper explores why Hinduism acts as a source of empowerment for Hindu Surinamese women in The Netherlands following Sanātan Dharm to answer the research question: ‘Why does Hinduism act as a source of empowerment for Surinamese Hindu women in the Netherlands?’ Currently it is unknown how empowered Surinamese Hindu women pursue Hinduism in The Netherlands. This research investigates the cultural and religious aspects of Hinduism they implement to their lives, why Hinduism acts as a source of empowerment for Hindu Surinamese women, how they combine their Hindu lifestyle with the Western society and how they convey Hinduism. For this, interviews were conducted with twenty women. The outcome was that most respondents express themselves by implementing life lessons from the Bhagavad Gitā. Negative aspects of Hinduism are linked to the marginalization of lower caste and women, who believe everyone should be treated equally. The results indicate that all Hindus define Hinduism not only as a way of life but also connect Hinduism to various concepts such as dharma, arth, kām, moksh and more. Some respondents are vegetarian or do vrat once a week or on religious festivities. They mostly join and celebrate religious festivities. In difficult situations, Hinduism provides guidance, and various deities, such as Durgā Mā, Kāli Mā, Pārvati Mā, Sarasvati Mā, Lakshmi Mā, and Santoshi Mā, are a source of empowerment. Hinduism also brings family together with its culture and religion and provides solace in difficult situations. Although a part of the respondents think that Hinduism is marginalizing women, we can conclude that the positive influence of Hinduism to the extent that it empowers them outweighs this negative aspect. Besides empowerment Hinduism is linked to many more values, such as energy, love, confidence, and peace.Show less
Academics are concerned about declining political participation among the youth in established democracies and for a good reason. In recent years, declining voter turnout of citizens under the age...Show moreAcademics are concerned about declining political participation among the youth in established democracies and for a good reason. In recent years, declining voter turnout of citizens under the age of 29 has demonstrated the youth's indifference towards politics. There are several contradicting theories on why this phenomenon takes place. However, we can roughly distinguish two views: On the one side, academics condemn youth for having no political interest or knowledge and thus label the youth as 'apathetic.' Alternatively, some scholars agree that growing levels of education and income have resulted in young people acquiring more political understanding. As a result, the youth has managed to apply this newfound knowledge and employ alternative ways of political participation. Similar theories about youth participation and apathy exist in the world's largest existing democracy, India. However, considerably less research has been conducted on alternative trends of youth participation in this 'non-Western' region. To raise awareness of this issue, this thesis will contribute to the existing literature by establishing a pattern of youth political participation in the Indian state of Kerala. This research will show that a unique combination of exceptional socio-economic standards and traditional Indian values has produced a unique pattern of political participation, invalidating the theory of youth apathy.Show less
Research master thesis | Asian Studies (research) (MA)
open access
In the midst of the 2019 UK general election, a story broke that an affiliate of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), India’s ruling Hindu nationalist party, was openly campaigning for Conservative...Show moreIn the midst of the 2019 UK general election, a story broke that an affiliate of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), India’s ruling Hindu nationalist party, was openly campaigning for Conservative Party candidates in forty-eight marginal constituencies. The ideology of the BJP and its affiliates in the Sangh Parivar, Hindutva, has often been treated by scholars as a siloed entity that only affects India and the Indian or Hindu diaspora. Instead, this paper argues that Hindutva has become a transnational, right-wing populist vernacular that is grounded in the UK as a local political discourse through the principal Hindu nationalist organisational network, the Sangh Parivar. So, this paper asks; How has the organization and discourse of the Sangh Parivar vernacularised in the UK and affected the discourse of British politicians? Events such as Modi’s 2014 ascent to power and Brexit (2016) in the UK have facilitated the move of right-wing populist repertoires into the mainstream. This shift simultaneously enables the Sangh Parivar and Hindu nationalists’ growing confidence and organisational visibility. Thus, this paper updates previous scholarship's mapping of the multifarious network of the UK Sangh Parivar, highlighting the importance of identifying the component organisations of the Sangh Parivar to understand the discourse of global Hindutva. Moreover, this paper highlights how right-wing populist and far-right discourses intersect with Hindutva discourses in the UK. Right-wing, far-right and Hindutva discourses are networked in online spaces, such as social media platforms, where the difference between national and international discourses is often blurred. Finally, this paper argues that the activities of the Sangh Parivar have also affected the parliamentary discourse of British MPs. This effect shows the broader impact of Sangh Parivar discourses in the UK, and on other Hindu organisations that seek to represent British-Hindus and Indians. Thus, contrary to what previous research has assumed, the Sangh UK is political. Importantly, the Sangh Parivar UK has also contributed to the development of global Sangh organisations and collaborations. As such, the Sangh Parivar is a multi-polar, multi-directional and diffuse network of organisations that non-Sangh organisations and individuals, such as British-Hindu umbrella groups and parliamentarians, become entwined with. This can best be understood as ‘Sangh International.Show less
Bachelor thesis | South and Southeast Asian Studies (BA)
closed access
According to the 2001 Census, almost half of all persons with disabilities are literate and visually disabled. It is when seeing this relatively large number I wondered if visually impaired...Show moreAccording to the 2001 Census, almost half of all persons with disabilities are literate and visually disabled. It is when seeing this relatively large number I wondered if visually impaired children from poverty get an equal chance at education in India. The reason chosen for this subject is empathy and personal interest. I work at Voorall, a foundation in The Hague that stands up for the interests of disabled people. Children are the future of the world and education is something that should be invested in because knowledge is relevant for one’s development. Empowerment of visually disabled people from a poor environment is of great importance, because all children deserve a fair and equal chance in education. This makes it essential that education should be inclusive. Firstly, the methodology will be explained. For this research it was important to do both desk research as well as qualitative research. For the desk research primary as well as secondary sources have been used. The qualitative research has been done in the form of a questionnaire with 9 visually impaired students from India that are from a poor background. The hypothesis is that although the government, NGO’s and institutions are involved in inclusive education, visually challenged school children from poverty have less chance on a good education. Therefore, the main question for this thesis is: How can a fear chance at education also be given to visually challenged students from poverty? Besides the fact that this question will be theoretically approached, I will also give advice with help of the read theories. Some questions need to be answered to form the right advice for the main question. Hence, the sub questions are: What are the policies on inclusiveness and disability by the state?, Which parties and NGO’s are involved in getting poor students an education?, How do schools approach a visual impairment?, How can the state of India and NGO’s realize inclusivity in education amongst the visually challenged underprivileged? and How do visually impaired students experience inclusive education?. For the latter the results of the questionnaire are most useful. In the conclusion a piece of advice will be given on how India can improve inclusive education based on the results of the research questions and questionnaire.Show less
How did the distinct cultural, ethnic, and linguistic groups, who originated from valleys separated by natural barriers, and their cultural traditions, become one 'homogenous' constitutional monarchy?
The national celebration 400 jaar VOC marked the 400 year anniversary of the foundation of the Dutch United East India Company (VOC) in 2002. This thesis investigates how the meaning of the VOC...Show moreThe national celebration 400 jaar VOC marked the 400 year anniversary of the foundation of the Dutch United East India Company (VOC) in 2002. This thesis investigates how the meaning of the VOC is fixed through notions of past, present and future, as well as the continuity between these moments, in three exhibitions that took place in the context of the celebration: De Kleurrijke Wereld van de VOC (The Colourful World of the VOC) at the Scheepvaartmuseum (Maritime museum) in Amsterdam; Upstream, with specifically the work of artist Shilpa Gupta (Mumbai, b. 1976) in Amsterdam and Mumbai; and Dutch Masters from Indian Collections, an initiative of the Royal Netherlands Embassy, on view in Mumbai. I trace the positions of these exhibitions within the celebration, and, following Michel Foucault’s power-knowledge and Gloria Wekker’s application of Edward Said’s term of the cultural archive to the Dutch context, employ a discourse analysis. I argue that what is absent from the accounts of relations between past, present and future of the VOC in the three exhibitions, except for Gupta’s statements, is the idea that 400 jaar VOC also means 400 years of Dutch colonialism, which influence dominant meaning-making processes in Dutch society today. The recognition of colonialism as structure of thinking forming a relationship between past, present and future is equivalently lacking in statements criticizing postcolonial theory today in the Netherlands.Show less
Abstract: From the start, international community has been particularly attaching importance to China-Pakistan Economic Corridor(Urdu: چین-پاک اقتصادی راہداری), a flagship project of the “One Belt...Show moreAbstract: From the start, international community has been particularly attaching importance to China-Pakistan Economic Corridor(Urdu: چین-پاک اقتصادی راہداری), a flagship project of the “One Belt One Road ’’Initiative. As a vital part of CPEC, Pakistan plays a momentous role whose attitudes are worthy to be delved. According to the exploration of Pakistani official websites, think tank, individuals, media,academic circle and network forums, attitudes toward CPEC can be divided into active support, discreet neutrality and vigilant opposition. Authority,individuals and main think tank call for a wholehearted backing for the great significance of CPEC to Pakistan while English and Urdu media and academic area carefully maintain neutrality and some of the Pakistani network forums perceive CPEC to be futile. China should be answerable to the situation mentioned above by taking effective steps of deepening all-round cooperation, promoting China-Pakistan media communication, refuting false statements etc.Show less
In the wake of The Supreme Court of India's decision to decriminalise homosexuality, this paper studies how British colonialism structured the perceptions and representations of same-sex intimacies...Show moreIn the wake of The Supreme Court of India's decision to decriminalise homosexuality, this paper studies how British colonialism structured the perceptions and representations of same-sex intimacies and sexual fluidity in India. Combining discourse analysis and historiographical approaches, this paper focuses on various aspects of Indian history and society, from the many examples of homo-eroticism in Indo-Muslim literature and Indian religious traditions to the medicalisation of sexuality and the internalisation of British ideals of masculinity and sexuality in the discourse around same-sex intimacies, as well as the parallels between this and the modern Hindutva movement.Show less
The thesis is an attempt to trace back the origin of the satī ritual (which consists of the self-immolation of widows on their husbans' funeral pyre) to the myth involving the goddess Satī, Dakṣa's...Show moreThe thesis is an attempt to trace back the origin of the satī ritual (which consists of the self-immolation of widows on their husbans' funeral pyre) to the myth involving the goddess Satī, Dakṣa's daughter, who immolated herself in the in the fire during Dakṣa's sacrifice, to which Satī and her husband Śiva had not been invited. She thus burns herself out of her rage towards her father, for not being invited and for not accepting Śiva as her husband. The link between the ritual and the myth is hypothetically found in the myth involving the goddess Saṃdhyā, the first goddess created by Brahmā (according to some versions of the myth of creation), who committed self-suicide by burning herself in the fire.Show less
The diverse and intense usage of the Ganga has caused a big pollution problem to the river. Because the local communities interact with the river on a daily basis, they should be able to reduce the...Show moreThe diverse and intense usage of the Ganga has caused a big pollution problem to the river. Because the local communities interact with the river on a daily basis, they should be able to reduce the pollution.Show less
Bachelor thesis | South and Southeast Asian Studies (BA)
closed access
In 1857 a group of Indian soldiers in the British army, the sepoys, rebelled against the British which started a revolt in different parts of British-India. Many historians claim that nationalism...Show moreIn 1857 a group of Indian soldiers in the British army, the sepoys, rebelled against the British which started a revolt in different parts of British-India. Many historians claim that nationalism was the cause of this ‘Sepoy Mutiny'. This research looks at the events and causes of this revolt to find out if nationalism was the cause.Show less
