Bachelor thesis | Cultural Anthropology and Development Sociology (BSc)
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This thesis examines Korean diasporic identities in Japan, focusing on language's role in identity negotiations within a post-colonial context. Through investigating present day Zainichi Koreans'...Show moreThis thesis examines Korean diasporic identities in Japan, focusing on language's role in identity negotiations within a post-colonial context. Through investigating present day Zainichi Koreans' identity-making, I demonstrate their journeys in navigating the empowering and discriminating role of language.Show less
Magic has been a much-debated topic over the last centuries. This thesis discusses the disappearance and return of magic in academic discourse and evaluates it through a theoretical framework for...Show moreMagic has been a much-debated topic over the last centuries. This thesis discusses the disappearance and return of magic in academic discourse and evaluates it through a theoretical framework for scientific inquiry. Finally, it aims to evaluate the use of magic as an interpretative theme in archaeology. The late 19th and early 20th centuries saw many new theories and approaches to the subject. Influential anthropologists and sociologists released theories that were mainly based on evolutionist ideals. The rejection of these ideals, the problematic classification of witchcraft, sorcery and magic, and its adoption in modern media contributed to the disappearance of magic in academic discourse. In archaeology, these changes can be seen by studying Palaeolithic art. The return can be seen from 1990 to 2010 by its adoption in more archaeological research. These studies primarily focussed on the Mediterranean and failed to incorporate materiality fully. The full return of magic can be observed in the 2010s when publications specifically focused on the materiality of magic over a larger geographical and cultural area. This return resulted from a paradigm shift in anthropology where magic was now studied from a magical Worldview or consciousness instead of a rational Western worldview. An increase in material culture studies with the adoption of object agency and recognising the marginalisation of magic also contributed to the return. Object agency also contributed significantly to recognising the importance of portable artefacts in Palaeolithic art. The rise of material culture studies, its adoption of Latour’s Actor-Network Theory, and the shift in anthropology can be explained as two paradigm shifts vital for the return of magic in academic discourse. Magic can serve as a quality of practices and materials that can highlight certain features of materiality, potency, and verbal or ritual performance that would otherwise have gone unnoticed. Magic is a tool to understand ancient practices and materials better. Archaeology has much to contribute to studying magic through material studies and archaeological contextsShow less
Bachelor thesis | Cultural Anthropology and Development Sociology (BSc)
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This thesis takes a look at colourblindness, a phenomenon that is often heralded as being one solution for racism and, by specifically focusing on colourblindness in everyday formal and informal...Show moreThis thesis takes a look at colourblindness, a phenomenon that is often heralded as being one solution for racism and, by specifically focusing on colourblindness in everyday formal and informal talk, looks at how colourblindness guarantees the unhindered continued existence of structural racism. The thesis also takes a closer look at the effects of colourblindness on different social actors.Show less
Master thesis | Cultural Anthropology and Development Sociology (MSc)
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Bonaire became part of the Netherlands as a special municipality on the 10th of October 2010. Since this institutional change, Bonaire has experienced an influx of Dutch immigrants, leading to...Show moreBonaire became part of the Netherlands as a special municipality on the 10th of October 2010. Since this institutional change, Bonaire has experienced an influx of Dutch immigrants, leading to significant transformations on the island which has sparked debates about the loss of Bonairian authenticity. This thesis explores these cultural differences through the concept of acoustemology, as proposed by Steven Feld. The perception of noise and sound is culturally dependent. This division between noise and sound contains a hierarchy of sounds, that is parallel to the hierarchy in the dominant meaning-making process that comes from a European Dutch hegemony on the island. What is considered noise on Bonaire is shaped through a Western lens. This implies that immigrants who relocate to Bonaire unknowingly bring their cultural perspectives on noise and sound with them. However, they do this unknowingly, which is the result of what Gloria Wekker calls white innocence. Drawing on two months of fieldwork, this research explains these connections through the lived experiences of several Bonairian Locals. Their realities from the base of the practice of soundscaping that is used to illustrate how perspectives on sound may differ between cultures. These soundscapes were placed on a map to contextualise Bonaire as an interconnected space. The research adopts a multimodal approach in another way, featuring an ethnographic film that highlights the issues faced by local participants and explores the evolving relationship between them and the European Dutch researcher, employing visual ethnographic methods. The study employs self-reflexivity to analyse this dynamic. The argument made is that an understanding of the local Bonairian lived experience can be obtained through the lens of analysing sound and this understanding is essential in the building of relationships between Bonairian locals and Dutch immigrants.Show less
Thinking of ‘crises’ in antique Christianity, one generally thinks of impactful and violent events like the East-West Schism at the beginning of the first millennium, the Donatist schism in the...Show moreThinking of ‘crises’ in antique Christianity, one generally thinks of impactful and violent events like the East-West Schism at the beginning of the first millennium, the Donatist schism in the fourth century, or the Diocletian persecutions from 303 to 313. However, ‘crisis’ did not start there, as historical crises can be traced back to the very beginning of Christianity. At the turn of the first century, a certain bishop in Asia Minor wrote letters revealing of this turbulent start of a new religion. When literally being escorted to his martyr’s death (how turbulent do you want it), Ignatius of Antioch wrote several letters to communities of Christ believers. He shows a surprisingly independent, stylistically quite idiosyncratic and rhetorically brilliant voice on central issues, concerning the ‘humanity’ of Christ and his believers, which renders him indispensable for any analysis of the early Christian crises of his time. Writing right after the first generation of believers, he is in dialogue with apostolic heritage. He explicitly refers to Paul, offering insight into the mechanics of historical development, which involves debate and, as you will, ‘crisis’. This thesis takes Ignatius’ testimony to give meaning to the historical crises of the time.Show less
Research master thesis | Archaeology (research) (MA/MSc)
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In the Sicilian maritime town of Acitrezza, the tangible cultural and intangible heritage in the Rodolico’s shipyard has been unrecognised over the past years and rarely promoted as part of...Show moreIn the Sicilian maritime town of Acitrezza, the tangible cultural and intangible heritage in the Rodolico’s shipyard has been unrecognised over the past years and rarely promoted as part of cultural or economic-oriented activities of the area. For a long time, approaches to cultural heritage in Acitrezza have only celebrated the Verga’s greatest masterpiece, I Malavoglia, and the local protected marine area, characterised by the presence of the Faraglioni basaltic rocks. The protracted indifference of the local authority toward the shipyard combined with internal family dynamics seems to condemn this genius loci to oblivion. People believe this misrecognition leads to ignoring a sense of local identity made up of “marine carpentry affairs” and centuries-old tangible and intangible heritage practices that might be meaningful to the local community. This thesis employs a collaborative methodology called Participatory Video (PV) to investigate an alternative past for the town of Acitrezza, possibly incorporating the shipyard and shipwrights into a new local heritage policy and strategy. Two different approaches, underpinning two cases studies, characterise this methodology: the postcolonial author approach, which consists of an equal and peer-to-peer relationship between researchers and informants to create videos about tangible and intangible heritage, and the author as “a fly in the soup” approach, which enables informants to create their own personal and community narrative-commentary about private photographs of Acitrezza (and more!). Through the collaborative video-creation process, the thesis demonstrates that the PV methodology can be suitable for collaboration with people when dealing with local issues.Show less
Humans have been modifying landscapes in the southwestern Amazon for 10 000 years. Yet this modification did not comprise the intensive horticultural activities generally defined as ‘agriculture’...Show moreHumans have been modifying landscapes in the southwestern Amazon for 10 000 years. Yet this modification did not comprise the intensive horticultural activities generally defined as ‘agriculture’ within archaeological discourses. Instead of pursuing plant species’ domestication, local communities prioritised mixed-resource economies, in situ cultivation, and intentional biodiversity. These subtle but complex practices left a marked footprint on Amazonian soils, tree distributions, and biodiversity patterns. This thesis brings together palaeoenvironmental evidence of this footprint, to paint a picture of how humans managed landscapes in southwest Amazonia in the early and middle Holocene. It then approaches this ecological and archaeological data using anthropological theory and ethnographic evidence; these disciplines can (a) clarify the visibility of human-plant interactions in the eco-archaeological record, and (b) aid in interpreting what this record signifies about past lifeways. This transdisciplinary approach acknowledges the importance of considering cosmology when studying human-plant interactions, and how they can manifest materially. Human-nonhuman reciprocity is a prominent principle in many contemporary Amazonian ontologies, and is used in this thesis as a central paradigm for studying human ecological manipulations through time. Where conventional archaeological models of agriculture emphasise the central role of landscape domestication, the evidence from southwest Amazonia indicates that human horticultural activities comprised a process of active landscape co-creation. This thesis thus emphasises the need to rethink how we study human-plant interactions in archaeology, with critical implications for how we understand ‘agriculture’ as a whole – in Amazonia and elsewhere.Show less
Research master thesis | Asian Studies (research) (MA)
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This thesis investigates different notions of space and the role they played in processes of colonization and religious conversion in Eastern Indonesia at the beginning of the 19th century....Show moreThis thesis investigates different notions of space and the role they played in processes of colonization and religious conversion in Eastern Indonesia at the beginning of the 19th century. Specifically, it focusses on the 1824 trip of the Dourga which re-instated political and religious ties between the Dutch administration in Ambon and the various island societies in the region. It proposes to treat space as medium of cultural exchange.Show less
To the minds of many commentators, there appears to exist tantalising similarities embedded in the philosophy of Immanuel Kant and Ludwig Wittgenstein, waiting to be clarified. However, continued...Show moreTo the minds of many commentators, there appears to exist tantalising similarities embedded in the philosophy of Immanuel Kant and Ludwig Wittgenstein, waiting to be clarified. However, continued disagreement as to how these similarities are to be articulated, and consequently quite what they should amount to, has led some to suspect such musings to be a sophistical mirage. Additionally, further complicating their comparison is also the interpretive disagreements that have persisted in relation to the writings of both philosophers, respectively. Nevertheless, both figures are undoubtedly responsible for framing large swathes of modern philosophical thought – perhaps none more so than Kant in the course of his Critique of Pure Reason. As Putnam attests, “almost all the problems of philosophy attain the form in which they are of real interest only with the work of Kant.”1 Despite this accolade however, it can be stated with only the odd contrarian objection that in their respective attempts to establish Transcendental Idealism in the course of the Critique, and Logical Atomism through the Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus, that both Kant’s and Wittgenstein’s doctrines constitute technical failures. That being said, both figures also sought to change our fundamental understanding of the task of philosophy, and in this sense, their works should remain valuable points of reference in the continuing discourse on meta-philosophy. Hence, it is here considered in what sense this latter perspective of them has been retained in the contemporary reflections upon either philosopher.Show less
The author explores the motives of Chinese parents to send their children to Waldorf school and how those change over time. Through the grounded theory analysis of field work data, the author...Show moreThe author explores the motives of Chinese parents to send their children to Waldorf school and how those change over time. Through the grounded theory analysis of field work data, the author concludes that there is a multitude of motives to make the initial decision for Waldorf. Being a Waldorf parent, however, is characterized by worrying much about whether the decision is still right and how to improve the childrens' education.Show less
Master thesis | Theology and Religious Studies (Master)
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The thesis looks into the usefulness of using the concept 'catholic bias' as opposed to 'protestant bias'. This was done by examining the Catholic background of two anthropologists. It argues that...Show moreThe thesis looks into the usefulness of using the concept 'catholic bias' as opposed to 'protestant bias'. This was done by examining the Catholic background of two anthropologists. It argues that the Catholic background had an important influence on their anthropological work, which makes the concept of 'Catholic bias' interesting for further research. It further argues a positive contribution of religious backgrounds, or bias, as a source of inspiration and unique understanding.Show less
The displaced looks back at the place he/she left when entering in a new place. In this thesis, I will invite you to move into a space-time without the need to take a plane, not even the bus. I...Show moreThe displaced looks back at the place he/she left when entering in a new place. In this thesis, I will invite you to move into a space-time without the need to take a plane, not even the bus. I will take you for a walk into the ‘androgynous’ that questions the collective representations of gender based on sexuality. In anthropological terms, gender points out the presence of a culturally constructed difference between male and female. More than this, the differences point out a dichotomy between two symbols shaped by the meanings of feminine and masculine principles. The concept of androgynous is the absence of this construction not so much in bodily attributes but more into the psychological domain. Hence, androgyny can offer a third space, proposed for the intersection of multiple spaces instead of binary categories. The implications of such understanding can reshape the relationships between the political, the economic and the historical away from the presupposed hierarchy of genders, and thus empower subjects of marginalization.Show less
The thesis studies the Angolan novel Os Papéis do Inglês (2000), by Ruy Duarte de Carvalho. The approach to the novel will consider that the hybridity of the postcolonial space is transformed into...Show moreThe thesis studies the Angolan novel Os Papéis do Inglês (2000), by Ruy Duarte de Carvalho. The approach to the novel will consider that the hybridity of the postcolonial space is transformed into structural element and method of constructing the narrative. This hybridism is present in different levels: in the construction of characters, in narrator’s voice, in the styles and genre of the writings. It is a result mainly of the overlap of elements which are normally seen as opposites, like Fiction and History, Literature and Science. By bringing such elements together, Ruy Duarte deconstructs central ideas and categories of the Western thought and draws attention to different forms of seeing and understanding the world. This work will study two conceptual deconstructions that can be found in the novel: first the ideas which distinguish literature and scientific writings, mainly regarding the realm of anthropology and ethnography, showing how those polarities are entangled in the postcolonial universe; and in second place the concept of a linear chronological time, focusing on the idea of spectral presences and hauntings which disrupt the borders between past and present. Lastly, I will consider how those deconstructions work in the context of the Angolan literary project, as to assess how the book engages in a literary debate regarding the ideas of nation and identity, so important in the context of postcolonial states. Therefore, by subverting some paradigms of European thought, Ruy Duarte seems to be proposing alternative ways in which the Western world can relate to non-western areas.Show less
There are only a few other things in this world that can bring as much wonder and amazement to our way of life than tourism. Not only can tourism broaden the perspective of travellers, but it also...Show moreThere are only a few other things in this world that can bring as much wonder and amazement to our way of life than tourism. Not only can tourism broaden the perspective of travellers, but it also helps contribute to the economy of many countries that may otherwise struggle in financially tough times. Yet, still, despite all the benefits, travellers, visitors, and tourists (TV&T) do take a toll on our common global heritage. Thus, the purpose of this qualitative type thesis is to uncover certain negative physical and social impacts of tourism on heritage sites around the world and on various ethnic groups and/or Indigenous Peoples. The research for this thesis led to the discovery that heritage sites have been either directly or indirectly negatively impacted by TV&T and/or the greater tourism industry in many ways. The physical impacts were found to be in the forms of TV&T producing vandalising graffiti and erosion caused by their movements, their impact on the microclimate of caves containing ancient wall art, touching or keeping pieces of cultural heritage artefacts and the greater tourism industry initiating the placement of both temporary and permanent forms of construction. It was also discovered that TV&T and/or the greater tourism industry has caused various negative social impacts on the perceived sense of sanctity of various heritage sites and to the Indigenous Peoples living among them in the forms of ‘Naked Tourism’ and overcrowding at Machu Picchu and the city of Venice, Italy. Lastly, an exploration into the social impact of the commodification of Indigenous Peoples by the greater tourism industry led to the realisation that this can and has led to the exploitation of many of these peoples and the change in the significance of many of their cultural materials.Show less
This thesis re-views Jack Kerouac's "On The Road" through the cultural-anthropological lens of "liminality" in order to understand the novel's endurance as well as its contemporary reflection of a...Show moreThis thesis re-views Jack Kerouac's "On The Road" through the cultural-anthropological lens of "liminality" in order to understand the novel's endurance as well as its contemporary reflection of a generation in limbo. This thesis contends that the liminal characteristics and rituals studied by Arnold van Gennep and Victor Turner in small-scale African communities can be modernized and applied to such ritualistic phenomena as road travel in Kerouac's novel, which utilizes the anonymity of the American highway as a liminal space that allows freedom of self-definition. Such a reading returns "On the Road" to its contemporary socio-political landscape and makes it clear that the novel depicts not a subversive countercultural movement, but that it is actually part of a private ritual of passage that eschews the mainstream culture only on a temporary and minimal basis. By way of the liminal phase, the narrator appropriates characteristics of the socially and ethnically marginal while reproducing and reinforcing the values of the mainstream (white) culture against these marginal people.Show less
