As terrorist attacks have intensified in the last decade, researchers have increasingly sought to understand terrorism from the perspective of past perpetrators. This thesis discusses the Boston...Show moreAs terrorist attacks have intensified in the last decade, researchers have increasingly sought to understand terrorism from the perspective of past perpetrators. This thesis discusses the Boston Marathon attack committed by the brothers Dzhokhar and Tamerlan Tsarnaev. Placing Dzhokhar Tsarnaev as the object of study, the current research aims to apply Functionalism Theory to explore events in his life prior to the attack, and consider whether how these may have affected his decision to commit a terrorist attack. Thematic analysis was conducted on a range of open sources, focusing specifically on court documents from Tsarnaev’s 2014/2015 and 2021/2022 trials. Several themes emerged, which indicated that in the case of Dzhokhar, his life prior to the attack firmly affected his decision-making. Specifically, the strong influence of Tamerlan over him, Dzhokhar’s double life and the anger towards the West.Show less
The film Cría Cuervos, produced by Spanish director Carlos Saura in 1975 and screened for the first time in January 1976 in Madrid, combines a narrative as well as allegorical meaning and this...Show moreThe film Cría Cuervos, produced by Spanish director Carlos Saura in 1975 and screened for the first time in January 1976 in Madrid, combines a narrative as well as allegorical meaning and this constitutes the reason for choosing this specific film as a topic for the following thesis. The film is not only situated in-between the classical and the art film narrative but furthermore it marks the transitional crossroad at which Spain was at that moment: namely, the end of the Franco regime and the beginning of a democratic Spain. Because of the unique moment of production of Cría Cuervos it is so interesting to investigate the political as well as non-political idea behind the film. Questions such as how the film makes use of both, traits of the classical and modern art film cinema narrative and consequently if the film should be read as a classical or modern art film after all will be addressed. Furthermore, the thesis investigates whether Cría Cuervos can be rather understood as a mode of reading. Therefore, it will be analyzed as an allegory in comparison to the narrative analysis.Show less
In the historiography about education for Indonesian children in the Netherlands Indies, a legislative approach predominates. This causes a disregard for non-governmental educational initiatives,...Show moreIn the historiography about education for Indonesian children in the Netherlands Indies, a legislative approach predominates. This causes a disregard for non-governmental educational initiatives, and for those that that occurred outside Java. In this thesis, through in-dept analysis of schools in Java, the Minahasa and South New Guinea, educational ideologies and practices are researched while focusing on the question of how, and why, native childhoods were constructed in these contexts. 'Age' is a leading category of analysis here. This thesis shows that educational projects were not about 'uplifiting' children in the sense of social mobility. On the contrary, educators aimed at maintaining social hierarchies. This conclusion opens up space for a revision of the meaning of the Dutch 'civilizing mission' in the Netherlands Indies.Show less
