This paper engages in the debate on the banning of the burkini in coastal resorts in France in 2016. It uses this case study to assess whether there has been a change in attitudes towards Muslim...Show moreThis paper engages in the debate on the banning of the burkini in coastal resorts in France in 2016. It uses this case study to assess whether there has been a change in attitudes towards Muslim women in the country. The findings suggest that whilst perceptions remain similar there is now more open opposition towards women wearing Islamic veils. The history of France’s relationship with Islam, especially in regards to women, is used to put into perspective the 2016 bans. The differences between these prohibitions in comparison to previous laws regarding Islamic veils in France, but also the underlying similarities are analysed. Furthermore, the case study of France will be expanded EU-wide and will deliberate on the future of such restrictions to female Muslim dress.Show less
This thesis describes the evolution of the characters of Guinevere and Morgan le Fay throughout Arthurian literature in the Middle Ages and the twentieth century, and analyses how Guinevere and...Show moreThis thesis describes the evolution of the characters of Guinevere and Morgan le Fay throughout Arthurian literature in the Middle Ages and the twentieth century, and analyses how Guinevere and Morgan le Fay are depicted in the television series "Merlin" and "Camelot", comparing the shows' versions to their counterparts from medieval and modern times and elaborating on how they fit into the contemporary trend of portraying "strong females characters" in modern fantasy.Show less
In the late sixties and early seventies the myths of motherhood, the stereotypical ‘eternal feminine’ and a caricutural or dismissive understanding of women’s physiology were elements of an...Show moreIn the late sixties and early seventies the myths of motherhood, the stereotypical ‘eternal feminine’ and a caricutural or dismissive understanding of women’s physiology were elements of an underlying ideology which hampered the achievement of full equality for women. This thesis investigates the subversive nature of these myths in a literary analysis of three dystopian novels by women authors published in this period. It also draws on the key ideas of major women theorists central to feminism’s ‘second wave’. Examining the dystopias of Angela Carter’s Heroes and Villains (1969), Pamela Kettle’s The Day of the Women (1969) and Emma Tennant’s The Time of the Crack (1973), I argue that that the possibilities open to the female characters to (re)claim their womanhood are not only undermined by their inability to recognize the deceptive facets of the myths of femininity fabricated in patriarchal societies, but also by their own unwillingness to renounce the dubious privileges that these myths bestow on the stereotypical female.Show less
Master thesis | Theology and Religious Studies (Master)
open access
This MA-thesis deals with a highly fascinating topic in the domains of religious, literary, and cultural history. It is ambitious in its attempt to approach the topic of marriage and divorce in the...Show moreThis MA-thesis deals with a highly fascinating topic in the domains of religious, literary, and cultural history. It is ambitious in its attempt to approach the topic of marriage and divorce in the fin de siècle from the perspective of contemporary fiction in close alliance with religious and social dimensions of the issues. Given the fact that, as far as the topic of marriage and divorce goes, religion is quite understudied in literary research, this is an effort to bring these disciplines together in one thesis. Central to the thesis is the work of the prominent Dutch feminist Cecile de Jong van Beek en Donk who underwent a radical change from feminism to orthodox Catholicism. Whereas the first novel discussed in this thesis (Hilda van Suylenburg, 1897) has been the object of literary and feminist studies, the second novel (Bij de waskaarsen, 1929/30), stemming from the novelists’ Catholic phase of life, has been largely neglected up till today. To discuss these two interesting novels together is quite an original aspect of this thesis.Show less
