This thesis analyzes two American novels as interventions in the cultural memory of slavery. By considering Toni Morrison's seminal novel Beloved (1987) and Nathan Harris's contemporary text The...Show moreThis thesis analyzes two American novels as interventions in the cultural memory of slavery. By considering Toni Morrison's seminal novel Beloved (1987) and Nathan Harris's contemporary text The Sweetness of Water (2021) as documents of cultural memory, this thesis argues that they contribute to an understanding of the history of slavery and reflect cultural changes in how it is remembered publicly.Show less
This thesis aims to shed light on legal practice of the nineteenth century in France and The Netherlands and contrast it with legal theory and current historiography. In both older and newer French...Show moreThis thesis aims to shed light on legal practice of the nineteenth century in France and The Netherlands and contrast it with legal theory and current historiography. In both older and newer French and Dutch historiography, the nineteenth century is described as the century of legalism, also referred to as exegetical thinking. This exegetical school of law considers the codified law to be the highest and practically the only source of law on which the judge and legal scholar must rely. This historiography is mainly based on the development of legal theory as practised at universities. Implicitly or sometimes even explicitly, legal practice is equated with this legal theory. This fallacy obscures the practice of law, which did not take place in the university or the chambers of scholars, but in the courtroom. To address this lacuna, the following question was answered: To what extent was legalism in the Netherlands and the exegetical school in France really the dominant approach in legal practice and how can possible differences between both countries be explained? In order to know the practice of law and to assess whether judges, like legal theorists, were under the spell of exegetical thinking, judgments of courts were analysed. These can be found in case law journals that emerged in the nineteenth century. This study looked specifically at the judges' references to case law; the work of colleagues. The reference to case law is contrary to the doctrine of the exegetical school which accepts codification as the sole source of law. Referral to sources of law outside the codification by the courts, either implicit or explicit, imply a freer attitude towards the codification than legal scholars of the nineteenth century and current historiography would have us believe. Analysis of approximately two thousand Dutch and French judgments throughout the nineteenth century showed a difference in the quantity and nature of the references between both countries. In France, judges themselves referred explicitly to specific case law or to case law in general, whereas in the Netherlands judges did not refer to case law themselves, but relied on the arguments of the litigants and the Advocate-General, who did explicitly invoke case law. My research gives cause to adjust the image of nineteenth century legal history. The nineteenth-century judge was a child of his time, but not a puppet of legal theory. Lex semper dabit remedium: The law always provides a remedy; this was the starting point, but case law often supplemented it. The demonstrated difference between legal theory and legal practice fits within a broader development in current historiography, emphasising continuity of politics, culture, and in this case legal practices, in the wake of the French Revolution.Show less
Over the past few centuries, multiple historiographical traditions have clashed over the study of Kerala history. Epistemological groups proposed here include archetypal historians who created...Show moreOver the past few centuries, multiple historiographical traditions have clashed over the study of Kerala history. Epistemological groups proposed here include archetypal historians who created original written histories with mythological elements, positivist historians who reject the mythological nature of the local histories, and post-structuralist historians who try to reconcile the useful historical data to be found in positivist and archetypal works. What has been lacking in this field has been a comparative study to explore the similarities and differences between these epistemologies, which this modest project seeks to present in the context of the historiographical 'journey' of Kerala's Cheraman Perumal legend. Concluding that there is a need for further post-structuralist study of the Cheraman Perumal, this project seeks to act as a call to action as an outsider to the field, to show why historians specializing in Kerala's history should be exploring the varied historiographical epistemologies to fill in the gaps in Kerala's history through previously ignored sources, specifically those of the Cheraman Perumal story.Show less
Research master thesis | Asian Studies (research) (MA)
closed access
This thesis analyses the development of Ryukyuan narratives of political legitimacy under the influence of the imperial Chinese tributary system. For centuries, the Ryukyu Kingdom, which was...Show moreThis thesis analyses the development of Ryukyuan narratives of political legitimacy under the influence of the imperial Chinese tributary system. For centuries, the Ryukyu Kingdom, which was annexed by Meiji Period Japan in 1879 and is today divided among Japan's Okinawa and Kagoshima Prefectures, formed an important linking bridge between China and Japan, East Asia's two dominant political entities. Based on a close reading and partial translation of relevant passages from several historical documents, most notably the kingdom's two official histories Chūzan Seikan and Chūzan Seifu, the thesis investigates the socio-political shift in succeeding conceptualisations of Ryukyuan kingship, the monarch's political legitimacy, and the country's state doctrine that occurred from the late fifteenth and early sixteenth to the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.Show less
This paper sheds light on the fallacies and deficiencies underlying historicist methodology in the field of historiography. Through a case study of the canon of East African colonial history it is...Show moreThis paper sheds light on the fallacies and deficiencies underlying historicist methodology in the field of historiography. Through a case study of the canon of East African colonial history it is demonstrated that historicists methodology, which takes written documentation as the prime source of historical evidence, fails to adequately reconstruct a truthful, multifaceted and inclusive picture of East African colonial history as much of East African history is transmitted orally rather than in print. The historicists' erroneous claim to objectivity, scientific predictability and universal truths based on findings in written primary sources, is deconstructed by use of an alternative historiographical methodology: New Historicism. This paper shows how oral sources can be adequately historicised through a New Historicist lens, thus granting more complete narratives of East African colonial history. In short, it will be argued that the existing documentation of East African colonial history fails to adequately historicise the narratives of local subjectivities (the actual people who experienced colonial oppression) due to Eurocentric overemphasis on the appropriation of written sources rather than incorporating and establishing the value of the many ‘local subjective narratives’ preserved in oral traditions.Show less
This thesis focuses on the role of the Indonesian propagandist Sutomo (or Bung Tomo) during the Indonesian revolution in Surabaya, 1945, questioning the Dutch and Indonesian different perspectives...Show moreThis thesis focuses on the role of the Indonesian propagandist Sutomo (or Bung Tomo) during the Indonesian revolution in Surabaya, 1945, questioning the Dutch and Indonesian different perspectives and memory. Nowadays in Indonesia Sutomo is remembered as a hero, yet in the Dutch historiography he is often portrayed as a war criminal, responsible for inciting the masses to kill Dutch, Eurasians and other minorities. One Dutch testimony in particular holds him accountable for the brutal massacre in the Simpang Club. This case-study analyses the different views on Indonesian anti-colonial violence during the so-called "Bersiap-period" and how Bung Tomo became the personification of these brutalities for the Dutch memory in particular. How does the latter relate to the Indonesian positive memory of him? As such, the topic of this thesis also relates to the growing academic attention to the Bersiap, in which terminology (should we call it a genocide) and the possible trigger (why did it happen) are the main topics of discussion. The first section provides a brief historical outline from the pre-war colonial situation to the Japanese occupation and finally the capitulation on August 15th, 1945. To give a clear understanding of the variety of social and political factors that led to the violent outburst of the Bersiap. The second section traces the basic history of Sutomo and his place in Surabaya and the first two months of the revolution in September and October 1945. This includes an analysis of the horrible events inside the Simpang Club. The third section pays attention to the period after he established his organization BPRI, when he became internationally known as radio-maker, actively countering Dutch propaganda. This section aims to explore the possibility of a Dutch slander campaign against him and the subsequent impact of that on the later historiography and memory. The conclusion returns to the main question on how to make sense of the conflicting memories of Bung Tomo. The conclusion also touches upon the larger question regarding the responsibility for the Bersiap and whether the term genocide is appropriate in this case.Show less
Er wordt onderzocht hoe de Nederlandse politieke historici Henk te Velde en Piet de Rooy in hun respectievelijke boeken 'Stijlen van Leiderschap: Persoon en politiek van Thorbecke tot Den Uyl' en ...Show moreEr wordt onderzocht hoe de Nederlandse politieke historici Henk te Velde en Piet de Rooy in hun respectievelijke boeken 'Stijlen van Leiderschap: Persoon en politiek van Thorbecke tot Den Uyl' en 'Ons stipje op de waereldkaart: De politieke cultuur van modern Nederland' tot een sterke waardering komen van de relevantie van Guillaume Groen van Prinsterer voor de Nederlandse politieke geschiedenis van ongeveer 1848 tot en met 1870. In deze beschouwing worden enkele publicaties van de negentiende-eeuwse politieke commentator Johannes Theodoor Buys in het tijdschrift 'De Gids' meegenomen. De analyse wordt geplaatst in het historiografische debat over het recente internationale verloop van de politieke geschiedschrijving.Show less
This thesis investigates the authorship of the Dutch Beke continuation (written ca. 1420-1432). The chronicle is studied within the historical culture of the Low Countries and specifically the...Show moreThis thesis investigates the authorship of the Dutch Beke continuation (written ca. 1420-1432). The chronicle is studied within the historical culture of the Low Countries and specifically the episcopacy of Utrecht during the first half of the fifteenth century. Through the discourse the author displays, it is argued that he was working for the city council of Utrecht.Show less
