Research master thesis | African Studies (research) (MA)
under embargo until 2030-09-01
2030-09-01T00:00:00Z
The Mafia archipelago in Tanzania has been internationally and nationally recognised as an area with an immense amount of biodiversity. The creation of the first marine park in Tanzania, Mafia...Show moreThe Mafia archipelago in Tanzania has been internationally and nationally recognised as an area with an immense amount of biodiversity. The creation of the first marine park in Tanzania, Mafia Island Marine Park, reflects this recognition. However, little has been researched about how the protection of this biodiversity affects the main economic industry in the archipelago, the fishing industry. This thesis adds to our understanding about fishing in Mafia by examining the influence of government policies, WWF programs and marine conservation on the formation of fishermen identity within Mafia. It is based on three arguments. Firstly, identity is formed through the interactions that an individual has with other members of their community. Secondly, this thesis treats fishermen as an identity group and argues that the economic activities of a person provides insight into their identity. Thirdly, due to the importance of the environment and the reiteration of this importance by the majority of interviewees, the ocean, marine animals, wind and moon are treated as one interconnected entity. This entity is referred to as the environment within this thesis, which examines, in an exploratory manner, the communication between the environment and fishermen. In order to create an effective and accurate analysis of fishing in Mafia, this thesis is built upon an interdisciplinary approach. To academia this thesis provides a unique analysis of identity formation as it examines how both human and non-human entities shape identity formation. Furthermore, this thesis includes indigenous knowledge claims and treats the perceptions of the fishermen with high regard. At a societal level, this thesis aims to provide a platform for the voices of the fishermen and people in Mafia who feel marginalised from Tanzania and neglected by the Tanzanian government.Show less
The study of NATO’s discourse during the crises in Abkhazia, South Osetia and Crimea ofers a posibilty to analyse the way NATO presents itself and influences its identiy. By means of a discourse...Show moreThe study of NATO’s discourse during the crises in Abkhazia, South Osetia and Crimea ofers a posibilty to analyse the way NATO presents itself and influences its identiy. By means of a discourse analysis of NATO’s published texts during these two crises, this thesis wil elaborate on the role discourse has played in the shaping of NATO’s identiy. This thesis wil show that the identiy presented by NATO is that of an organisation that is mainly concerned with international norms and values. However, when confronted with a perceived threat by Rusia to the organisation itself, this identity also includes an emphasis on the miltary background of the organisation, which responds to a foreign threat. The identiy of NATO is thus more nuanced than frequently described and lies in the midle of the two identies that are most often atributed to NATO by the existing literature.Show less
This thesis follows in the great popularity of first Suzanne Collins’s “Hunger Games” trilogy and later Veronica Roth’s “Divergent” trilogy, both works of dystopian fiction aimed at young adults....Show moreThis thesis follows in the great popularity of first Suzanne Collins’s “Hunger Games” trilogy and later Veronica Roth’s “Divergent” trilogy, both works of dystopian fiction aimed at young adults. This thesis will argue that the identities of the female protagonists of these trilogies are both formed, moulded, by their respective oppressive (dystopian) societies, but that they eventually take their own fates and that of their societies in their own hands in order to change it for the better, thus becoming active agents in their own lives. Although Katniss Everdeen remains a pawn of the system which requires her to perform various (gender) roles until the very end, her conclusion signifies that she has learned to discriminate between the real and the appearance of the real: she kills President Coin, the next evil dictator, and allows a peaceful and stable future for herself as well as for the entire nation. Similarly, Tris Prior is for a long time confined to thinking according to her society’s faction system, but she ultimately recognizes the fallibility of this system which only creates prejudice, social division, and limits identity formation. Tris is essential in taking down this faction system and allowing her society a chance to start afresh.Show less
