The Dutch East India Company has been ascribed many faces and many colours during its existence, and these still echo throughout the public debate and national discourse. This thesis will...Show moreThe Dutch East India Company has been ascribed many faces and many colours during its existence, and these still echo throughout the public debate and national discourse. This thesis will contribute to new directions in the historiography of Dutch Empire by focusing on the Dutch East India Company governors and the narratives they communicated in the so-called 'Memories van Overgave', how these changed between 1700-1750, how these differed between three different regions: Bengal, Ambon, and Ceylon, and what the implications are for the organisational identity of the Dutch East India Company. In order to do so, this thesis employs a new analytical framework that positions the governor in the centre of two different relations: the relation he had to the institute he was a part of, and the relation he had with the proverbial 'other' he encountered. Everything combined, this will show the multi-faceted nature of the governors, the Dutch East India Company, and that the identity of the Dutch East India Company was not static, but flexible and ever-changing.Show less
This Research Master Thesis focusses on the rich epigraphic corpus in the third- and fourth-century Aphrodisias. By examining the Aphrodisian corpus of inscriptions, this Thesis aims to explore how...Show moreThis Research Master Thesis focusses on the rich epigraphic corpus in the third- and fourth-century Aphrodisias. By examining the Aphrodisian corpus of inscriptions, this Thesis aims to explore how several elements, crucial to civic identity in the Principate, were used and adapted by different parties in Aphrodisias in the third- and fourth-century changing political and ideological landscape to position themselves within the city, within the surrounding area, and within the Empire. I attempt to consider external elements of inscriptions when offering interpretations. The Thesis shall present most of its studies in the form of case study. Chapter 1 focusses on the elements the Aphrodisian elite applied to represent their identity, and how they selected to represent themselves in such ways according to the context. It aims to show that the Aphrodisians inherited traditional ideas of the civic elite, but religious affiliations gradually became dominant. Chapter 2 offers a case study on the ‘Archival Wall’, one of the best examples of civic self-representation in the city. Regarding the Wall as consciously fabricated lieu de mémoire, the chapter argues that the city, as a whole, defined itself by the concept of liberty, the competition with the famous Asian cities, and the continuous friendship with Rome. The key question is why the Aphrodisians chose these documents in this specific time to set up a Wall. Chapter 3 examines how Aphrodisias and Aphrodisians found and expressed their new role when the city was provincialised.Show less
