In this thesis I argue that the book On Touching-Jean-Luc Nancy by Jacques Derrida, whilst having touching as its main theme, is informed by Derrida's ethics. In On Touching Derrida argues that the...Show moreIn this thesis I argue that the book On Touching-Jean-Luc Nancy by Jacques Derrida, whilst having touching as its main theme, is informed by Derrida's ethics. In On Touching Derrida argues that the history of philosophy is haptocentric, meaning that touch is privileged over the other senses. This privilege consists in a lack of liminality and alterity in the philosophy of touching. I argue that this is problematic for Derrida because alterity is an important factor in his thinking of ethics, where the alterity of the other informs the double bind between the responsibility for the general and the singular alterior other. The double bind is important because of its implications in the impossible yet necessary jump from ethics to politics and justice for Derrida. A reading of On Touching and a contextualizing of the book within Derrida's broader oeuvre have led to these conclusions.Show less
Large numbers of Eritrean refugees find themselves in situations of limbo at multiple stops in their journeys to flee the repressive environment of Eritrea. The situations of limbo have been...Show moreLarge numbers of Eritrean refugees find themselves in situations of limbo at multiple stops in their journeys to flee the repressive environment of Eritrea. The situations of limbo have been analyzed by drawing from theories of mobility and liminality. First, the situations in the refugee camps and the AZCs have been analyzed through a spatial and a temporal dimension of liminality. Secondly, the situations of limbo have been analyzed as connected to theories of mobility, and especially immobility by investigating what influences migratory routes. In the refugee camps of Northern Ethiopia and The Sudan, Eritrean refugees find themselves pushed to the edges of society, unable to participate. Similarly, the Eritrean refugees that are resettled to the Netherlands, find themselves in the same kind of in-betweenness in the Dutch asylum seekers centres (AZCs), waiting for approval while being prevented from participating in Dutch society. Furthermore, in this paper it has been argued that the Eritrean refugees are kept in limbo, in remote locations from as a result of the policies that an international mobility regime, in the form of the European Union that interacts with the African states with the goal of hindering border-crossing mobility. Within nations too, the mobility of the refugees in limbo are extremely restricted, being confined to the camps and the AZCs.Show less
During the last decade, Europe has faced what is considered to be the largest migration wave since the Second World War. It affected and continues to influence national and international socio...Show moreDuring the last decade, Europe has faced what is considered to be the largest migration wave since the Second World War. It affected and continues to influence national and international socio-political decisions and policies for European and Western countries. The migration wave peaked in 2015, with more than a million refugees, including Syrian refugees, seeking asylum. The main reason for Syrian migration was the Syrian revolution, sparked by the demonstrations that started in 2011. Pro-democratic protests called for freedom, aiming to end the oppressive regime under the Assad family that has exhausted the country for around five decades. The unforeseen result of these protests was a brutal war. The Syrian conflict and the Syrian diaspora have been framed in European news and media coverage as the “refugee crisis.” It has been framed as a crisis not only due to the severity of the situation but also based on a tradition of “Othering,” as the refugees generally come from a Muslim majority. While there is a common agreement on the passivity, generalization, and dehumanization at work in media coverage of the refugees, art, and literature often try to provide alternative narratives. Using critical analysis as a research method, this research investigates the representation politics of refugees in two case studies: a book by Wendy Pearlman, and an exhibition by Carlos Motta, focusing on the concept of belonging and its politics. Furthermore, I employ post-coloniality discourse that enables a critical reading of political and cultural power relations, including history, race, and queerness. The analysis of the cultural objects will show that these art-works have provided a personal space for refugees to tell their stories, which symbolizes a positive step away from the mainstream media representation. However, these representations do not automatically also generate a critical examination of the belonging crisis of refugees, especially while the art-works do not establish a dialogue with the “Other.”Show less
Research master thesis | Classics and Ancient Civilizations (research) (MA)
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The present thesis examines the liminal aspects of four Akkadian wisdom compositions from the first millennium B.C.E., specifically: Babylonian Theodicy, Counsels of Wisdom, Dialogue of Pessimism...Show moreThe present thesis examines the liminal aspects of four Akkadian wisdom compositions from the first millennium B.C.E., specifically: Babylonian Theodicy, Counsels of Wisdom, Dialogue of Pessimism and Ludlul bēl nēmeqi. The aim of the present study is to explore the social functions fulfilled by these four texts. I argue that the notion of liminality, as a creative social process, contributes to this discussion. Liminality, as a period which suspends social norms and allows their critical evaluation by an individual or a group (Turner, 1969), is instrumental to explain the social function of wisdom and to describe its productive process. In the present paper, I explore the liminal aspects of these four wisdom compositions based on character and plot description and on the analysis of parallelism and imagery. In these texts, metaphors of material boundaries and social marginality, alongside opposing parallel constructions, accentuate traditional social values exposing them to criticism. My thesis, through heuristic analysis of manuscripts and close-reading of standard versions, studies the relation between the textual representation of liminal situations and the production context offering a new theoretical perspective for the understanding of the social function of Akkadian Wisdom Literature.Show less
This thesis re-views Jack Kerouac's "On The Road" through the cultural-anthropological lens of "liminality" in order to understand the novel's endurance as well as its contemporary reflection of a...Show moreThis thesis re-views Jack Kerouac's "On The Road" through the cultural-anthropological lens of "liminality" in order to understand the novel's endurance as well as its contemporary reflection of a generation in limbo. This thesis contends that the liminal characteristics and rituals studied by Arnold van Gennep and Victor Turner in small-scale African communities can be modernized and applied to such ritualistic phenomena as road travel in Kerouac's novel, which utilizes the anonymity of the American highway as a liminal space that allows freedom of self-definition. Such a reading returns "On the Road" to its contemporary socio-political landscape and makes it clear that the novel depicts not a subversive countercultural movement, but that it is actually part of a private ritual of passage that eschews the mainstream culture only on a temporary and minimal basis. By way of the liminal phase, the narrator appropriates characteristics of the socially and ethnically marginal while reproducing and reinforcing the values of the mainstream (white) culture against these marginal people.Show less
