This thesis is a qualitative analysis of how Andean Indigenous Knowledge (IK) challenges prevailing assumptions about sustainable development. Through the examination of the global fashion industry...Show moreThis thesis is a qualitative analysis of how Andean Indigenous Knowledge (IK) challenges prevailing assumptions about sustainable development. Through the examination of the global fashion industry, the study hypothesises that Andean IK challenges dominant beliefs in economic growth and technological progress as preconditions for sustainable development and reveals its anthropocentric nature. A thematic document analysis of content produced by two Andean fashion brands – Allpamamas and Pachacuti – reveals the importance of respecting nature as an innate part of human well-being and achieving sustainable development. Thus, a framework is created to reimagine sustainable development through the re-evaluation of the relationship between humans and nature, broadening the potential for policies to address sustainability in the global fashion industry.Show less
The aim of this thesis is two-fold. First, to scrutinize the explanatory capacity of Qin Yaqing’s Relationality Theory. Second, to elucidate the Sino-Filipino case, where the lack of hositlites...Show moreThe aim of this thesis is two-fold. First, to scrutinize the explanatory capacity of Qin Yaqing’s Relationality Theory. Second, to elucidate the Sino-Filipino case, where the lack of hositlites following the Arbitral Tribunal’s favorable ruling to the Philippines presents a puzzle to mainstream International Relations Theory. This thesis finds that the concepts in Qin’s theory offer three novel explanations. First, increased intimacy between both countries sheds light on why no higher-level conflict erupted. Second, the distinction between rule-driven and rule-independent measures partly accounts for the intermittently resurgent tension spikes, as the latter often undermined the former’s conducive efforts to cooperation. Finally, relational rationality sheds light on how competing interests for each actor render both sides’ actions rational. Despite these insights, two limitations stand out. First, the main difficulty found concerns the methodological application of various concepts. Second, the lack of clarity on how different variables interact with one another constituted a hurdle to the theory’s explanatory capacity.Show less
In this thesis I discuss the way art can be fruitful to the conversation about human enhancement that is sparked by the development of the genetic engineering technique called CRISPR. Drawing on...Show moreIn this thesis I discuss the way art can be fruitful to the conversation about human enhancement that is sparked by the development of the genetic engineering technique called CRISPR. Drawing on theories by Brian Massumi, Georges Bataille, Michel Serres, Rosi Braidotti, Andrew Lapworth and Karen Barad, I argue that bioart has the ability to show that our existence is in its core relational and that this awareness is of importance to an alternate scientific and ethical attitude. I relate this to artworks made by Stelarc, Adam Zaretsky, Revital Cohen, Critical Art Ensemble, Paul Vanouse, Faith Wilding, Kathy High and Eduardo Kac, and show how the agency of their material works provide different epistemological frameworks. Whereas in daily life things and phenomena are often treated as separated but clearly defined and therefore understandable entities, in the projects of these artists the complex and muddy notion of intersubjectivity as a process of becoming is centralized. The incorporation of art in discussions about technological innovations like CRISPR is therefore significant due to its focus on inclusion in contrast to methods of exclusion. The diverse viewpoints that are present in the human enhancement debate exemplify that finding the right definition of what is at stake sometimes cannot be achieved through language and representations. Instead, it has to be known through art’s affective happening in which different desires, implications and heuristic models all find their affirmation.Show less
The aim of this thesis is to uncover the performative instead of the descriptive nature of trauma in contemporary American texts: Wild and Into the Wild. It is widely accepted that larger traumas...Show moreThe aim of this thesis is to uncover the performative instead of the descriptive nature of trauma in contemporary American texts: Wild and Into the Wild. It is widely accepted that larger traumas need a narrative to be worked through, yet these seemingly non-typical examples show that narratives need a certain level of trauma as well. In chapter one the contradictions within trauma narratives will be analyzed by outlining the existing research. Chapter two places Wild amongst these theories and analyses Strayed as a learned, critical trauma author and her novel as autobiographical and calling upon the traditions of trauma. Chapter three both compares Wild and Into the Wild, one being autobiographical and the other describing someone else’s trauma. The positions chosen by the authors provide them with the opportunity to both link the stories to larger societal wounds and it gives the author as well as the audience the chance to work through their own traumas.Show less
