Since 2005, despite restricting immigration policies, the Netherlands has had a persistent growth of migrants with a Russian background and of Russian-speaking migrants from other countries; more...Show moreSince 2005, despite restricting immigration policies, the Netherlands has had a persistent growth of migrants with a Russian background and of Russian-speaking migrants from other countries; more than half of these immigrants are women. This thesis gains an insight into how the urban environment in Dutch cities contributes to the sense of belonging of Russian-speaking first-generation migrant women and to the (potential) conflict among them and with the host society. Overall, Dutch cities allow these women to establish a meaningful connection with Dutch culture and history. Urban space, its history and aesthetics provide a framework to connect women’s personal narratives to a broader cultural and historical context. This, in turn, shapes local urban identity, which facilitates the immigrants’ sense of belonging and, consequently, the integration process. Additionally, the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 has heightened the awareness towards Russian-speaking women’s identities and the Russian language’s increased presence in Dutch cities, which in turn has influenced tensions and the possibility of conflicts at the local level and primarily in urban spaces.Show less
Since 2005, despite restricting immigration policies, the Netherlands has had a persistent growth of migrants with a Russian background and of Russian-speaking migrants from other countries; more...Show moreSince 2005, despite restricting immigration policies, the Netherlands has had a persistent growth of migrants with a Russian background and of Russian-speaking migrants from other countries; more than half of these immigrants are women. This thesis gains an insight into how the urban environment in Dutch cities contributes to the sense of belonging of Russian-speaking first-generation migrant women and to the (potential) conflict among them and with the host society. Overall, Dutch cities allow these women to establish a meaningful connection with Dutch culture and history. Urban space, its history and aesthetics provide a framework to connect women’s personal narratives to a broader cultural and historical context. This, in turn, shapes local urban identity, which facilitates the immigrants’ sense of belonging and, consequently, the integration process. Additionally, the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 has heightened the awareness towards Russian-speaking women’s identities and the Russian language’s increased presence in Dutch cities, which in turn has influenced tensions and the possibility of conflicts at the local level and primarily in urban spaces.Show less
Master thesis | Cultural Anthropology and Development Sociology (MSc)
open access
Exploring the countryside has been a phenomenon in the United Kingdom for many decades. In contemporary discourse, challenges to who frequents these landscapes have risen. Indeed, ethnic minorities...Show moreExploring the countryside has been a phenomenon in the United Kingdom for many decades. In contemporary discourse, challenges to who frequents these landscapes have risen. Indeed, ethnic minorities are underrepresented in the UK outdoors communities. As stories of human’s relation to nature are foremost told from Eurocentric, white, and male perspectives, this thesis centres Black women and women of colour who are members of the women’s outdoors organisation Bristol Steppin Sistas (BSS). Operating as a safe space for black women and women of colour, the organisation organises multiple walks a month to get local women to explore rural landscapes in the UK’s South West region. This ethnographic research comprises two complimentary elements: a 30 min.-long film, and an article, which examine the role walking and talking in nature plays in the daily lives of black British women. It uses data gathered from interlocutor observation of BSS members, semi-structured sit-down interviews, and un-structured walk-along interviews with three members of the group, during two months of fieldwork. This article has the dual purpose of making theoretical arguments and discussing methodological considerations in reference to the film. In doing so, three key themes emerge: (1) BSS challenges racial and gender stigmas around exploring British nature, (2) the group provides a safe space for its members to gain a sense of belonging, strengthening their individual identities, (3) Black British women living in urban areas need the outdoors to lessen anxieties and better physical health. By claiming space in the South West UK’s countryside, BSS provides an indispensable community for black women and women of colour living in the hectic urban environment of Bristol.Show less
Master thesis | Cultural Anthropology and Development Sociology (MSc)
closed access
This thesis researches the sense of belonging among Christian Chinese first-generation female migrants living in The Hague. The study explores how these women present and produce a sense of...Show moreThis thesis researches the sense of belonging among Christian Chinese first-generation female migrants living in The Hague. The study explores how these women present and produce a sense of belonging in the intercultural context of migration and religion. I reflect on the large issues of migration and belonging, as well as employ an anthropological perspective to highlight the issues of importance in this marginalized niche. I illustrate the complexity, transcendence, and dynamics of these women’s processes of presenting and producing different dimensions of belonging. I, thereby, employ anthropologist Gammeltoft’analytical models of belonging and quantitative research methods, such as interviews and participant observation, through case studies conducted with twelve women. The novelty lies in adding a theological anthropological perspective to existing studies of migration and belonging. The addition of the theology aspect enriches and deepens our understanding and perception of the related research topic.Show less
Master thesis | Cultural Anthropology and Development Sociology (MSc)
open access
The thesis focuses on the experiences of inclusion and participation of deaf and hard of hearing people in team sports, considering their own perspectives towards their reduced hearing, then...Show moreThe thesis focuses on the experiences of inclusion and participation of deaf and hard of hearing people in team sports, considering their own perspectives towards their reduced hearing, then translating this to their experiences on the sports field. Attributes that either support or obstruct inclusion are brought forward by sports policies and programs, the participants themselves, and literature research. While the research has given directly observable examples and tools of how inclusive practices in sports can be enabled, it has also shed light on indirect and structural issues that somehow impact sports experiences: general participation in the deaf or hearing world; the sense of belonging one has in each; the ability of sign language as an influencing and communicative tool; and the interaction or lack thereof with other deaf or hard of hearing people. Thus, a distinction is made between physical participation and social participation in team sports, where each pertains to a different side of what it means to achieve inclusion.Show less
This thesis examines the identities and experiences of second-generation British Muslim women in Nida Manzoor’s We Are Lady Parts (2021). Despite the proliferation of scholarship about the...Show moreThis thesis examines the identities and experiences of second-generation British Muslim women in Nida Manzoor’s We Are Lady Parts (2021). Despite the proliferation of scholarship about the complexity of Islamic practices and experiences of Muslims in the West, (immigrant) Muslim women are still plagued with homogenizing assumptions that relegate them to the realm of the passive or the dangerous. We Are Lady Parts demonstrates these realities while also offering alternative ways of understanding Muslim women by centering universal issues of faith, friendship, love and belonging. Using postcolonial and feminist theoretical frameworks, I aim to understand how unconventional representations of punk Muslim women undermine current patriarchal and colonial discourses both in Muslim and non-Muslim communities. I pay special attention to the women’s gender performativity and the ways in which it enables performative agency in their musical performances. I then address the heterogeneity of the characters’ identities by analyzing how they navigate their desires, romantic relationships, and religion. Finally, I examine the ways in which the women are excluded from embracing a British identity and how they form alternative paths to belonging via sisterhood and a decolonial worldview.Show less
Master thesis | Cultural Anthropology and Development Sociology (MSc)
open access
Community music is a way of making music within a group of people, by letting everyone participate in the process in their unique way. Sounds of Change uses community music in order to establish...Show moreCommunity music is a way of making music within a group of people, by letting everyone participate in the process in their unique way. Sounds of Change uses community music in order to establish social change in refugee centres. But how do they use social change in order to pursue social change and what social change are they seeking for? This study explores the effects of community music on children in Dutch refugee centres. After conducting semi-structured interviews and participant observation, I suggest that, in order to establish a sense of communal belonging, creativity and connection among the participants of the workshops, a safe space is required. Whenever children feel safe, they dare to share their ideas. A common language is not required for this; music can often speak for itself. Moreover, Sounds of Change equalizes all individuals and embraces cultural diversity, which is considered more common in grassroots and pragmatic practices than in national Dutch multicultural policies.Show less
This thesis examines political attitudes towards different groups of migrants arriving in Britain between 1948 and 1971. Specifically, it examines how the creation of the National Health Service ...Show moreThis thesis examines political attitudes towards different groups of migrants arriving in Britain between 1948 and 1971. Specifically, it examines how the creation of the National Health Service (NHS) in 1948 influenced attitudes towards different migrant groups. It pays close attention to racial inequalities comparing the different receptions of predominantly black and brown migrant groups from the New Commonwealth states and the predominantly white migrant groups from continental Europe and Old Commonwealth states. Methodologically it uses a combination of close and distant reading techniques on parliamentary transcripts and civil service records, particularly from the British Ministry of Health. The central finding is that far from migrants being treated with universal scepticism, there was a very clear hierarchy of desirability into which different migrant groups were sorted, and further that this hierarchy was structured around perceived racial difference.Show less
This research aims to understand the process of belonging by analysing where and how Syrian refugees experience belonging in the Netherlands. Against the background of national integration debates...Show moreThis research aims to understand the process of belonging by analysing where and how Syrian refugees experience belonging in the Netherlands. Against the background of national integration debates that have defined belonging and integration in the Netherlands in synonymity with being able to culturally assimilate, it is argued that that seeing belonging in terms of cultural assimilation has led to heavy focus on integration criteria like language acquisition, labour market entry, and education as conditions for being able to feel “at home”. As the data collected from semi-structured interviews show and by using Antonsich’ conceptualisation of place-belongingness as a foundation from which the process of belonging is explored, it is emphasised that feeling “at home” is a multidimensional process that stretches between and beyond different locations, with refugees developing different methods to adapt to new environments, circumstances, and communities in order to be able to feel “at home”. Apart from the physical home functioning as a safe and private environment where one can be ‘at ease’ in, the data gathered from the interviews show that experiencing feeling “at home” within the physical home is under constant negotiating with the neighbourhood environment as social connections and encounters in the direct neighbourhood affect feeling “at home” in the physical home itself, showing that the physical home is not merely an impermeable private stronghold but rather a starting point from which other places in the wider neighbourhood environment are explored. In addition to the analysis of this feeling “at home” in the physical home, concrete public places are explored for their unique qualities and provide a person with possibilities to attach to new places when such qualities are recognised. Specifically, places of restoration and places of sociality are claimed to enable belonging by their capabilities to increase self-awareness through active participation. Exploring public spaces like buurthuizen and nursing homes enabled the respondents to be a caregiver instead of a care-receiver, adding an existential dimension to their perception on how belonging is experienced and meaningful place-attachment is effectuated on a local scale.Show less
Master thesis | Cultural Anthropology and Development Sociology (MSc)
open access
WeChat is one of the most used social media in China. While few Dutch people use it, the app remains popular among the many Chinese students in the Netherlands. This popularity abroad evokes the...Show moreWeChat is one of the most used social media in China. While few Dutch people use it, the app remains popular among the many Chinese students in the Netherlands. This popularity abroad evokes the question what this platform has to offer for people living in a different country and how it relates to a sense of ‘home’. Within social media research, a call is made to study social media using a non-media centric approach, focusing on the context in which it is used. Within this research, I study WeChat as used by three international Chinese students, and how they use WeChat to create a sense of home. Through digital observation and film, I examined how participants use WeChat, how they create a feeling of home while studying in the Netherlands, and the connection between these two. Overall, this study found that for a sense of home, relations, materiality, and a sense of security are important, for participants to both adjust to the Netherlands and recreate a sense of the ‘former home’. Their use of WeChat provides a tool to realise these different aspects.Show less
For many years, the Banyamulenge, a semi-nomadic community living in South Kivu, aspired to have a demarcated territory that was under their authority. This aspiration was realized in September...Show moreFor many years, the Banyamulenge, a semi-nomadic community living in South Kivu, aspired to have a demarcated territory that was under their authority. This aspiration was realized in September 1999 when the Congolese Rally for Democracy (RCD) created the ‘’territory of Minembwe’’ granting the Banyamulenge the opportunity to be autonomous after many years of marginalization and subjugation to the customary chiefs of other ethnic communities. This thesis looks at the ways in which the Banyamulenge’s territorial aspirations arose by exploring the concepts of ‘’belonging’’ and ‘’autochthony’’. Furthermore, by documenting the Banyamulenge’s historical trajectory in the Congo this thesis aims to contextualise the creation of Minembwe and analyse the impact of its creation.Show less
This thesis focuses on the past, present and future of hawker centres in Singapore. Hawker centres are essentially communal dining spaces that allow Singaporeans from different ethnic backgrounds...Show moreThis thesis focuses on the past, present and future of hawker centres in Singapore. Hawker centres are essentially communal dining spaces that allow Singaporeans from different ethnic backgrounds to enjoy a wide range of hawker foods for an affordable price. Singapore’s hawker culture has been able to exist alongside Singapore’s rapid urban development, beginning with street food sold by itinerant hawkers and transformed into hawker centres. Over the years these hawker centres have become more than just dining spaces and have become an indispensable part of Singapore. Changes in Singapore’s near future have triggered questions about the continuity of the hawker trade and the preservation of traditional dishes. Taking matters in their own hands, Singapore has nominated hawker culture for UNESCO’s Representative List of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity as they believe this is an intrinsic part of Singaporean identity and should be preserved and passed down to future generations. The aim of this thesis is to study the meaning of hawker culture in contemporary Singapore by discussing three periods of time, while discussing food as intangible heritage and its contribution to identity and belongingness.Show less
Master thesis | Cultural Anthropology and Development Sociology (MSc)
closed access
Deze scriptie gaat over de Sahrawi jeugd die hun roots hebben in de Westelijke Sahara; en te maken hebben met veranderende contexten als de vluchtelingenkampen in Algerije (als gevolg van een...Show moreDeze scriptie gaat over de Sahrawi jeugd die hun roots hebben in de Westelijke Sahara; en te maken hebben met veranderende contexten als de vluchtelingenkampen in Algerije (als gevolg van een proces van exclusering vanuit Marokko), de vakanties naar Spanje en/of het studeren in Cuba en de terugkomst naar de vluchtelingenkampen. De scriptie richt zich op hoe de Sahrawi omgaan met gevoelens van 'belonging' die voor een groot deel gestimuleerd worden door de Polisario.Show less
Bachelor thesis | Cultural Anthropology and Development Sociology (BSc)
closed access
In deze scriptie wordt de totstandkoming van etnische categorieën onderzocht. De nadruk wordt gelegd op de processen omtrent categoriseringen van de zogenoemde groep Turkse-Duitsers.
