Research master thesis | Asian Studies (research) (MA)
open access
In 2013, the re-opened Nanjing Museum added the Gallery of the Scene of the Republican Period (abbreviated as the Republican Gallery) to its permanent exhibition. This research attempts to explore...Show moreIn 2013, the re-opened Nanjing Museum added the Gallery of the Scene of the Republican Period (abbreviated as the Republican Gallery) to its permanent exhibition. This research attempts to explore the curatorial aim by examining the conceptualization of this exhibition hall. It suggests that the Republican Gallery has simplified the nature of Republican China and presented a selected, idealized Republican street view which the public is familiar with through mass media. By examining the Republican Gallery, the research expects to achieve a better understanding of the connection between memory and museums.Show less
This dissertation considers Scotland's response to the 2007 bicentenary of the abolition of the transatlantic slave trade, in the context of memory and museum studies. It considers to what degree...Show moreThis dissertation considers Scotland's response to the 2007 bicentenary of the abolition of the transatlantic slave trade, in the context of memory and museum studies. It considers to what degree Scotland's response was aligned to an agenda of social justice - and how Scotland is slowly 'waking up' to its slavery past during a time of revived Scottish nationalism.Show less
Research master thesis | Asian Studies (research) (MA)
closed access
This thesis examines the ways in which the history of 1965-66 is remembered and represented in contemporary Indonesia, both in national public space and among a group of high school pupils in...Show moreThis thesis examines the ways in which the history of 1965-66 is remembered and represented in contemporary Indonesia, both in national public space and among a group of high school pupils in Yogyakarta. The history of 1965-66, a history of mass killings and imprisonment of hundreds of thousands of alleged communist Indonesians, has for a long time been silenced and mystified by anti-communist myth-making that was created under Suharto’s authoritarian rule. Despite the end of Suharto’s regime in 1998 and numerous attempts to counter the state propaganda, this master-narrative that labels victims as perpetrators deserving of their fate is still widely available in contemporary Indonesian state and society. This thesis examines how and why master- and counter-narratives of “1965” continue to exist and circulate in Indonesia today. By combining a focus on contestations of the past in public space with research into the perceptions of the younger generation in particular, it explores how the politics of memory work in everyday practice. A survey conducted among 170 high school pupils in Yogyakarta provides unique insight into the highly complex and problematic ways in which the history of 1965-66 is remembered by a group of young Indonesians today. Thereby, this thesis provides further insight into the lasting legacies of mass violence in post-authoritarian Indonesia.Show less
After the death of Franco in 1975, Spain undertook a process of democratization (The Transition). In many aspects, this process constituted a great example for many other democratic transitions....Show moreAfter the death of Franco in 1975, Spain undertook a process of democratization (The Transition). In many aspects, this process constituted a great example for many other democratic transitions. However, some shadows still overflies the political system emanated from that process. During the decade of the 2000's, many associations started a process for the recuperation of those forgotten through the 'Pact of Silence': a tacit agreement by the main political actors of The Transition, which left aside the memory of the victims of the dictatorship, in order to consolidate a weak emerging democracy. This social demands finally generated a Law of Historical Memory (2007). However, many political and social sectors in Spain considered it as insufficient. With the change of government, in 2012, this law was 'de facto' derogated. The spanish recent memory, then, constitutes an active weapon in the spanish political battlefield; still nowadays, and despite the law. This thesis, through oral interviews to testimonies of different generations, seeks for the differences in the discourse about the historical memory between those who lived The Transition, and those who did not. Does it exist a generational gap? And, in case of being affirmative this question, could it entail some political consequences?Show less
This thesis draws on postcolonial theory and Taiwanese history to provide an in-depth analysis of language and memory in Edward Yang's 1991 "A Brighter Summer Day". It argues that nation's project...Show moreThis thesis draws on postcolonial theory and Taiwanese history to provide an in-depth analysis of language and memory in Edward Yang's 1991 "A Brighter Summer Day". It argues that nation's project of language and memory --- discourse claiming the nation to be linguistically and historically homogenous and unified --- is challenged exactly through language and memory, by drawing attention to linguistic discrepancies and individual memories that challenge the official narrative. This ultimately challenges fixed binary notions of identity such as "(mainland) Chinese" versus "Taiwanese".Show less
In this thesis, the necessary elements to build up a quantum switch, the central element in a quantum random access memory, are proposed and analyzed. A network with quantum switches at its nodes...Show moreIn this thesis, the necessary elements to build up a quantum switch, the central element in a quantum random access memory, are proposed and analyzed. A network with quantum switches at its nodes forms the bifurcation path that leads an address register from a root node to an array of memory cells, activating, quantum coherently, only the quantum switches that the register encounters in its path to the memory cells. Transmon qubits and SQUIDs are used to design a superconducting device capable of routing a register of microwave photons through a bifurcation network, allowing for superposition of paths. In order to give rise to all the required interactions between the device and the address register, a non-linear capacitor, composed of two plates with carbon nanotubes in between, is introduced into the transmon. The dynamic operation of the quantum switch is analyzed using Langevin equations and a scattering approach, and probabilities of reflection and transmission of photons by (or through) the switch are computed, both for single- and two-photon processes. Computations show that, with parameters taken from up-to-date similar devices, probabilities of success are above 94%. Applications of quantum random access memories are discussed, as well as other applications of quantum switches. Also, solutions are proposed to the challenges that emerge during the study of the dynamics of the quantum switch.Show less
On 30 January 1972 the Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association (NICRA) organised a peaceful, yet illegal march in Derry, Northern-Ireland. This march was one of a series of marches NICRA had...Show moreOn 30 January 1972 the Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association (NICRA) organised a peaceful, yet illegal march in Derry, Northern-Ireland. This march was one of a series of marches NICRA had organised in January 1972 to protest against interment. During the march in Derry, the British Army opened fire on the demonstrators, which led to the death of thirteen civilians. Fifteen other civilians were wounded, one of whom died a few months later due to his wounds. This day is more commonly known as ‘Bloody Sunday’. Two days later, the British government announced that an inquiry would be established under the Tribunals of Inquiry Act 1921 to investigate what had happened in Derry, and more importantly, why it happened. An inquiry is set up ‘where is has been resolved by both Houses of Parliament that it is expedient that a tribunal be established for inquiring into a definite matter described in the Resolution as of urgent public importance’. The report, led by Lord Chief Justice Widgery and therefore known as the Widgery Report, was published within eleven weeks, on 19 April. It concluded that ‘there is no reason to suppose that the soldiers would have opened fire if they had not been fired upon first’. About the victims, both deceased and wounded, Widgery concluded that although none of them were proved to have been armed when they were shot, there was a ‘strong suspicion that some [of the victims] had been firing weapons or handling bombs in the course of the afternoon and that yet others had been closely supporting them’. Not everyone agreed with this ‘official’ account of the events of 30 January. Some opponents to the findings have been re-enacting the Bloody Sunday march annually since 1973 in order to both show their disapproval of the Widgery Report, and to keep the memory of the victims alive. After twenty-five years of commemorating Bloody Sunday, and six years after a justice campaign for the victims had started, the then-British Prime Minister Tony Blair agreed to a new inquiry in 1998. This inquiry, known as the Saville Inquiry, was published in June 2010, twelve years after it had been set up. Contrary to the conclusions of the Widgery Report, the Saville Report concluded that it was the British Army, and not the Irish Republican Army (IRA) or the demonstrators, had fired the first shot, that the actions of the army were unjustifiable, and that the victims of the gunfire had been innocent. This paper looks at the annual Bloody Sunday commemorations from 1973 to 2013 in Derry to see what the effect of the public inquiries of 1972 and 1998 was on the perception of what happened at Bloody Sunday.Show less
