This paper examines the approach to urban green justice in the greening narratives of one of the biggest inner-city area redevelopments in the Netherlands, the Binckhorst, The Hague, which has a...Show moreThis paper examines the approach to urban green justice in the greening narratives of one of the biggest inner-city area redevelopments in the Netherlands, the Binckhorst, The Hague, which has a special focus on greening and sustainability. For the analysis, planning documents as well as public communication were examined using a spatially sensitive framework for the analysis of the municipalities narrative on the green developments in the Binckhorst. I found that a rhetoric of urban green boosterism is prominent throughout the sources analysed. That means the municipality uses greening to sell the Binckhorst as a desirable place to invest and live. The greening narrative is part of the urban greening orthodoxy. Furthermore, the narrative seems to be underpinned by the apolitical assumption of a “green” trickle-down effect, suggesting that the benefits of greening will spread to everyone and lead to more just and prosperous cities. Social justice is not directly addressed in the green development plans, which creates the risk that the green developments in the Binckhorst will turn into green commodities or enclaves of environmental privilege.Show less
The Occupy movement remains one of the defining aspects of political life in the early 2010s as a global social movement attempting to address the concerns of post-2008 politics. Drawing...Show moreThe Occupy movement remains one of the defining aspects of political life in the early 2010s as a global social movement attempting to address the concerns of post-2008 politics. Drawing inspiration from preceding movements and inspiring movements to come, its insistence on not articulating concrete demands as well as its dependence on pre-figurative politics was met simultaneously with amazement by activists and confusion by those attempting to grasp the movement. Through its global diffusion, beginning with Occupy Wall Street in New York and spreading all over the world, Occupy became a global phenomenon, entering the realm of international relations, with individual movements acting as agents that influence local and international politics, and the overall movement serving as connector between local actors on a global scale. Social movement theory often models mobilisation as happening either directly, through contact with activists, or indirectly, through equivalences in structure, demographic, or culture to other activists. The mobilisation and global diffusion of the Occupy movement however challenged both of these models, with local movements often self-mobilising and demonstrating a high level of heterogeneity in demographic make-up, social position, or movement culture. This thesis sets out to address this challenge by analysing the narratives put forward by Occupy movements as movement-building relays which aid the self-mobilisation of new activists. It argues that the common element between movements, as well as the potential for its global diffusion through self-mobilisation is not to be found in the narratives’ content, but rather in their structural aspects serving as movement-building relays. For this, 27 documents published by local Occupy movements were analysed in a structural-narratological approach. The thesis identifies relevant movement-building relays in the temporal, spatial, actantial, and social structures of the Occupy Wall Street narrative and traces their diffusion to the narratives of other local movements within the Occupy movement. Through this analysis, the thesis offers a novel approach to the study of contemporary global social movements whose diffusion is more often based on self-mobilisation and who demonstrate high levels of heterogeneity. Through the study of the Occupy movement, it thus seeks to provide a framework for which contemporary global social movements can be understood better.Show less
This thesis is about cultural transformation through migration between the Turkish district of Emirdağ and the diaspora in Belgium. In this research, the poems from Emirdağ and the poems from the...Show moreThis thesis is about cultural transformation through migration between the Turkish district of Emirdağ and the diaspora in Belgium. In this research, the poems from Emirdağ and the poems from the diaspora were analyzed using the qualitative research method narrative analysis. In the analysis, the reflection of cultural transformation through migration in Emirdağ's poetry has been observed. The results provide an insight into the migration culture and the outcomes of socio-cultural and economic transnationalism.Show less
