This thesis discusses, through a literary survey and fieldwork in Tokyo and Osaka, the question to what extent there is an imperial legacy or discourse resonating in Japanese museums. In particular...Show moreThis thesis discusses, through a literary survey and fieldwork in Tokyo and Osaka, the question to what extent there is an imperial legacy or discourse resonating in Japanese museums. In particular, it focuses on the representation of the Ainu and Koreans between 1977 and 2017 in the Tokyo National Museum (Tohaku) and the National Museum of Ethnology (Minpaku), located in Osaka. Research shows that an imperial discourse is present, particulary in the linguistic terminology and items put up on display. However, as the case study of the Ainu in Minpaku shows, there is room for change and balance.Show less
On the basis of identity theory, this thesis analyses three films directed by Karim Dridi regarding the representation of the North African diaspora in France. These analyses will be put next to...Show moreOn the basis of identity theory, this thesis analyses three films directed by Karim Dridi regarding the representation of the North African diaspora in France. These analyses will be put next to the representations provided by dominant French discourse to conclude that the the latter takes a less comprehensive approach towards including the North African diaspora and representing them.Show less
What is the function of the hacker in Deleuze's society of control? Is the hacker a form of resistance, or does the hacker have another function? This question will be the guideline in this thesis,...Show moreWhat is the function of the hacker in Deleuze's society of control? Is the hacker a form of resistance, or does the hacker have another function? This question will be the guideline in this thesis, which uses the theoretical texts of Foucault, Deleuze, and Galloway to create a theoretical framework through which the hacker types of the manifestos of Anonymous, The Invisible Committee, and McKenzie Wark's A Hacker's Manifesto will be analyzed in the television series Mr. Robot, and the video games Watch Dogs and Watch Dogs 2. In the conclusion, the hacker is seen as a persona that has a different position, because of his knowledge of protocol, yet resisting the power while working in this protocol remains difficult.Show less
In this day and age it is of vital importance for museums to be socially inclusive and relevant for their communities. The Haags Historisch Museum and Museum Rotterdam, two Dutch City Museums, are...Show moreIn this day and age it is of vital importance for museums to be socially inclusive and relevant for their communities. The Haags Historisch Museum and Museum Rotterdam, two Dutch City Museums, are actively concerned with the inclusive representation of ethnic minority communities. They exemplify current issues in the theoretical discourse, and what other museums deal with in their policies and practices. The policies and practices of both museums connect with their aims to be socially relevant and inclusive institutions. Their most common practices in accomplishing this involve exhibition-making, organising activities and community projects, collecting new heritage, and forming partnerships. The combination of a theoretical framework and the case-studies of the Haags Historisch Museum and Museum Rotterdam provide a specific insight on the connections that both museums make between exhibitions, representing ethnic minority communities, and the social and community relevance of museums. Their approaches show both similarities and differences.Show less
After WWII, between 500,000 and 600,000 Koreans remained in Japan because of social, economical or political reasons. The Koreans who remained in Japan became known as zainichi, which literally...Show moreAfter WWII, between 500,000 and 600,000 Koreans remained in Japan because of social, economical or political reasons. The Koreans who remained in Japan became known as zainichi, which literally means “residing in Japan.” In this thesis, I argue that the representation of the zainichi identity of adolescents in cinema helps us appreciate the complexities of zainichi identity. Through film, we are able to see how the characters change throughout the story and how they interact with their social environment. , I discuss scholarship on the formation of zainichi identity, how zainichi were able to secure the legal recognition of their existence in Japan and how different social and legal changes caused a change in zainichi identity.Show less
Museums during the course of their long history have undergone many changes that have resulted in their reorganization. Social and political changes of the past years have contributed in specific...Show moreMuseums during the course of their long history have undergone many changes that have resulted in their reorganization. Social and political changes of the past years have contributed in specific museums’ decision to change their name and become Museums of World Cultures. This thesis investigated the reasons that led museums to that decision, their hopes and objectives, but also the actual changes that accompany this change of name especially regarding their exhibition practices. The main objective of the thesis was to explore why and how western museums may decide to change their name and to what extent this change influences their way of exhibiting culture of non-western cultures. In this research three museums were chosen as case studies: the National Museum of World Cultures in Gothenburg, the Museum Volkenkunde in Leiden and the Museu de Cultures del Món in Barcelona. All three museums emerged from former ethnological museums during the past years. The results of the thesis show that this change in museums’ name was a result of different situations but was mostly connected with their attempt to acquire a more contemporary character that is closer to the needs of 21st century society and to engage with the public. However, the change of name is not always accompanied by a change in museum policy. In reality, as shown by this research the exhibition policy of these three museums did not actually change after the change of name, even though there have been attempts to change the way they approach their role.Show less
Léo-Paul Ned Alfred Marc Eli Francois, Teboul 2017
The Maya communities of Guatemala have over the decades accurately represented the struggle faced by indigenous populations in Latin America. The struggle of those communities, is expressed by a...Show moreThe Maya communities of Guatemala have over the decades accurately represented the struggle faced by indigenous populations in Latin America. The struggle of those communities, is expressed by a lack of political representation and inclusion into the state apparatus. The dilemnas of national identity and muliticulturalism in Guatemala, put more strain on the hard relation between the Maya Communities and the Guatemalan State. Political representation being challenged by a controled civil society, forces indigenous representation communities to remain under represented.Show less
Diese Arbeit thematisiert das Problem der Repräsentation der Wirklichkeit im Dokumentarfilm. Eine neutrale, objektive und zuverlässige Darstellung unserer Welt im Film stößt auf verschiedene...Show moreDiese Arbeit thematisiert das Problem der Repräsentation der Wirklichkeit im Dokumentarfilm. Eine neutrale, objektive und zuverlässige Darstellung unserer Welt im Film stößt auf verschiedene Probleme. So ist es unmöglich, einen Film zu drehen, ohne in das Gezeigte oder die Bilder einzugreifen. Es stellt sich dann die Frage, ob solche Eingriffe die objektive Darstellung der Welt in Gefahr bringen. In der Arbeit stehen zwei deutsche Dokumentarfilme, Wim Wenders‘ „Tokyo-Ga“ (1985) und Werner Herzogs „Land des Schweigens und der Dunkelheit“ (1971), die sich implizit und explizit mit der Frage nach der Wahrheit im Film auseinandersetzen, im Mittelpunkt. Bevor die beiden Filme analysiert werden, setzt sich die Arbeit mit den filmtheoretischen Ansätzen zur Repräsentation der Wirklichkeit im Film auseinander. Erst wird der Unterschied zwischen Spiel- und Dokumentarfilm behandelt. Auch die Frage, ob eine wahre Wiedergabe der Wirklichkeit möglich sei, kommt zur Sprache. Schließlich werden die verschiedenen Weisen, wie die Wirklichkeit im Film repräsentiert werden kann, und die technischen Aspekte, die hierbei eine Rolle spielen, erläutert. Anhand der behandelten filmwissenschaftlichen Theorien werden die Filme von Wenders und Herzog analysiert. Im Mittelpunkt steht hierbei die Frage, wie in den beiden Filmen mit der Repräsentation der Wirklichkeit umgegangen wird. Auch die Rolle der Manipulation wird hierbei befragt.Show less
Using three different national representations from the 55th Venice Biennale as case studies, this thesis investigates the complexities of post Yugoslav national identities as articulated through...Show moreUsing three different national representations from the 55th Venice Biennale as case studies, this thesis investigates the complexities of post Yugoslav national identities as articulated through different positions and experiences of their makers. Through the examination of individual local and state narratives across selected post Yugoslav states (Slovenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo), I ask whether we can begin to see a larger picture of the region in question, in the process that Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak refers to as “learning to speak to”.Show less
The Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam and the Museum of Modern Art in New York played a significant role in the assimilation of De Stijl into the canon of modern art as an important and influential...Show moreThe Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam and the Museum of Modern Art in New York played a significant role in the assimilation of De Stijl into the canon of modern art as an important and influential modern art movement through the construction of institutionalized narratives. The historical retrospective De Stijl exhibition, shown in the Stedelijk Museum in 1951 and in the Museum of Modern Art in 1952-53 was an important instrument with which both museums produced and distributed narrative histories of De Stijl and contributed to the canonization of De Stijl. The aim of this research is to analyze the retrospective De Stijl exhibition and a selective number of preceding exhibitions organized by both museums in the period from 1932 to 1946 as narrative environments and spaces of representation in answer to the question what narrative histories of De Stijl were produced and with what narrative elements and devices these narratives were produced.Show less
The thesis focuses on the textual representation of theaters in Hangzhou during the Southern Song Dynasty. The booming economy during the Song Dynasty stimulated the recreational consumption,...Show moreThe thesis focuses on the textual representation of theaters in Hangzhou during the Southern Song Dynasty. The booming economy during the Song Dynasty stimulated the recreational consumption, especially the development of comedies and dramas. Such trend contributed to the emergence and improvement of theatrical spaces. As the thriving performances boosted the dividing hierarchies of the theatrical spaces, the most talented folk artists and performers presented performances in the central stages and had opportunities to serve the court. The mutual influences between court bureau and folk artists promoted the development of the theatrical spaces, attracting merchants and vendors to do business in the theatrical spaces. In the urban literature, the related recordings were enriched with the descriptions narrating the transformation of theatrical spaces. Repeated in the urban literature with different representations, the images of theatrical spaces were represented as commercial centers or part of urban spaces. Such representations made the theatrical spaces gradually become the symbol of the dynamic urban life and the memory of urban prosperity.Show less
This thesis argues that the Wilberforce Museum assumes a similar role as William Wilberforce in the opposition of slavery in the representation of slavery and abolition and the opposition of...Show moreThis thesis argues that the Wilberforce Museum assumes a similar role as William Wilberforce in the opposition of slavery in the representation of slavery and abolition and the opposition of contemporary slavery.Show less
This thesis examines the cinematic cyborg as a figure which embodies technophobic fears expressed in film. By exploring the cyborg's representation, I will show how its portrayal in film expresses...Show moreThis thesis examines the cinematic cyborg as a figure which embodies technophobic fears expressed in film. By exploring the cyborg's representation, I will show how its portrayal in film expresses these technophobic fears, which are, as I will show, interwoven with xenophobia. The cyborg is viewed here as a figure in which technophobia and xenophobia collide. I will examine the so-called preferred meaning expressed in my case studies, which are eight films featuring a cyborg protagonist released in a period of three decades. Moreover, I will compare these messages to see if and how the expressions of technophobia differ and whether they change over time.Show less
This thesis argues that within the medium of photography during Protectorate Morocco, four agents of power (French protectorate policy, French social science, commercial tourism, and the...Show moreThis thesis argues that within the medium of photography during Protectorate Morocco, four agents of power (French protectorate policy, French social science, commercial tourism, and the photographer himself) are connected and collaborate in constructing and using photography for their own interests. By analysing part of the photo collection of the French photographer Jacques Belin, who worked in Morocco between 1939 and 1961, I argue in what way these four domains were of influence in the production, construction, and use of Belin’s work. I state that these four collaborated and reinforced each other and resulted in the construction of Belin’s work. At times, France’s mission civilisatrice was the bigger picture holding the whole project together; at other times the aesthetic value or ethnographic interests were more dominant than those of the colonial mission. It is thus a much-needed contextualization of an individual photographer and the specific conditions to his work, to understand the workings of power within a larger context of photography and that of twentieth-century French colonialism.Show less
Casting the Other in a villainous light has been a trend long known in the U.S. entertainment business. Asian villains have been employed since the late 19th century, leading to the birth of the...Show moreCasting the Other in a villainous light has been a trend long known in the U.S. entertainment business. Asian villains have been employed since the late 19th century, leading to the birth of the yellow peril trope in entertainment narratives. More recently a trend of shifting this yellow peril trope from Chinese, Japanese, or any other Asian nationality to North Korean has appeared. Since the late 20th, but mostly 21st, century there has been an increase of North Korean antagonism in entertainment media. This thesis examines this shift and attempts to explain and explore this, including the effects essentialist representations (could) have on the consumer. This is done by analysing 3 films and 2 video games, all dealing with North Korean antagonism as narrative. There are also parallels drawn between the increase of North Korean antagonism in fiction and real politics, as fiction often feeds off of reality to create dramatic storylines.Show less
