Master thesis | Cultural Anthropology and Development Sociology (MSc)
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This thesis dives into the stories and lives of female low-caste garment workers in South India, uncovering their agency and strategies within the complex web of social norms and expectations. It's...Show moreThis thesis dives into the stories and lives of female low-caste garment workers in South India, uncovering their agency and strategies within the complex web of social norms and expectations. It's all about understanding how factors like caste, gender, and labor intertwine to shape their lives in the bustling world of textile factories. The journey starts by shining a light on the influence of big international brands on the factories' conditions and how the caste systems still affects people’s lives and opportunities. We dig into how traditional gender roles shape the lives of these female workers, dealing with both unequal power dynamics and family expectations. With the guiding question, "How exactly do female low-caste garment workers in South India show their power, and how do they tackle the challenges they face in their lives and jobs?" in mind, the research takes us through six chapters. The heart of the matter reveals that these workers, despite the odds, aren't just passive players. They've got agency and plans, like prioritizing their children’s education if their financial situation allows it in order to break free from the cycle of struggle. And then there's the central role of NGOs like READ, who give them skills and a voice to demand better conditions. Wrapping it all up, the conclusion shows strength doesn't always mean pushing back hard; it's often about finding ways to stand tall and find strategies when facing difficulties. All said and done, this research paints a vivid picture of these female workers' multi-faceted strengths, highlighting how they navigate their world with grit and grace, all while shaking up the social norms that surround them.Show less
Labeled Language analyses the use of language in the Mencius with the goal of finding out how gender differences feature in this Confucian text. It uses an innovative (original) methodology that...Show moreLabeled Language analyses the use of language in the Mencius with the goal of finding out how gender differences feature in this Confucian text. It uses an innovative (original) methodology that fuses text (data) mining and traditional close reading analysis, building from a gap in the academic literature on the topic of language and gender in the Mencius.Show less
'Ukiyo' was both a state of mind and a world of pleasure-seeking. It offered freedom from the limitations placed by the Tokugawa shogunate. It also gave the merchant class, and urban life in...Show more'Ukiyo' was both a state of mind and a world of pleasure-seeking. It offered freedom from the limitations placed by the Tokugawa shogunate. It also gave the merchant class, and urban life in general, a break from the controlling samurai warrior class. Edo (present-day Tokyo) society was generally regarded as a highly controlled society. Not unexpectedly, the Edo, Kyoto, and Osaka pleasure districts were likewise restricted. The most well-known of them was the Yoshiwara licensed brothel district, a separate walled town to the north of the main city that was exclusively created to entertain its male inhabitants. While ukiyo-e like paintings, prints, and illustrated books portrayed nearly every element of coeval Japanese society in Edo, pictures of female entertainers and pleasure districts in Yoshiwara were the most prevalent. A large selection of these portrayed women, although perhaps unintentionally by the artist because of the different social roles women had back then, are depicted in an objectifying manner. This is especially the case in bijinga, literally translated as ‘images of beautiful women’. The women, although it is debatable whether the depicted women are supposed to represent the actual women from the Edo period or if they are merely icons, are put down as objects of desire and vessels for reproduction among other things. In this paper, I will shed light on this issue and question whether ‘celebration’ or ‘aesthetic’ are used as a justification for these forms of objectification or not. Using ambiguous prints, I will give an analysis of the different perspectives and explanations that exist about that specific print.Show less
Rojava, or Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria, is an autonomous region that operates under the premises of democratic confederalism, a political theory based on direct democracy,...Show moreRojava, or Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria, is an autonomous region that operates under the premises of democratic confederalism, a political theory based on direct democracy, political ecology and gender egalitarianism. This study will analyse the implementation of gender egalitarianism through the lenses of the Political Process Model, a theory of social movements that aims to situate human agency in the centre of the analysis. The Political Process Model considers three elements in order to assess the emergence and development of social movements: mobilising structures, political opportunity structure and framing. These three elements will show different strategies that women have implemented in order to ensure their liberation in political, economic, and social terms.Show less
During the Cumberland election in 1768 Lady Mary Coke (1723-1811), together with a group of women, visited the Commons at least eight times. Elite women, often related to English politicians, were...Show moreDuring the Cumberland election in 1768 Lady Mary Coke (1723-1811), together with a group of women, visited the Commons at least eight times. Elite women, often related to English politicians, were active in the socio-political world, although there is no historiographic consensus about the intensity of their actions in the second half of the eighteenth century. This thesis challenges the view of some historians; namely that women were cut off from the political world in the period. Unlike most scholars, this research adopts a broader definition of the term ‘politics’ in which the social side is included because women were able to express their opinions more easily within the social realm. This paper aims to find out whether elite women’s political actions became more limited and less effective throughout the century or not. This will be assessed by looking at different women throughout the century, including the insufficiently researched women of the first half of the century. Furthermore, unlike other studies, this thesis will evaluate the obstacles that women encountered by examining society’s reaction to these activities through printed sources, like prints and magazines. It will show how women dealt with these obstacles in three socio-political activities within the public and private spheres: politicized gatherings, political patronage, and publications. This thesis argues that women were not only politically active throughout the century, but also that their activities increased, and that their influence can be easily perceived in the more local and personal levels of society.Show less
More than 95%. This is the highly alarming number of incidents of sexual violence in Japan that are not reported to the police according to a study from 2018.1 In fact, in Japan, sexual crimes...Show moreMore than 95%. This is the highly alarming number of incidents of sexual violence in Japan that are not reported to the police according to a study from 2018.1 In fact, in Japan, sexual crimes continue to carry a heavy stigma and society’s approach to it remains sexist and archaic.2 From 2017, #MeToo, a hashtag constituted of two simple but powerful words has travelled around the world enabling women to voice their allegations of sex crimes. This movement could have been the opportunity to break the silence about sexual violence in Japan, nonetheless, it did not seem to take root in the country. This thesis aims to shed light on the struggle endured by victims of sexual violence in Japan who dared to speak up in a society unwilling to understand their pain. This thesis intends to dive into this matter and analyse how the adverse reactions to allegations of sex crimes reflect Japanese society’s stance toward the #MeToo movement.Show less
