Research master thesis | Arts and Culture (research) (MA)
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This thesis offers an iconographic analysis of the architectural language with which the round church in the Ideal City of Urbino (unknown artist, c. 1480-1495) is depicted. With new insights on...Show moreThis thesis offers an iconographic analysis of the architectural language with which the round church in the Ideal City of Urbino (unknown artist, c. 1480-1495) is depicted. With new insights on the artist's most likely architectural as well as theological sources of inspiration for the round church's building structure and stylistic language, this research contributes to filling a gap in the vast literature on this Renaissance painting.Show less
Research master thesis | Archaeology (research) (MA/MSc)
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The Corded Ware culture (c. 2900-2450 BCE; CWC) was a prehistoric phenomenon encountered throughout Europe, characterized by standardized material culture and burial practices. Recent studies...Show moreThe Corded Ware culture (c. 2900-2450 BCE; CWC) was a prehistoric phenomenon encountered throughout Europe, characterized by standardized material culture and burial practices. Recent studies incorporating new scientific methods such as ancient DNA and stable isotopes suggest that this phenomenon was the result of mass migrations from the Pontic Caspian steppe, thus confirming traditional hypotheses regarding the origin and fast spread of this archaeological culture. Moreover, the grand narrative of this period includes a notion of a strict binary gender symbolism and even of a ‘male-dominant’, patriarchal society. Such an interpretation of CW gender is however largely rooted in andro- and ethnocentric, Western assumptions, in which biological sex is equated with gender, and weapons (i.e. the CW ‘battle-axe’) are associated with masculinity. This thesis aims to investigate to which extent the CWC indeed had a notion of binary gender, and to better understand how CW gender was expressed through material culture and its selective deposition in different contexts. A practical methodology with a comparative and multi-contextual approach is developed in order to study CW gender. Two case studies have been selected: the Danish administrative region of Southern Jutland, known for its very typical Single Grave practices, and the state of Bavaria in Germany, which is expected to be a focal point in the mobility of people and the exchange of raw materials. The emphasis is placed on the co-occurrences between different object categories and their ‘embodiment’, and different depositional contexts: the funerary context as well as depositions (i.e. buried objects without a body) and single finds. Strikingly, CW gender appears to have been constructed through an interplay of supra-regional and local burial styles and artefacts. The binary dichotomy seen in the funerary context is more likely the result of normative ideas regarding a supra-regional CW identity and – more idiosyncratic – local identities, although gender clearly played a role in these norms. The prehistoric reality of CW gender may thus have been more locally variable than the grand narrative would suggest.Show less
This thesis gives a comparative account of the history of organising among LGBTI disabled people in the United Kingdom and the Netherlands, in the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s. Taking an intersectional...Show moreThis thesis gives a comparative account of the history of organising among LGBTI disabled people in the United Kingdom and the Netherlands, in the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s. Taking an intersectional approach, this thesis sheds light on the experiences of those who were multiply-identified, and on the isolating impact that groups organised around one singular identity could have. Moreover, beyond addressing homophobia in disabled spaces and ableism in the lesbian and gay subculture, this thesis focuses on how disabled LGBTI people organised themselves as a response to these exclusions. Thus, based on archival and oral sources, this thesis shows how disabled LGBTI people navigated both LGBTI and disabled spheres, and how and why they created or used disabled LGBTI spheres and content. Additionally, this thesis analyses processes of positive identity formation and the use of emancipatory rhetoric in disabled lesbian and gay groups. These developments are discussed in relation to the national contexts these groups existed in, specifically with regards to the broader lesbian and gay movements, and the disability movements. Finally, this thesis takes into account implicit or explicit processes of inclusion and exclusion, with regards to transgender people, people of colour, and people with intellectual disabilities. The creation of implicit or explicit boundaries to group membership worked to create a normative identity within disabled lesbian and gay groups as well. This illustrates the importance of the intersectional approach taken in this thesis, which allows space for those identifying along other axes beyond disability and lesbian and gay subjectivities.Show less
Research master thesis | Linguistics (research) (MA)
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Although there have been many studies looking into the integration process, likelihood and types of loans, the position of loans in the recipient language is less clear. They seem to be part of a...Show moreAlthough there have been many studies looking into the integration process, likelihood and types of loans, the position of loans in the recipient language is less clear. They seem to be part of a grey area, between the lexicon and incidental language use, bordering on code-switching. Through the analysis of a Dictionary Project, a Survey Project and Language Expert Interviews, this study attempts to map the factors that influence the perceived Dutchness of English loans in Dutch and attempts to narrow the grey area that loans are part of. The results show that the Linguistic Aspects, Age and Semantics of loans most strongly influence the perceived Dutchness. Moreover, the loans should not be a niche concept or be rarely used. Subsequently, the results make it possible to create a tentative blueprint for the characteristics a loan should have to be perceived as part of Dutch, in effect slightly narrowing the grey area loans are part of.Show less
Research master thesis | Linguistics (research) (MA)
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“Eating meat is wrong”. Discussions about the consumption of animal products appear to be dominated by such all-or-nothing statements. As soon as someone says the words ‘meat’ or ‘vegetarian’, each...Show more“Eating meat is wrong”. Discussions about the consumption of animal products appear to be dominated by such all-or-nothing statements. As soon as someone says the words ‘meat’ or ‘vegetarian’, each side is sharpened, ready to defend its position against personal attacks by the opponent. While some argue that eating less meat will improve public health and reduce greenhouse gas emissions, others consider the consumption of animal products a matter of personal choice. Whichever way you look at it, the issue of meat consumption gives rise to a great deal of disagreement and ongoing debate. The ‘eat less meat’ debate can be defined as a public debate. Public debates are confrontations of different opinions, accessible to a broad group of people, on issues related to a problem that affects many people. The problem somehow requires action and is characterised by a sequence of practical consequences (Walton 2007:217). Such debates shape public attitudes and social norms based on different values (RMO 2011:13). A public debate is thus an exchange of different opinions and a reflection of what is happening in society. The above highlights that public debate covers a broad range of activities. By analysing the term ‘public debate’, this broad range can be clarified somewhat: it is a debate and it is public. That it is a debate means that it is about advancing arguments, but what does it mean that it is public? On the one hand, it indicates that the discussion is held in public: it must be possible for everyone to have access to the arguments put forward and the arguments must therefore be easily disseminated to the citizens. On the other hand, it points out that the debate is a discussion of the public: in the case of democracies, this means that all citizens, who are the public of their elected representatives, must be able to participate in the debate. In a public debate, therefore, not only must the arguments put forward be accessible to everyone, but the debate must also be accessible to everyone in terms of participation. The above points out that public debates take place in the ‘public sphere’: an imaginary community that exists not necessarily in an ‘identifiable space’ but should rather be understood as a place in social life where people can come together to freely identify and discuss social problems and, through that discussion, influence political action (Habermas 1962/1991:176). Under the influence of technological developments, the contemporary public sphere often takes place online. This ‘online public sphere’ is characterised by the coexistence of many different public actors who freely express their opinions: individual citizens, political parties, trade unions, companies, (government) institutions, the mass media, and so on. With the emergence of new media in the last two decades, the way in which discussions about common interests are conducted has changed radically. The new media have given people the means to play an active role in public debates: to protest against policy or to mobilise others and to put topics on the agenda. These developments have transformed public debates such as the ‘eat less meat’ debate into large-scale, complex political and ideological discussions in which opinions are defended and criticised from many different perspectives. This thesis focuses specifically on these large-scale complex public debates that take place in the online public sphere. Because these online large-scale complex public debates have a clear argumentative function, the analysis and evaluation of the discourse can be based on argumentative theories. From a pragma-dialectical perspective on argumentation, a public debate is a clearly distinguishable argumentative activity type: a conventional argumentative practice in which the possibilities for strategic maneuvers are predetermined (Van Eemeren & Garssen 2010:505). The fact that the way in which people participate in public debates has changed and, in particular, that in the kind of debates central to this thesis many different actors become protagonists of argumentatively-relevant moves, leads to challenges when analysing these online large-scale complex public debates from a pragma-dialectical perspective. This is because in dialectical models of argumentation, such as the model used in pragma-dialectics, argumentation is typically theorised as a dyadic exchange between two parties occupying two basic positions (Lewiński & Aakhus 2013:161). The new media, and other changes in public debates, thus pose a challenge for practice and theory on pragma-dialectical argumentation analysis and the reconstruction of argumentative activity types. This calls for an elucidation of the way in which this type of debate can be characterised and analysed in terms of pragma-dialectics. This research thus aims to find out how online large-scale complex public debates can be characterised and analysed in pragma-dialectical terms.Show less
Research master thesis | Literary Studies (research) (MA)
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This thesis aims to shed new light on the intersection between the Gawain cycle and its socio-political environment by focusing primarily on the monsters. By analysing the monsters in the...Show moreThis thesis aims to shed new light on the intersection between the Gawain cycle and its socio-political environment by focusing primarily on the monsters. By analysing the monsters in the narratives as cultural projections of a certain period, this thesis aims to gain insight into the feelings and anxieties that accompanied the tensions between the noble houses during the Wars of the Roses. The monsters in the narratives of the Sir Gawain Cycle challenge the Arthurian Court to reflect on different sides of nobility. As outsiders, or as ‘Others’, they try to warn the knights of the Round Table to change their values and beliefs, and they urge them to live by a type of nobility that is more focused on virtue instead of wealth and status. Each monstrous body presents a different flaw within the ideology of the Round Table, and in turn, comments upon real concerns and anxieties that existed in the late-fifteenth century border region.Show less
Research master thesis | Literary Studies (research) (MA)
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In this thesis, I seek to analyze the postmodern condition in history from a quantum-philosophical perspective. According to the famous physicist Niels Bohr, (our knowledge of) the quantum object...Show moreIn this thesis, I seek to analyze the postmodern condition in history from a quantum-philosophical perspective. According to the famous physicist Niels Bohr, (our knowledge of) the quantum object cannot be meaningfully separated from the instruments used to interrogate and represent the quantum object. The instrument intervenes into the quantum universe in a way that allows for comprehensible knowledge of the quantum object. In turn, Bohr presents a conception of scientific objectivity that acknowledges and incorporates this meaningful intervention. In my thesis, I present a detailed analysis of Bohr’s interpretation of quantum mechanics, connecting his insights to the issue of subjectivity in history and historiography. I present an interpretative framework, inspired by quantum-philosophical perspectives, which integrates the subjective processes of observing, constructing and writing history into a new conception of historical realism. Like Bohr’s quantum philosophy, this historical realism considers the instruments for observation and representation as inseparable from yet meaningfully constitutive of the historical object.Show less
Research master thesis | Asian Studies (research) (MA)
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The term Manchu has always been a complex one. The Daiqing khans already struggled to define the Manchu community. After a century of silence, the Manchus are slowly crawling from under their...Show moreThe term Manchu has always been a complex one. The Daiqing khans already struggled to define the Manchu community. After a century of silence, the Manchus are slowly crawling from under their shells to form a new Manchu community in the contemporary world. By taking into consideration theoretical frameworks of imagined communities and transculturality, this thesis aims to define the cultural aspect(s) that help the Manchus imagine their community. It looks at different potential aspects and evaluates whether those are integrated within the social spaces (public, private, educational, occupational and virtual) of the Manchus.Show less
This thesis discusses the humorous interpretations of integration which figured in Dutch humorous television programmes between 1975 and 2010. It uncovers the importance and meanings ascribed to...Show moreThis thesis discusses the humorous interpretations of integration which figured in Dutch humorous television programmes between 1975 and 2010. It uncovers the importance and meanings ascribed to integration in Dutch society at large.Show less
Research master thesis | African Studies (research) (MA)
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2020-09-01T00:00:00Z
This thesis is an attempt to place the decline of the Marinid Empire in a wider perspective, in order to gain a better understanding of the causes of the decline. Although long considered to be a...Show moreThis thesis is an attempt to place the decline of the Marinid Empire in a wider perspective, in order to gain a better understanding of the causes of the decline. Although long considered to be a weak and ineffective polity in modern historiography, the Marinid Empire was perhaps one of the wealthiest polities of the medieval world. By controlling and facilitating the Trans-Saharan trade networks, the Marinids had access to the largest source of gold in their time, which enabled them to become an important regional polity. Their relative short reign and quick collapse however, cast a shadow over their legacy. But what caused their collapse? This thesis focused on the influence of the Black Death and its possible causative role in the decline of the Trans-Saharan gold trade. By doing so, a series of interesting correlations emerge that suggest that there is a causative relation between the arrival of the Black Death in West Africa, the decline of the Trans Saharan gold trade in the late 14th century and the Marinid decline itself.Show less
Research master thesis | Classics and Ancient Civilizations (research) (MA)
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This study describes the realization of Tense, Aspect and Modality (TAM) in Jewish Palestinian Aramaic, a specific variety of Western Aramaic, roughly attested during the first 1,500 years of the...Show moreThis study describes the realization of Tense, Aspect and Modality (TAM) in Jewish Palestinian Aramaic, a specific variety of Western Aramaic, roughly attested during the first 1,500 years of the common era. It compares it to the realization of TAM in both Biblical Hebrew (with which JPA was in contact through the legacy of the Bible) and Achaemenid Official Aramaic (which is more closely related in a genealogical sense).Show less
Research master thesis | Linguistics (research) (MA)
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This thesis is based on my foundings during a visit to Gebe Island, North Maluku, Indonesia. Throughout my visit, I learned about the endangered Gebe language and culture. In my thesis, I firstly...Show moreThis thesis is based on my foundings during a visit to Gebe Island, North Maluku, Indonesia. Throughout my visit, I learned about the endangered Gebe language and culture. In my thesis, I firstly provide a geographical, societal, historical and sociolinguistic background to the Gebe Island and people. Secondly, I describe Gebe phonology, including phonotactics, phonetic and morphophonological processes, and suprasegmental phonology. Thirdly, I explain the differences between the word classes, among which nouns, verbs, adverbs, adpositions, demonstratives and quantifiers. Fourthly, I explain how nouns and verbs function in a clause, including how they form phrases, and how and by which units these phrases can be modified.Show less
By applying the concept of "anchoring innovation" to multiple synchronic sources, this study shows how much similarity there is in "anchor-shaping" amongst different members of the sixth-century...Show moreBy applying the concept of "anchoring innovation" to multiple synchronic sources, this study shows how much similarity there is in "anchor-shaping" amongst different members of the sixth-century Roman elite. Roman law and education were important markers of romanness around the traditionalist court of the Ostrogothic king Theoderic. Cassiodorus, Ennodius and the anonymous author of the Edictum Theoderici all used these traditional concepts as weapons in their struggle for social power. Education (including juridical skills) led to a self-made form of nobility, which implied worldly power. Further research on the social functioning of normative texts could increase our understanding of the power of tradition in rhetorical communication and the possibilities of this "prescriptive negotiation" for social networks.Show less
