In this thesis research has been conducted regarding the following question: is it possible to translate the long Qur’anic surah sūrat al-Raḥmān into Dutch, whereby the following three criteria are...Show moreIn this thesis research has been conducted regarding the following question: is it possible to translate the long Qur’anic surah sūrat al-Raḥmān into Dutch, whereby the following three criteria are met: 1. the meaning is preserved 2. the oral and aural aspect is conveyed 3. the translation is presented in natural and accessible Dutch. To meet the criterion of aurality and orality the translation must meet the testible criteria of rhyme, metre, parallelism, lexical echoes, conciseness, the relation between the sound of words and the atmosphere of a verse or surah, and repetition, which are the most important linguistic structures underlying orality and aurality. Recognizability for Muslims is part of the criterion of meaning. A translation method according to these criteria has been used in the testcase and the translation process has been described. The above resulted in a translation that met the criteria of the research question.Show less
This thesis analyses the impact of the colonization era of Japan on South Korea, and how this impacts the economic relations between these two countries over the last decade. Furthermore, this...Show moreThis thesis analyses the impact of the colonization era of Japan on South Korea, and how this impacts the economic relations between these two countries over the last decade. Furthermore, this thesis will look into the events that took place during the colonial era, such as the comfort women issue and the forced labor issue.Show less
Kaput is about escaping hegemonical structures. Yet, I claim that these structures perpetuate themselves through escape, the harder we run the more rigid these structures get. So the question...Show moreKaput is about escaping hegemonical structures. Yet, I claim that these structures perpetuate themselves through escape, the harder we run the more rigid these structures get. So the question becomes, what can we do to get rid of these structures without resorting to fleeing from them?Show less
Academic studies of nonduality tend to focus on the phenomenology of what is called “nondual experience” or “nondual awareness” that is universal to a wide range of diverse spiritual traditions...Show moreAcademic studies of nonduality tend to focus on the phenomenology of what is called “nondual experience” or “nondual awareness” that is universal to a wide range of diverse spiritual traditions such as Mahāyāna Buddhism, Advaita Vedānta, Daoism, as well as Christianity and Sufism among others. A popular way of approaching nonduality from a philosophical perspective is to assume or argue that these contradictory metaphysical systems are grounded in the same or similar phenomenological experience, which is then taken as a basis for the resolution of ontological differences between these diverse systems to arrive at a conclusion proclaiming a single absolute truth or reality revealed by all of them. This work challenges such an understanding of nonduality by engaging with an influential study in the field of intercultural comparative philosophy authored by David Loy and showing how this type of interpretation leads to epistemologically dualistic consequences, which render it untenable. What follows is a presentation of an alternative way of approaching nonduality based on the Tibetan Buddhist tradition of Dzogchen. By tracing its origins in the Indian Mahāyāna Buddhist thought, this work presents how two fundamental kinds of nonduality are understood in Dzogchen: the relative-ultimate nonduality, based on Madhyamaka, and the subject-object nonduality, based on Yogācāra. The conclusion this study aims to establish is that the most philosophically cogent presentation of nonduality is one where the negations of duality are understood to be nonimplicative, revealing the inseparable identity of any two poles under consideration. Nonduality as inseparability means that neither of the given two poles is reducible to the other, as a negation of duality is not seen to imply a unified or singular absolute reality.Show less
The first elections after the anti-establishment Arab Spring protests resulted in a victory for Islamist political parties in a number of MENA countries. This came as a surprise to the West, which...Show moreThe first elections after the anti-establishment Arab Spring protests resulted in a victory for Islamist political parties in a number of MENA countries. This came as a surprise to the West, which points of view are known to contradict Islam with the democracy and civil liberties that the Arab Spring protests called for. It comes as no surprise then that Islamist political success is often contributed to the inclusion of these parties in a pluralist and democratic playfield. Allegedly, this forces them to bargain and negotiate with other actors, resulting in the disappearance of Islamist ideological elements and making them viable options for the electorate. This prominent way of thinking - which has been called the moderation through inclusion theory - is much critiqued for being too shortsighted in its view of political Islamism. That is why this thesis argues in favor of an alternative approach that shifts the focus from the outcome of a period of political transition and whether or not this is moderate, to one that emphasizes the processes and internal and external factors that shape the ideological transformations of these parties. By looking at the most prominent Islamist parties of three countries (Tunisia, Morocco and Egypt) and tracing their historical developments and contexts based on these internal and external factors, this thesis then offers an alternative explanation to the popularity of political Islamism in the first elections after the Arab Spring uprisings.Show less
