Master thesis | Cultural Anthropology and Development Sociology (MSc)
closed access
This thesis delves into the complex dynamics of gender performance within the Tokyo trans and X-gender community, examining the ways in which individuals navigate their gender identities in...Show moreThis thesis delves into the complex dynamics of gender performance within the Tokyo trans and X-gender community, examining the ways in which individuals navigate their gender identities in different social settings. By adopting Erving Goffman's concept of the "frontstage" and the "backstage", the study aims to shed light on the complex interplay between conformity and self-expression in this cultural context. Through a combination of casual conversations, semi-structured interviews, observation, use of drawings, and analysis of online discourse, this research unveils the strategies employed by community members to negotiate societal norms and expectations. After defining gender roles and expectations in Japan, the thesis focuses on looks and the ability to "pass" as a cisgender person, which not only influence trans and X-gender people's possibility to access to queer and non-queer settings, but also condition their gender performance. Afterwards, the thesis focuses on gender performance in the "frontstage" and "backstage". Whereas the "frontstage" showcases the performative aspects of gender identity, often influenced by societal pressures and traditional gender roles, the "backstage" allows for a more authentic exploration of self, often characterized by fluidity and experimentation.Show less
Genderneutraal en inclusief taalgebruik zijn vaak onderwerp van discussie op veel nieuwsredacties. Er bestaan verschillende studies over hoe de geschreven journalistiek hiermee omgaat. Er is nog...Show moreGenderneutraal en inclusief taalgebruik zijn vaak onderwerp van discussie op veel nieuwsredacties. Er bestaan verschillende studies over hoe de geschreven journalistiek hiermee omgaat. Er is nog geen onderzoek gedaan naar genderneutraal taalgebruik in de gesproken journalistiek zoals in presentatieteksten. Daarom focust dit onderzoek zich op Nederlandse televisienieuwsprogramma’s. Specifiek komen in deze analyse presentatoren en eindverantwoordelijken van twee publieke organisaties (NOS en EenVandaag) en twee commerciële partijen (RTL Nieuws/EditieNL en Hart van Nederland) aan het woord. Met hun inzichten wordt de hoofdvraag: ‘Hoe zeggen presentatoren en eindverantwoordelijken van Nederlandse televisienieuwsprogramma’s om te gaan met genderneutrale voornaamwoorden en neutrale beroepsaanduidingen?’ beantwoord. De deelvragen richten zich op genderneutrale voornaamwoorden en neutrale beroepsaanduidingen, de rol van nieuwsmedia en het gebruik van queer. Uit de literatuur komt naar voren dat de media een belangrijke rol spelen bij het vastleggen en veranderen van taalnormen, omdat de taal die de media gebruiken gezien wordt als de standaard (Van Poecke & Van den Bulck, 1991 – p. 83). Taal moet als het ware een spiegel zijn van de maatschappij waarbij de journalistiek verantwoordelijk is voor representatieve berichtgeving. De media kijken dan ook naar de (gender)neutrale taalontwikkeling over beroepsaanduidingen en voornaamwoorden voor non-binaire personen in het bijzonder. Daarnaast is queer als overkoepelende en meer neutrale term voor de lhbti+-gemeenschap, waar non-binaire personen onder vallen, opgenomen als taalontwikkeling, omdat queer vaker door organisaties wordt gebruikt. Uit de theorie blijkt dat een stijlboek met taalrichtlijnen een belangrijk hulpmiddel kan zijn voor nieuwsredacties om stereotypering en discriminatie tegen te gaan (De Jong, 2016 – p. 17; Sczesny et al. 2016 – p. 8). Uit de resultaten komt naar voren dat nieuwsredacties al veelvuldig gebruikmaken van neutrale beroepsaanduidingen en daarbij kiezen voor de neutrale vorm voor iedereen, bijvoorbeeld schrijver in plaats van schrijfster. Genderneutrale voornaamwoorden (hen/hun, die/diens) zijn nog niet bewust in een nieuwstekst voorgekomen en verdienen volgens de respondenten ook altijd een inleiding, omdat woorden die bij de kijker nog niet ingeburgerd zijn, uitleg nodig hebben. De begrijpelijkheid van een nieuwstekst staat voorop. Een term als ‘queer’ zal dan ook pas gebruikelijk worden als het woord in de samenleving breed gebruikt wordt. De deelnemers aan dit onderzoek vinden dat de media een voorbeeldfunctie hebben, maar in inclusief taalgebruik niet voorop moeten lopen. Over wanneer je in taalgebruik precies vooroploopt, verschillen de opvattingen. Zo neemt het ene medium bewust inclusieve stijlregels op en de andere niet. Maar elk nieuwsprogramma behandelt met respect dergelijke inclusieve casussen en kijkt altijd hoe het voor de kijker zo begrijpelijk mogelijk blijft.Show less
Master thesis | Cultural Anthropology and Development Sociology (MSc)
open access
This article addresses the way LGBTQ+ athletes use sport as a tool for resilience. Preliminary research on resilience through sport focuses on sport as a pre-facilitated space, intentionally...Show moreThis article addresses the way LGBTQ+ athletes use sport as a tool for resilience. Preliminary research on resilience through sport focuses on sport as a pre-facilitated space, intentionally created for resilience building, rather than sport as a regular space but used by the athlete as an independent tool for resilience without interference by external organizations. This research explores the experiences of LGBTQ+ athletes in sport by conducting visual ethnographic research, keeping the social ecology theory in mind. This article reflects on how the process of fieldwork has changed the course of this research, and how audio-visual methods and making a film have led to these changes, thereby providing new insights regarding sport as a tool for resilience.Show less
Deze scriptie past de dragtheorie van Mowats "Don't be a Drag, just be a Priest" toe op grafmonumenten van mogelijke galli. Daarmee hoopt deze scriptie het gebruik van deze theorie aan te moedigen.
In the People's Republic of China, the state takes a didactic approach towards the diffusion of media and forbids the depiction of homoerotic relationships on the big and small screen. Chinese web...Show moreIn the People's Republic of China, the state takes a didactic approach towards the diffusion of media and forbids the depiction of homoerotic relationships on the big and small screen. Chinese web series "The Untamed" (Chen Qing Ling 陈情令) however adapts a web novel containing an explicit homoerotic romance to public acclaim. This exploratory study examines how the directors of this series navigated government censorship and conveyed the homoerotic subtext between the two protagonists. In order to answer this, the thesis makes use of visual discourse analysis (divided into the layers of the image, the soundscape and the montage) on shot protocols as outlined as in Schneider (2012) while also building upon the theoretical frameworks of Van Leeuwen (1996; 2008), Kress and Van Leeuwen (2006) and Iedema (2004). The analysis is contextualized by a literature review spanning the topics of the history of homosexuality in China, the importance of representation and television, homosexual representation in the Chinese media landscape to end with the topic of the state approach to media and censorship mechanisms of web series. The thesis concludes that the directors successfully depicted homoerotic subtext by using a wide range of audio-visual and narrative techniques while leaving enough space for deniability, which might bring about more adaptations of such materials and influence public opinion about homosexual individuals.Show less
Systematic discrimination suggests that societal systems such as governmental, legal, medical educational systems are biased, and positioning certain groups and individuals in a more privileged...Show moreSystematic discrimination suggests that societal systems such as governmental, legal, medical educational systems are biased, and positioning certain groups and individuals in a more privileged position than others. Firstly, this article looks at digitalization in relation to Gilles Deleuze’s concept “Societies of Control” to reveal the controlling power that informatics systems hold. It argues that informatics systems do not only duplicate the already existing biases and norms but also establishes new methods to keep them functioning. Furthermore, it realizes that the controlling aspect is woven with the formal qualities of the digital such as binary digital encoding, algorithms and the actions that they allow and forbid. This article perceives the certainty and the binary limitations that are promised by the informatics systems as a danger for queer, diverse and inclusive understandings of reality. By analyzing Merrit Kopas’s video game Lim through a queer theoretical framework that is provided by the book Queer Game Studies, edited by Bonnie Ruberg and Adrienne Shaw, it illustrates the queering potential of video games against the normativities and the control power the informatics systems hold. The analysis shows that video games as an action-based medium, can teach about the politics of the informatics age and therefore can raise an awareness but also provide strategies to counter-play with the normativities and the controlling power. As a result, it suggests video games as the tools that carry a potential for resistance against the promised certainty and to build more inclusive, queer futures.Show less
This thesis aimed to examine to what extent the experiences of the LGBTQ+ community at Sogang University reflect the treatment of LGBTQ+ individuals in South Korea as a whole. This study discovered...Show moreThis thesis aimed to examine to what extent the experiences of the LGBTQ+ community at Sogang University reflect the treatment of LGBTQ+ individuals in South Korea as a whole. This study discovered that LGBTQ+ students at Sogang University, to a certain extent, receive social support from the same sources as the queer community on a national level does, but lack support from online communities and through representation in class and on campus.Show less
This MA thesis examines how several early modern English poets and playwrights draw on and modify discourses about female-female desire. It looks at the poems “Sapho to Philaenis” (1633) by John...Show moreThis MA thesis examines how several early modern English poets and playwrights draw on and modify discourses about female-female desire. It looks at the poems “Sapho to Philaenis” (1633) by John Donne, “The Description of Cookham” (1611) by Aemilia Lanyer, and “To My Excellent Lucasia” (1654) by Katherine Philips. I will also investigate The Convent of Pleasure (1668) by Margaret Cavendish, and William Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream (1595). These poems and plays are read in tandem with early modern discourses of medicine and friendship. Medical texts generally condemn sexual relations between women through the transgressive figure of the tribade, who is characterised by unbridled lust. Discourses of friendship propose a different figure: that of the platonic female friend. Both discourses propose radically different views on female love. Furthermore, writers within each discourse often disagree with one another and do not present a unanimous verdict on the significance, danger, and prevalence of female-female attraction, desire, and love. This leaves room for writers of poetry and plays to experiment with their portrayals of love between women. Poets and playwrights write far more nuanced portrayals of female same-sex desire and love than medical and amicitial discourses may lead us to expect, often making a case for the potency and validity of female-female love.Show less
This thesis focuses on the contemporary queer photography of the artists Zanele Muholi, Momo Okabe, and Zach Blas. More specifically, it examines the role of different theories on gender, queerness...Show moreThis thesis focuses on the contemporary queer photography of the artists Zanele Muholi, Momo Okabe, and Zach Blas. More specifically, it examines the role of different theories on gender, queerness, and photography in connection to queer time and space, haptics, affect, and queer opacity. These aesthetic elements are treated as potentially subversive in relation to Gilles Deleuze’s concept of the society of control. The frameworks of both queer and photography theories are employed to analyze the photographs’ formal and political aspects in order to explore their subversive possibilities. My readings and analysis of the photographs suggest that each of these artists deploys aesthetic features as queer tactics to resist the society of control. Additionally, based on the analysis of my own photographic series, Showering with Glasses (2018), I provide an artist’s perspective on possible methods to approach queer aesthetics and the ways in which they might be harnessed as queer tactics. By specifically addressing contemporary queer photography, my hope is to provide insight into what this genre is capable of achieving in the real world.Show less
Over the past few years transgender rights have become increasingly mainstream, and issues affecting transgender people have frequently made headlines. When considering these issues, transgender is...Show moreOver the past few years transgender rights have become increasingly mainstream, and issues affecting transgender people have frequently made headlines. When considering these issues, transgender is often placed within the greater scope of LGBT rights. However, only fairly recently has the LGB community embraced the T. This research will look at the history of transgender activism, and how the sectional nature of homosexual men and lesbian women excluded the intersectionality of transgender people. This thesis will consider the relationship between these factions in activism, in medical terms and in social terms. It will further come to show that the history of transgender activism is a struggle that is still alive today.Show less
