This dissertation focuses on the actors and agencies in the transnational Buddhist networks that were involved in the making of Buddhism in Indonesia from 1900 to 1959. Using the framework of... Show moreThis dissertation focuses on the actors and agencies in the transnational Buddhist networks that were involved in the making of Buddhism in Indonesia from 1900 to 1959. Using the framework of transnational networks, this dissertation endeavours to understand how Buddhism gradually secured a place in Indonesian society. By viewing the late-colonial and early post-colonial period as a continuum in which Buddhism continued to take root, it connects developments that have thus far been treated as separated by the demarcation line of Indonesian independence.Furthermore it argues that modern Buddhism in the Indonesian archipelago developed as a result of global and regional religious transformations. Particularly important was the spread of Theravada Buddhism in South and Southeast Asia. Especially, the dissertation investigates the dominant roles of lay people, Buddhist missionaries and intellectuals who were living in and travelling to colonial Indonesia. The Peranakan Chinese were the primary local actors in this process because of their pivotal role in the making of modern Buddhism from the beginning of the period under consideration until the post- independence years. The Peranakan Chinese community can be seen as a “place” where people from various backgrounds articulated their ideas about Buddhism and interacted with others. Show less
The neoliberal model of development was imposed in Chile by the Pinochet military regime (1973-1990) and remained almost unchanged following democratic restoration in 1990. Nonetheless, as of 2010,... Show moreThe neoliberal model of development was imposed in Chile by the Pinochet military regime (1973-1990) and remained almost unchanged following democratic restoration in 1990. Nonetheless, as of 2010, this neoliberal model has been increasingly contested by the left-wing sectors and especially by the rise of new social movements, which has visibly affected the degree of legitimacy neoliberalism possesses amongst the Chilean population.This scenario has brought with it the rise of new actors within the Chilean Right who have contested the hegemony of the old political and intellectual leaders in this sector. These new actors have tried intensely to lead the political and ideological renewal process of the Chilean right-wing. While one sector of these new actors has developed a critical view of the existing neoliberal economic model and is attempting to reformulate their ideological postulates, the other sector argues that only tactical and pragmatic adaptations are required.This study explores the processes of political and ideological renewal that the Chilean Right has experienced between 1990 and 2018. To do so, this dissertation pays attention to the long-term history of the Chilean right-wing, while is also focused on a series of initiatives of renewal currently led by a young generation of right-wing intellectuals established in new think tanks. Show less
This research focuses on the relationship between higher education and the world of work to situate and examine dynamics of change and organizational adaptation of Chilean universities through the... Show moreThis research focuses on the relationship between higher education and the world of work to situate and examine dynamics of change and organizational adaptation of Chilean universities through the development of new management capacities associated with a global employability agenda.To this end, the emergence and spread of employability as a concept, practice and political instrument in higher education worldwide was analysed. The Chilean case was looked into as an iconic example of the economic transformations that the global university sector is currently experimenting. A detailed empiric examination of the main aspects of the discourses on employability in Chile was carried out. The national scenario was described in terms of the insertion and functioning of new management capacities to boost employability at universities. Finally, the origin, development and status of these organisational capacities in relation to the evolution of the formal structure of said organisations was studied in depth.The results allow for the visualisation of significant effects of pressures that comes from universities’ institutional environments. At the same time, it reveals ways in which market disputes become opaque and are ideologically neutralised under the blanket of supposedly shared global aspirations, such as what occurs with the employability agenda. Show less
The Revolt in the Low Countries against the Spanish monarch received a lot of international attention in the seventeenth century. In Italy too, the events in the Low Countries were closely followed... Show moreThe Revolt in the Low Countries against the Spanish monarch received a lot of international attention in the seventeenth century. In Italy too, the events in the Low Countries were closely followed. This apparent from the large number of Italian historical works on the war. Using a variety of texts, this research focuses on different aspects of early modern Italian historiography on the conflict in the Low Countries. The first question of this thesis has sought to address is how we can explain the great historiographical interest in Italy for the military, religious and political complications during the Revolt. This research shows that some Italian texts about the Revolt have their origins in a local context, such as political debates in Italian cities. The second part of this study concerns the impact of the transnational historiography on political opinions, in particular the question of the implications of the Italian histories of the Revolt for the political debates in Italy and in the Republic of the United Provinces. How were those Italian publications received and what can we learn from them when it comes to the influence of transnational works on the writing of history and on political debates, both in the Republic and in Italy? This study aims to contribute to a greater knowledge of the international attention for the Revolt and to our contemporary view on the conflict in the Low Countries. Show less
A focus on the everyday has produced this ethnography, which hopes to give a nuanced voice to an extended family of semi-sedentary nomads, living at the centre of a country and region known for its... Show moreA focus on the everyday has produced this ethnography, which hopes to give a nuanced voice to an extended family of semi-sedentary nomads, living at the centre of a country and region known for its political turmoil, ecological insecurities, and socio-economic hardship. Based in central Chad, the Walad Djifir are part of extensive socio-economic networks, ranging from very local cattle markets, to Western Unions in Libya, and selling merchandise in the Central African Republic. The ferīkh (nomadic camp) is where all of the Walad Djifir’s networks meet, and often also begin— providing the departure point of this research. This analytical and methodological approach embraces the intricate relationships between sedentary and mobility, the mundane and the extreme, flexibility and expectations to explore how regional trends can be understood in light of the Walad Djifir’s daily lives. Over time, the Walad Djifir have developed ways of coping and dealing with insecurities, interacting with infrastructural, technological, and socio-political developments in specific ways. In exploring how such insecurities and crises become anchored into the everyday, the ferīkh provides answers. It is precisely the mundane elements of daily life which anchor disruption. Show less
Chile has been experiencing important economic growth since the 1980s, turning it into one of the most prosperous countries in Latin America. With the return to democracy in 1990, the country also... Show moreChile has been experiencing important economic growth since the 1980s, turning it into one of the most prosperous countries in Latin America. With the return to democracy in 1990, the country also regained high levels of political and social stability that still makes it stand out among the countries in the region. All this has caused an important level of migration of citizens from other Latin American countries, all wanting to participate of the economic prosperity and political stability that characterises Chile.This study is focused on the current wave of migration of immigrants from Latin America and the Caribbean to Chile. This study analyses the situation of immigrants of African descent in the Arica and Parinacota, Tarapacá and Antofagasta regions that make up Chile’s Norte Grande. Given the fact that this part of the country shares borders with Peru and Bolivia, the local population has, in the past, been relatively more tolerant to immigrants than the rest of the country.The first aim pf the study is to observe how these immigrants are received in said cities and, in particular, what the locals and immigrants of African descent think about their possibilities of being included in Chilean society and their impact on local identity. The aim is to contribute to the debate on migration processes in northern Chile. On one hand, how immigrants (re)construct their identity is also explored, as well as how local society in these cities adapts to either include and/or exclude this otherness. That is why attention is paid to both the expectations of how immigrants will be received as well as to these cities’ socio-political histories and how they were created and set up. Show less
This PhD thesis has studied the meeting practice of the Dutch States General to address the role of tradition and culture in times of political and institutional transition in the first half of the... Show moreThis PhD thesis has studied the meeting practice of the Dutch States General to address the role of tradition and culture in times of political and institutional transition in the first half of the 19th century. Dutch revisionist historians of the Revolutionary Era have emphasized the sense of rupture surrounding the year 1800. The Batavian revolutionaries, together with French Revolutionary and Napoleonic armies, caused a clear break between the ancien régime of the Dutch Republic and the 19th-century Kingdom of the Netherlands. Modern constitutions replaced the de- centralized government system of the Dutch Republic with a unitary state from 1798 onwards. When the Dutch regained their independence after the fall of Napoleon in 1813, the new state did not turn the clock back to 1795. In that respect, the Netherlands has been studied as a fine example of Reinhard Koselleck’s concept of Sattelzeit. Continuities, such as the name States General for the bicameral parliament, were merely invented traditions to hide the new institutions of the Restoration state. Notwithstanding obvious evidence of discontinuity, in political practice there was more continuity in the Netherlands during the transitional period from the 18th to the 19th century than historians have assumed. Show less
A Contractor Empire looks at government contracting in Portugal and its overseas empire during the so called Iberian ‘Union of the Crowns’ (1580-1640). It places 17th century Portugal at the centre... Show moreA Contractor Empire looks at government contracting in Portugal and its overseas empire during the so called Iberian ‘Union of the Crowns’ (1580-1640). It places 17th century Portugal at the centre of the latest historiographic debates on the interplay between business oriented groups and state formation during the early modern period. This dissertation clarifies why and to what extent the Portuguese Crown underwrote government contracts with business firms to handle tasks of public utility. On the other hand, it looks at the ethos and praxis of what was simultaneously an effective financial and administrative tool (for the state) and a compelling economic, social and political investment (for private businessmen).I argue that a major distinctive feature of the Portuguese contractor state was the multitude of public-private partnerships pertaining to the overseas offshoots. It is also emphasized how contracts did not always involve military logistics, as the secondary literature assumes. Among these other tasks were tax-farming and the outsourcing of royal monopolies over colonial commodities. In addition to considering the needs of the Crown and the terms and conditions of various public contracts, public-private partnerships are also analysed from the vantage point of their recipients. Light is shed on how entrepreneurs and partnerships met their obligations to the state and secured a compelling return on their investment, but also on the reasons why they took part in these potentially lucrative but equally risky endeavours. Show less
This thesis looks at the representation of violence in Dutch newspapers during the rise of the mass media in the Netherlands, from 1880 to 1930. Newspaper circulations shot up and newspapers... Show moreThis thesis looks at the representation of violence in Dutch newspapers during the rise of the mass media in the Netherlands, from 1880 to 1930. Newspaper circulations shot up and newspapers increasingly targeted women readers and the working class. The thesis examines how these changes affected press coverage of sexual and family violence, crimes that involved women either as the victim or the perpetrator. A key question was whether public condemnation of male violence against women increased during this period, as has been argued by some historians.I find that newspaper reporting on partner violence and sexual violence increased after 1880, and the reports became more sympathetic to the women involved. I argue that this was in part because such human-interest stories were thought to appeal to the new target segment of women readers. However, journalists never treated such violence as a social problem and they often romanticized or trivialized assaults by men. Moreover, crime news was mediated by the sources and shaped by distinctive features of the Dutch criminal justice system. Show less
The aim of this research is to contribute to the academic discussion on the problem universities face regarding their capacity to function as integrated organisations. This study analyses the... Show moreThe aim of this research is to contribute to the academic discussion on the problem universities face regarding their capacity to function as integrated organisations. This study analyses the universities’ capacity to coordinate different internal interests based on common aims. Three Chilean institutions were considered: a state university, a traditional private university and a private university. The evidence demonstrates different scenarios for internal strategic alignment are mainly influenced by the power balance produced between the three institutional governance components: the upper-level managerial body, the central administration and the faculties. This balance is conditioned by three factors: first, the governance arrangements that regulate the power balance between the three internal governance components and their capacity to promote coherence and alignment. The second element is associated with the individual capacities of those who exercise high-up or mid-level managerial positions, whether individuals or collegiate. The results show that personal skills and proficiency can either boost or weaken the role of the authorities and their degree of influence in decision-making. The third factor is linked to the individual interests that motivate the behaviour and preferences of those who form part of the three institutional governance components. Show less
This thesis studies the role of trust in the Catholic Reformation in seventeenth-century Genoa. It explores the way in which many reform-minded Catholics consciously tried to find an answer to the... Show moreThis thesis studies the role of trust in the Catholic Reformation in seventeenth-century Genoa. It explores the way in which many reform-minded Catholics consciously tried to find an answer to the crisis of trust that dominated post-Reformation Europe by means of reforms and new initiatives. In particular, this dissertation examines how the effectiveness of these reforms and initiatives was impacted by practices of trust and distrust, as well as the reformers’ own perception of their strategies. Several features of the Catholic Reformation are analysed: the attempt to reform the secular clergy; new female religious initiatives; the effort to reform female cloistered life; and the establishment of new religious congregations. The trust approach used in this thesis constitutes an antidote to the current Italian paradigm in which the focus on power and discipline tends to obscure the plurality of the Italian Church in the seventeenth century. The concept moreover provides a key to explain several contradictions with which the current historiography confronts us such as the juxtaposition of instances of freedom and compulsion in the realm of female religiosity and the paradoxical coexistence of very ineffective and very successful attempts to reform. Show less
In recent decades there has been an exponential increase in large hydroelectric plants in Brazil, especially in the Amazon region. These large hydraulic structures impact the environment and the... Show moreIn recent decades there has been an exponential increase in large hydroelectric plants in Brazil, especially in the Amazon region. These large hydraulic structures impact the environment and the lives of people living in the places where they settle and require a special type of water governance.The dictatorial regime (1964-1985) created a “standard” for the construction of these great structures, through an institutional and legal framework, which benefited the Brazilian business elite but also, through the creation of a popular imagination, which shows itself lasting progress on the country's progress and development. The suspension of security, the fragility of institutional environmental structures, the disrespect for indigenous reserves, the lack of clarity about the concept of “affected population” and the non-payment of fair compensation were identified as one of the main challenges for a democratic water governance in the country.In the late 1970s, the Dam-Affected Movement (MAB) began its organization and is also studied in this research.The study is an important and insightful academic contribution to the understanding of the main bottlenecks of effective water governance in Brazil. Show less
This study explores contexts of disorder and crisis, in which criminal actors gain legitimacy. By affirming that criminal groups are already social agents, this research argues that they gain... Show moreThis study explores contexts of disorder and crisis, in which criminal actors gain legitimacy. By affirming that criminal groups are already social agents, this research argues that they gain political legitimacy to the extent that criminal groups engage in an authority-building process. Thus, it focuses on two instances in which criminal groups launched campaigns— or at least engaged in planned activities— in order to gain political and social legitimacy. La Familia Michoacana (LFM) and Los Caballeros Templarios (LCT) de Michoacán in Mexico, on the one hand, and Cosa Nostra (CN) in Italy, on the other, offer rich and instructive cases to examine. Precisely, the research asks for how these groups seek to forge legitimacy, as well as for what are their strategies for that purpose. The research opens two avenues of conceptual discussion. Show less
While the literature on slave flight in nineteenth-century North America has commonly focused on fugitive slaves escaping to the northern states and Canada through the “Underground Railroad”,... Show moreWhile the literature on slave flight in nineteenth-century North America has commonly focused on fugitive slaves escaping to the northern states and Canada through the “Underground Railroad”, Conditional Freedom aims to provide new insights into the evolving social and political geography of freedom and slavery in nineteenth-century North America, particularly by exploring the development of southern routes of escape from slavery in the US South and the experiences of self-emancipated slaves in the US-Mexican borderlands. First, Conditional Freedom provides a social history of enslaved freedom-seekers. Second, it also provides a political history of the contest between Mexican free soil and the spread of slavery west of the Mississippi river valley between 1803 and 1861. Its main question is: what was the nature of slave flight in the Mexican borderlands, and how and why did Mexico develop into a site of “conditional freedom” for slave refugees from the American South? In order to reconstruct the entangled stories of slave refugees and free soil in the US-Mexico borderlands, this study draws mostly upon municipal, county and state archives, military and judicial records, diplomatic and personal correspondence, newspaper articles, “runaway slave” advertisements, petitions, memoirs and travel accounts. Show less
In the nineteenth century, tens of thousands of enslaved people escaped slavery in the US South. The bulk of historiography has hitherto focused on those who left the slaveholding states in their... Show moreIn the nineteenth century, tens of thousands of enslaved people escaped slavery in the US South. The bulk of historiography has hitherto focused on those who left the slaveholding states in their endeavors to reach freedom. In reality, however, the majority of slave refugees stayed within the South. Cities of Refuge: Slave Flight and Illegal Freedom in the American Urban South, 1800-1860 is the first study to put permanent southern-internal slave flight centerstage. It investigates how and why urban spaces of freedom arose, and how refugees from slavery navigated them. The freedom these people found was of an illegal nature because it had no basis in law. Based on four major cities as case studies, this dissertation analyzes social, cultural, political, and economic processes that made illegal freedom possible. Drawing from material from Baltimore (Maryland), Richmond (Virginia), Charleston (South Carolina), and New Orleans (Louisiana), the size of the urban free black populations, degrees of urbanization, and work opportunities receive particular attention. In a nutshell, Cities of Refuge paints a nuanced picture of slavery, slave control, and freedom within the changing social geography of the American South. Show less
This dissertation examines the politics of forestry in the context of late Ottoman Mediterranean Anatolia. Exploring the power struggles among officials, timber traders, and Tahtacı communities,... Show moreThis dissertation examines the politics of forestry in the context of late Ottoman Mediterranean Anatolia. Exploring the power struggles among officials, timber traders, and Tahtacı communities, this study discusses how modern forestry practices were negotiated at the local level. In the nineteenth century, in order to gain more effective control over forests, the Ottoman government introduced a series of reforms toward “scientific forestry.” In the implementation of these reforms not only did opposing interests clash at the central level but local interest groups involved in regional trade networks also appeared as influential actors. On the one hand, negotiations between officials and traders undermined “scientific forestry” as a high modernist ideal. On the other, this complex network constituted an integral part of modern forestry practices and prevailing power struggles. Despite fragmented interests within the administration as well as various obstacles officials encountered in monitoring forests, the new forestry practices brought about a dramatic transformation of the countryside. Most importantly, increasing pressure on forests and forest-dependent communities due to intensified commercialization caused an overexploitation of nature and labor. Focusing on the changing subsistence strategies of Tahtacı communities, this study investigates the impact of these changes on the hill societies of Mediterranean Anatolia. Show less
At least since the late twentieth century, historians of science have discussed the skills, character and virtues that make for good scholarship. Different virtues have been emphasized by different... Show moreAt least since the late twentieth century, historians of science have discussed the skills, character and virtues that make for good scholarship. Different virtues have been emphasized by different authors. These virtues include love of truth, impartiality and imagination. In my study I look at virtues of scholarship in the practice of everyday scholarly life, such as collaborating on a text edition, editing a scholarly journal and evaluating one’s peers in book reviews and letters of recommendation.I take a close look at peer networks of leading late nineteenth-century German academics. I mostly focus on the orientalist Theodor Nöldeke, the experimental psychologist Wilhelm Wundt and the bacteriologists Robert Koch and Emil Behring. This interdisciplinary perspective allows me to identify virtues shared by scholars with very different intellectual backgrounds who use different methods to study different matters.My research shows that loyal collegiality and critical independence were the virtues that were central to all practices of scholarship across all disciplines. The relations between these virtues, however, were complicated. Academics continuously struggled to balance loyalty and independence vis-à-vis each other, institutions of scholarship, the state and the private sector, in what is best described as a moral economy of scholarship. Show less
From guilds to regional education and training centres, the history of vocational education and training in the city of Leiden.This thesis addresses the history of vocational education and training... Show moreFrom guilds to regional education and training centres, the history of vocational education and training in the city of Leiden.This thesis addresses the history of vocational education and training (VET) in Leiden. It focuses on the question of responsibility for VET through six ages: public body or social initiatives? This is associated with the question whether educational objectives differ according to the body responsible. Is a more comprehensive education the concern of governments alone, and are social initiatives limited to narrow-based practical training?The point of departure is a study by Wolf-Dietrich Greinert. He distinguishes three VET models in response to industrialisation: the market model, the liberal response (predominant in England), the rational state-bureaucratic model (FRance), and the dual corporative model (Germany).The study shows that Leiden has not been dominated by a single model throughout the ages. Primarly responsibility for establishment and maintenance of VET has been borne consecutively by several bodies. The connection that Greinert finds between the body responsible and the goals pursued, is not manifest in the history of VET in Leiden. Goals set by public parties extended beyond professional skills only. And private initiatives also intended to provide a broader social education as well. Show less
In the century after the Peace of Westphalia (1648) Europeans witnessed a considerable number of devastating persecutions of confessional minorities. Decisions to punish dissenting religious groups... Show moreIn the century after the Peace of Westphalia (1648) Europeans witnessed a considerable number of devastating persecutions of confessional minorities. Decisions to punish dissenting religious groups were among the most controversial and consequential policies of early modern states. There was therefore a genuine interest in news about religious persecutions among different strata of society, and writers and publishers were keen to meet this demand. Especially in the Dutch Republic, numerous newspapers, pamphlets, and periodicals flowed from the presses to confront news consumers throughout Europe with the plight of foreign communities. To reach and affect their audiences, opinion makers had to answer a fundamental question, which we still grapple with in our own times: Why should we care about distant suffering? This dissertation investigates, first, which arguments were used to communicate religious persecution ca. 1650-1750, a period that is often approached in terms of political secularization. Second, it identifies which stakeholders were engaged in the international production of topical persecution literature, and examines who they saw as their audience. Finally, tying in with the nascent historiography of early modern ‘public diplomacy’, this study explores the role which topical persecution literature played in domestic and international politics. Show less
A biography of the statesman Fransen van de Putte (1822-1902). It's the story of his life as marine-officer, sailor, sugar entrepreneur and politician in colonial affairs. He was the leader of the... Show moreA biography of the statesman Fransen van de Putte (1822-1902). It's the story of his life as marine-officer, sailor, sugar entrepreneur and politician in colonial affairs. He was the leader of the Puttianen and he was the stongest opposer of the statesman Thorbecke. He abolished the cultuurstelsel in its most aspects. Under his responsibility the Atjeh war broke out. Show less
