This dissertation explores the ways in which affective responses to disabled bodies are represented and how this invites us to read these bodies aesthetically. I argue that this affective impact... Show moreThis dissertation explores the ways in which affective responses to disabled bodies are represented and how this invites us to read these bodies aesthetically. I argue that this affective impact can be understood as an affordance, a term I use to describe how the appearance of and interaction with disabled bodies produces affective responses such as fear, wonder, or disgust. I study the relationship between representation and affective reactions through literature and other art forms. Through close readings of literary texts and works of art, this dissertation offers an alternative to so-called model thinking—an approach that emphasizes categorization. Instead, I propose a reading that focuses on how bodily capacities are culturally and socially translated into (dis)abilities. Unlike taxonomic approaches that categorize and generalize, this method allows moving from the particular to the private. Works of art, although prone to generalization, emphasize their unicity and resist categorization. By analyzing how different art forms represent disabled bodies, the dissertation brings a new dimension to understanding our emotional responses and the aesthetic appreciation of bodily diversity. Show less
This dissertation takes as its point of departure the many problems that Dutch secondary-school classics students have in using their dictionary while translating authentic texts. The main goal is... Show moreThis dissertation takes as its point of departure the many problems that Dutch secondary-school classics students have in using their dictionary while translating authentic texts. The main goal is to complete the first phases of an educational design study in order to lay the groundwork for a curriculum for dictionary use in classics education. By taking the approach of situated cognition, we learned that translating authentic classical texts is inherently complex, because of the ever-changing lingual ‘situations’ that the students need to deal with. A ‘one size fits all’ procedure to manage these ‘problems’ is not a sensible approach. Observing expert learners, we found that their look-up process can be described as a feedback loop, continually monitoring their progress and critically testing their hypotheses. They decided efficiently when to employ the affordances available in a dictionary (and when not to). We argue that Cognitive Apprenticeship (CA) is an effective didactic method to teach this kind of complex situated problem solving. Following CA, the practical outcome of the project consists of the Look-up Curriculum and five design principles for dictionary instruction. These were constructed in collaboration with a teacher design team, that also designed example exercises for the everyday teaching practice. Show less
The Eurasian beaver (Castor fiber) was an important member of Early and Mid-Holocene landscapes and animal communities in Northern Europe. Previous zooarchaeological research has established the... Show moreThe Eurasian beaver (Castor fiber) was an important member of Early and Mid-Holocene landscapes and animal communities in Northern Europe. Previous zooarchaeological research has established the alimentary roles of beavers for Mesolithic societies and their importance for fur procurement. In this paper, we develop an integrated biocultural approach to human-beaver interactions, examining the position of humans and beavers in Mesolithic and Early Neolithic multispecies systems. We contextualize beaver landscape agency in hydroactive environments with human behaviour, synthesizing currently available data on mammalian assemblages, ichtyofauna and beaver-related material culture across Northern Europe. This cross-cultural, diachronic analysis reveals previously overlooked facilitations of human behaviour by beaver practices and ecological legacies. We show that long-term trajectories of human-beaver cohabitation differed between northern European regions. While in Southern Scandinavia, human-beaver intersections witnessed major re-organizations during the Mid-Holocene, beavers retained a key role for human societies across Northeastern Europe throughout much of the Holocene and played an important part at the Mesolithic-Neolithic transition in the Dutch wetlands. Divergent pathways are also evidenced by Mesolithic beaver-related material culture, highlighting the cultural keystone status of Castor fiber in higher latitude European landscapes. We argue that this keystone status is grounded in the supply of human hunting, fishing, and gathering affordances by the animals, pointing to the generative commensality between Mesolithic foragers and their beaver neighbours. Taken together, our findings demonstrate the importance of the beaver in the making of Early and Mid-Holocene forager societies in Northern Europe and illustrate the fruitfulness of deploying an integrated multispecies approach. Show less
The aim of this thesis was to develop and evaluate a Ecological Professional Development Model to support preservice biology teachers to direct their own subject-specific ecological professional... Show moreThe aim of this thesis was to develop and evaluate a Ecological Professional Development Model to support preservice biology teachers to direct their own subject-specific ecological professional development route. Various characteristics of the model were tested in isolation and in combination and an ecological approach to agency that could theoretically substantiate these characteristics was further developed. Show less
Boer E. de, Janssen F.J.J.M., Dam M., Driel J.H. van 2019
De laatste jaren is er veel aandacht voor teacher agency. Bestaand onderzoek naar teacher agency vanuit socioculturele benaderingen biedt inzicht in hoe agency in interactie met de situatie tot... Show moreDe laatste jaren is er veel aandacht voor teacher agency. Bestaand onderzoek naar teacher agency vanuit socioculturele benaderingen biedt inzicht in hoe agency in interactie met de situatie tot stand komt en zich in de tijd ontwikkelt. Echter, het biedt nog weinig concrete handvatten voor het ondersteunen van de ontwikkeling hiervan bij docenten. In deze studie zullen we allereerst op basis van inzichten uit de ecologische psychologie tot kenmerken komen van een integratieve ecologische benadering voor het begrijpen en ondersteunen van (vakdidactische) agency van docenten. Vervolgens testen we deze benadering in een empirisch onderzoek onder biologiedocenten-in-opleiding waarvan een jaar lang data zijn verzameld over de ontwikkeling van het vakdidactische repertoire in relatie tot hun meervoudige doelen en handelingsmogelijkheden (veld van affordances). Resultaten laten zien dat alle deelnemers zich in de tijd stapsgewijs ontwikkelden op de verschillende dimensies van hun vakdidactische agency (inhoudelijke invalshoek, onderwijsleerproces en inhoudstype). Hierbij werd bijvoorbeeld de inhoud van het lesboek als vertrekpunt genomen, waarna via onderwijsexperimenten andere varianten werden uitgeprobeerd. Deelnemers gaven in de tijd aan dat ze hun (meervoudige) doelen beter realiseerden. Deze studie laat zien dat een integratief kader behulpzaam is bij zowel het begrijpen als het ondersteunen van de ontwikkeling van teacher agency. Show less
Worldwide, refugees are increasingly living in uncertainty for undetermined periods of time, waiting for an enduring legal and social solution. In this article, I consider how this experience of... Show moreWorldwide, refugees are increasingly living in uncertainty for undetermined periods of time, waiting for an enduring legal and social solution. In this article, I consider how this experience of waiting is perceived through and influenced by the ubiquity of transnational digital connections, which play a central role in Iraqi refugee households in Jordan. I draw on ethnographic fieldwork conducted among Iraqi refugees in Jordan’s capital Amman to further understand the use of digital technologies in everyday experiences of prolonged displacement. Waiting is an intrinsic affective phenomenon, colored by hope and anxiety. I argue that affective affordances—the potential of different media forms to bring about affects like hope and anxiety—enable Iraqi refugees to reorient themselves to particular places and people. As “no futures” are deemed possible in Jordan or Iraq, digital technologies serve as orientation devices enabling them to imagine futures elsewhere. Through the interplay of media forms, the Iraqi refugees refract their own lives via the experiences of friends and family members who have already traveled onward and who in their perception are able to rebuild a dignified life. Transnational digital connections not only provide a space for hope and optimistic ideas of futures elsewhere but also help to sustain one’s experience of immobility. I argue that using the imagination can be understood as an act of not giving in to structural constraints and might be crucial to making Iraqi refugee life in Jordan bearable. Show less
