Patterns of paleomobility in the Caribbean were studied through an inter-disciplinary approach using a combination of archaeological, osteological, mortuary, and isotopic data. Samples of human... Show morePatterns of paleomobility in the Caribbean were studied through an inter-disciplinary approach using a combination of archaeological, osteological, mortuary, and isotopic data. Samples of human enamel from 360 individuals from multiple sites spanning a broad range of geographic and temporal contexts were analyzed for strontium isotope composition. These results were interpreted in reference to a database of strontium isotope variation for the Caribbean biosphere created through the analysis of 288 modern and archeological animal and plant samples. These combined strontium isotope datasets contributed to assessments of the spatial patterning of bioavailable strontium isotopes in the region and to estimations of the local range of isotope variation for the different site populations. These ranges were used to determine whether individuals were of local or nonlocal origin and were then analyzed to examine variability in patterns of migration, with a specific focus on testing possible relationships between residential origins and biological sex, age at death, chronology, grave goods, and dietary practices. Carbon and oxygen isotope analyses of dental enamel were also conducted on a subset of 50 individuals to assess their potential for provenance studies in the Caribbean region and for investigating the origins of suspected long-distance migrants. Show less
Long-Lived Sociality is an ethnographic account of the lives of older persons in Kerala. Through its detailed account of these highly educated, middle and upper class individuals, it challenges... Show moreLong-Lived Sociality is an ethnographic account of the lives of older persons in Kerala. Through its detailed account of these highly educated, middle and upper class individuals, it challenges many popular and academic stereotypical notions of the old. Contrary to such preconceptions for instance, their lives turn out to be interdependent, not at all stagnant, extremely mobile and as far as possible actively shaped by the older persons themselves. Cultural notions about sociality are furthermore explored to understand how meaning is given to social and care relationships with others. These relations are informed by strong expectations and a discourse that stresses the importance of duties. This discourse makes it possible for older persons to explicitly demand care when needed. The investigation of the possibilities and limitations of this discourse provides insights into the older persons__ appreciation of their social lives and their overall wellbeing. Show less
Based on rich and wide-ranging data, this thesis describes the sensitive issue of the contemporary emancipation trajectories of agro-pastoralist Fulɓe in Central Mali. It explores how people are... Show moreBased on rich and wide-ranging data, this thesis describes the sensitive issue of the contemporary emancipation trajectories of agro-pastoralist Fulɓe in Central Mali. It explores how people are currently dealing with hierarchies they inherited from past master-slave relations and focuses on the relational dynamics between members of a network of migrants. The importance of mobility to identity is explored by analyzing the tensions that exist among migrants to reproduce or change hierarchical relations in post-slavery societies. To purchase a copy, please email: asc@ascleiden.nl, or check www.ascleiden.nl, under Publications. Show less
This study focuses on three works by Chinese American women writers. It is an interdisciplinary and cross-cultural investigation of transculturation. The prefixes “inter-,” “cross-” and “trans-”... Show moreThis study focuses on three works by Chinese American women writers. It is an interdisciplinary and cross-cultural investigation of transculturation. The prefixes “inter-,” “cross-” and “trans-” explored throughout suggest dynamism. The narrations of the dynamics of each immigrant culture come from the writers’ dual position of Chinese American cultural backgrounds. In writing, these writers form protagonists in circumstances of compromise and negotiation between the expectations of the two cultural ideologies. The encounter of two cultures produces possibilities and potentials in which cultural subjects (Chinese immigrants and Americans) and cultures adapt to one another and create something new. The term “transculturation” conceptualizes this process of change, which is defined as a mutually influencing process in which Chinese and American cultures transform and are transformed in their constant contact. This study presents the changing process in the motifs of memory, self, symbols, space, allegory, and ambiguity respectively in the six chapters of textual analyses. In a transcultural discourse, the difference from others is embraced as individuality specific to a certain person or culture. Thus, different elements exist when cultural subjects come into contact. This coexistence reinforces the importance of cultural negotiation in the multicultural US. Show less
Op de lijst van potentiële 'hot topics' voor de komende EU-verkiezingen vinden we vergrijzing, economische malaise en de vraag met welke maatregelen Europa's lage geboortecijfers opgekrikt kunnen... Show moreOp de lijst van potentiële 'hot topics' voor de komende EU-verkiezingen vinden we vergrijzing, economische malaise en de vraag met welke maatregelen Europa's lage geboortecijfers opgekrikt kunnen worden. De problematiek van de nog verse 21ste eeuw. Maar die is niet zonder precedenten volgens oud-historici gespecialiseerd in de sociaal-economische en demografische geschiedenis van Romeins Italië. De laatste twee eeuwen voor Christus, toen Rome van een stadstaatje tot een wereldrijk werd, waren roerige tijden voor de burgers van Italië. Zij werden betrokken in oorlogen, waren getuige van grootscheepse politieke veranderingen en leefden met snel groeiende immigranten en slaven in een nog sneller verstedelijkende samenlevering, volop dynamiek, dus. Lang werd gedacht dat het bestaan van de 'oude kern' van Romeinen temidden van deze hectiek van meerdere kanten af werd uitgehold. Met, inderdaad, economische maliase en vergrijzing en ontvolking als gevolg. Deze dissertatie betoogt echter dat het allemaal wel meeviel. Terwijl burgers met in name de landbouwsector in de regio rond Rome getroffen werd, groeiden de kansen in andere sectoren van de Romeinse economie. Gunstige klimaatomstandigheden en de voordelen van imperialise verzachten de problematiek. De economische schade bleef, met andere woorden, beperkt. En die baby's dan? Hier speelden specifieke culturele en sociale omstandigheden een rol. Een 'mamacultuur'en het dorpsleven met familie en buren nabij, ondervingen een goed deel van de potentieel nagatieve gevolgen van armoede voor het Romeinse geboortecijfer. Deze en andere factoren doen vermoeden dat de periode zelfs, in tegenstelling tot wat eerder gedacht werd, ruimte liet voor bevolkingsgroei. Een gedachte die aansluiting vindtin een nieuwe interpretatie van de met raadsels omgeven volkstellingscijfers van Rome's eerste keizer, Augustus. Doemdenkers en pessimisten onder oudere generaties oud-historici lijken daarmee door de geschiedenis te worden ingehaald. Een geruststellend lichtpuntje anno 2009 Show less
This rich ethnographic study explores the life and work of successful marabout women in Dakar. it is set against the background of their private family lives, of developments in Senegalese society,... Show moreThis rich ethnographic study explores the life and work of successful marabout women in Dakar. it is set against the background of their private family lives, of developments in Senegalese society, and of global changes. While including female experts in spirit possession and plant-based healing, it also gives a rare insight in the work of women who offer Islamic knowledge such as Arabic astrology, numerology, divination and prayer sessions. With the analysis of marabout women's work this study sheds light on the ways in which women's authority is negotiated, legitimated, and publicly recognised in Dakar. The study focuses especially upon marabout women's strategies to gain their client's trust. Reference to rural areas is a significant element in this process. This study thus contributes to an understanding of a gendered way in which trust ans skepticism are related to marabout's work and of the the role of a connection between Dakar and the rural areas therein. Show less
The editors of the Enzyklopädie Migration in Europa. Vom 17. Jahrhundert bis zur Gegenwart (Munich, 2007) coined the phrase homo migrans to describe the phenomenon of human migration. This... Show moreThe editors of the Enzyklopädie Migration in Europa. Vom 17. Jahrhundert bis zur Gegenwart (Munich, 2007) coined the phrase homo migrans to describe the phenomenon of human migration. This collaboration of German and Dutch historians was prompted by the current debate in their respective countries over Moroccan and Turkish immigration. This massive volume, however, covers only the past three centuries of migration including both to and from Europe. Show less
Focussing on individuals and institutions, the economic and social condition of the people of Fort Cochin between 1781 and 1830 has been studied. This study of the Dutch East India Company's (VOC)... Show moreFocussing on individuals and institutions, the economic and social condition of the people of Fort Cochin between 1781 and 1830 has been studied. This study of the Dutch East India Company's (VOC) establishment on the south west coast of India provides a detailed research into the functioning of the company and its personnel there. To begin the company's presence on the coast around the year 1750, after it had been defeated by the raja of Travancore, on whom it was dependant for purchasing pepper, is summarized. It places the VOC's Malabar Command on the larger web of the VOC network in Asia. The VOC strove hard to maintain its pepper monopoly on the coast, but non-VOC trade in pepper contined. Three consecutive commanders between 1751 and 1764 constantly strove to expand the company's territorial possesions on the coast resulting in a metamorphosis in the command's functioning. The components of the Fort Cochinsociety and the relations among the different communities that made up the social world of Fort Cochin receive attention in the book. Starting with the company men and analysing the recruitment pattern of the VOC in Malabar Command, one is faced with rather startling facts. The majority of the VOC personnel in the mercantile sections were locally recruited. European women were a rare sight in Fort Cochin. The European company men married mestizo women and through them became rooted in Cochin. Their sons joined the Dutch company thereby forming 'VOC-family'. While Dutch men were securing their future on the Malabar Coast, the EIC was expanding in India. During the 1780-1784 Anglo-Dutch war, many Dutch settlements were lost to the British. Fort Cochin evaded the fate as the EIC was yet to conquer Mysore, a formidable power in the south. When in 1795, the British forces conquered Fort Cochin, the servants of the Dutch company were forced to decide their future course of action. The social and economic condition of the people of Fort Cochin under the British administration has been analysed and lives of former VOC servants and their families after the transition has been portrayed Show less
In the centre of Port Louis, the capital of the Indian Ocean island nation of Mauritius, stands a statue of Adrien d'Epinay, the renowned forefather of the island's white minority known as Franco... Show moreIn the centre of Port Louis, the capital of the Indian Ocean island nation of Mauritius, stands a statue of Adrien d'Epinay, the renowned forefather of the island's white minority known as Franco-Mauritians. For many Mauritians d'Epinay represents the resistance of the colonial elite white plantation owners to the abolition of slavery, and many islanders call for the statue's removal as often as they criticise the privileged position of d'Epinay's descendants. Nevertheless, both the statue and the white elite are still standing. Show less
Research into a group of 350 elderly Chinese migrants in the Netherlands examines who amongst them expect to return to the homeland, who will regularly commute between China and the Netherlands and... Show moreResearch into a group of 350 elderly Chinese migrants in the Netherlands examines who amongst them expect to return to the homeland, who will regularly commute between China and the Netherlands and who will, most likely, never leave their adopted country. A look at self-reported health within this group sheds light on the question, 'is migration bad for your health?' Show less
Since the latter half of the 1980s, a large number of Muslims have come to Japan from countries such as Pakistan, Iran and Bangladesh in order to work. In the 1990s there was an increase in the... Show moreSince the latter half of the 1980s, a large number of Muslims have come to Japan from countries such as Pakistan, Iran and Bangladesh in order to work. In the 1990s there was an increase in the number of Muslims marrying Japanese women and forming families in Japan. The children of these families are now reaching school age and educational problems among second-generation Muslims are emerging. Show less
The Asia-Pacific region accounts for 35-40% of the four to five million workers who take to their heels in search of employment each year. In scale, diversity and socio-economic consequences for... Show moreThe Asia-Pacific region accounts for 35-40% of the four to five million workers who take to their heels in search of employment each year. In scale, diversity and socio-economic consequences for the countries involved, contemporary movements of labour fundamentally differ from those of the past. Transnational labour migration can no longer be controlled by political measures or economic arrangements and is in need of a new approach beyond the limitations of neoclassical economic analysis. Show less
"He's everything to me. Because when I'm with him, I'm respectable. I'm a success now (jadi orang). Before I was scum, always being taunted by people, being laughed at, being sneered at because of... Show more"He's everything to me. Because when I'm with him, I'm respectable. I'm a success now (jadi orang). Before I was scum, always being taunted by people, being laughed at, being sneered at because of my work, my immoral work. That's why I'm so grateful - truly grateful - to have my husband". Former Indonesian sex worker, Ani. Show less
In today's rapidly globalising world, marriage as a contract between two individuals based on love and commitment to each other is increasingly considered a norm. The degree of women's control over... Show moreIn today's rapidly globalising world, marriage as a contract between two individuals based on love and commitment to each other is increasingly considered a norm. The degree of women's control over their marital decisions and choice of mate, based on individual traits rather than the family's socio-economic status, is seen as a measure of whether a society has embraced modernity. In reality, marriage involves many actors with complex decision-making processes and multiple considerations. In many Asian societies, being and staying married, for both men and women, is a social and family obligation and a criterion of social standing. Kin members, the state, marriage intermediaries (institutional or individual) and commercial sectors are all involved in decision-making. This is particularly the case of cross-border marriages, with the state deciding and controlling who is allowed to marry, whether spouses are allowed to enter or reside in the receiving societies, as well as their naturalisation and assimilation process. Show less
Last year, almost 9,500 Thai women were living in the Netherlands, many married to Dutch men. Rather than assimilating and transferring their loyalty exclusively to Dutch society these Thai women... Show moreLast year, almost 9,500 Thai women were living in the Netherlands, many married to Dutch men. Rather than assimilating and transferring their loyalty exclusively to Dutch society these Thai women still maintain strong social linkages with their families and local communities in Thailand, in particular through material contribution. Show less
