Indian agriculture is widely believed to be in crisis. There is broad consensus among scholar, policymakers and activists that economic hardships and the changing climate have made sustaining a... Show moreIndian agriculture is widely believed to be in crisis. There is broad consensus among scholar, policymakers and activists that economic hardships and the changing climate have made sustaining a livelihood through farming increasingly untenable. There is a strong sense that something has to be done to help farmers deal with the crisis, and in recent years agricultural insurance has been presented as a possible fix for rural distress. This dissertation studies how a new agricultural insurance scheme called PMFBY becomes part of everyday social interactions and experiences. Insurance companies often assert that quantified procedures can accurately - and fairly - calculate the extent of agricultural risk, attach a price tag to it and protect against it. Can quantification really be the antidote to crisis? To answer this question I explore how insurance numbers translate to the everyday experiences of rural people in central Maharashtra. I find that, when seen from the perspective of those encountering them in their daily lives, the numbers are anything but straightforward. The effects of quantification were often arbitrary, and despite promises of transparency, they had a tendency to obscure rather than clarify. In short, the numbers turned out to be inconsistent and ambiguous. The dissertation describes how people attempt to make sense of this ambiguity through their moral understandings. It focusses on the (often heated) discussions, the collective pondering such discussions led to, the personal dilemmas it posed as well as the dreams and aspirations numbers became entwined with. I explore how such quandaries unfold and argue that a focus on the morality of quantification brings to light the social life of numbers beyond their 'objective' factuality. Show less
This dissertation examines the efforts and motives of conservation actors on Bonaire, Saba, and Sint Eustatius, and situates these actors within the larger context of the Caribbean Netherlands. The... Show moreThis dissertation examines the efforts and motives of conservation actors on Bonaire, Saba, and Sint Eustatius, and situates these actors within the larger context of the Caribbean Netherlands. The main research question addressed is: How are the efforts of conservation actors to protect the environment of the Caribbean Netherlands affected by the recent social and political changes and their (post) colonial context? To get at these issues, this dissertation combines insights and approaches from environmental psychology, anthropology, and Caribbean studies to investigate how and why residents of the Caribbean Netherlands engage in conservation actions. Situated in social history, cultural and environmental anthropology, public administration, and environmental science, this research aims to create a broader, less compartmentalized, picture and also addresses societal concerns. Because of its multidisciplinary and multi-method character, this dissertation produces information that will be useful in engaging more people in environmental conservation In the (Dutch) Caribbean. Show less
By using the lens of food security, it is possible to understand the transformation processes of the Orang Rimba hunter-gatherers in Central Jambi (Sumatra, Indonesia) in times of change. The... Show moreBy using the lens of food security, it is possible to understand the transformation processes of the Orang Rimba hunter-gatherers in Central Jambi (Sumatra, Indonesia) in times of change. The establishment of rubber and oil palm plantations in their home territory has become the major factor in the economic development of the province. This dissertation uses a multidisciplinary approach to study food security, employing methods from economics and anthropology. It analyzes the food security conditions using the combined techniques of daily food intake and ethnographic approaches. While the Orang Rimba are facing food insecurity conditions due to various pressures, it is of great importance to protect the remaining forest in which the Orang Rimba live. This is not only crucial for the Orang Rimba’s food security and livelihoods but also for protecting the biodiversity in the Bukit Duabelas National Park and its adjacent areas that the Orang Rimba call their home. Show less
Journalism, both as a profession and as a practice, is changing rapidly. Technologies inside the newsroom are mutating, and journalistic practices, norms, and values are being reshaped with them.... Show moreJournalism, both as a profession and as a practice, is changing rapidly. Technologies inside the newsroom are mutating, and journalistic practices, norms, and values are being reshaped with them. Drawing on seven months of ethnographic fieldwork in Chile, including participant observation, I argue that the introduction of certain digital technologies has transformed journalists’ ability to negotiate editorial values. Media professionals are increasingly feeling trapped into routines established by third-party platforms. The conclusions suggest that the way newsrooms approach new digital technologies have created a lack of harmony in the way journalists are expected to work, the topics they are expected to cover, and the journalistic values they hold true. Show less
This research explores a collection of family photographs from rural KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, belonging to the white, English-speaking, Fyvie family. I concentrate on a subset of photographs... Show moreThis research explores a collection of family photographs from rural KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, belonging to the white, English-speaking, Fyvie family. I concentrate on a subset of photographs from the first half of the 20th Century, during which time the family lived on a farm outside of Estcourt, a small agricultural town. This part of the collection is both geographically specific (marking decades passed in a single location), and temporally significant (coinciding roughly with the lead up to, and years of, the Union of South Africa). As such it offers insight into a discrete social microcosm during a particular historical period. What emerges from this study is a strong sense of local identification—a connection to a specific place, and to select people (family, community) in that place—that was nevertheless entangled with broader developments, including aspects of colonial nationalism within the context of the newly formed South Africa, concerns around health and degeneration arising in Europe, developments in scientific farming, and shifting attitudes toward gender. This fragile and dispersed sense of belonging was expressed through an alignment with certain groups of people and ideologies, but also asserted in relation to other groups, most notably black South Africans and, to an extent, Afrikaans-speaking South Africans, and ‘poor whites.’ Show less
Is it ethical to freely redistribute photographs taken in colonial contexts, historically and today? Showing the complexities behind this question, this study looks at how a vast media network... Show moreIs it ethical to freely redistribute photographs taken in colonial contexts, historically and today? Showing the complexities behind this question, this study looks at how a vast media network evolved around the commercial photographic studio at Mariannhill Monastery and the mission station Centocow in South Africa from the 1880s until today. Taking a grass-roots perspective, it argues that photographs produced by missionaries, like all colonial photographs, must be studied by considering their interconnectedness: first, their alliances with other media, like paintings, theatre plays, tableaux vivants, maps, films, exhibitions, and “ethnographic” objects; second, the exhibitionary complex they depend on, involving museums, libraries, archives, and printing presses; and finally the lobbies, journals, printed instructions, discourses, and interpretive communities that produced, used, and consumed them. Eventually, the study turns to the crucial question how photographs act on and as subjects. Few colonial photographs have left sufficient traces that allow to write their biographies. Mariannhill’s photographs, however, due to their aesthetic aspiration and the congregation’s unique setup, have successfully taken root in many places, moments, and discourses. To show the photographs’ ongoing relevance for stakeholders in both South Africa and Europe, and possible ways of dealing with them today, this study follows their intermediary role over time and in between other images, spaces, objects, and subjects. Show less
This dissertation examines the development and implementation of alternative currencies in North-West Europe. Although often analysed as grassroots alternatives to global financial practice,... Show moreThis dissertation examines the development and implementation of alternative currencies in North-West Europe. Although often analysed as grassroots alternatives to global financial practice, alternative currencies are, by and large, professionally designed and managed by specialised enterprises. I found that these enterprises engage in intense interactions with established public institutions and businesses, as well as with financial legislation and regulatory bodies. Even though they are privately issued, such currencies are subsidised, purchased, and implemented by local governments and civic institutions. The institutionalisation of alternative currencies thus concerns processes whereby their establishment becomes embedded in formalised practices, procedures, and regimes of regulation. I argue that this is a common feature of alternative economic practice that is consistently disregarded or overlooked, both in activist literature, and in the anthropology of money. This dissertation addresses the question of what this institutionalisation implies for our understandings of (alternative) economies. In doing so, I aim to draw attention to the tight institutional network that connects the multiplicity of agents constituting and structuring economies. There are more than two sides—heads (the state) or tails (the market) to a coin. This dissertation turns to the space in-between—to the edge of the coin—for its inspiration. Show less
Through producing and sharing food, the Mentawaians construct personhood, generate social values, and reproduce social institutions rather than merely producing material substances. This... Show moreThrough producing and sharing food, the Mentawaians construct personhood, generate social values, and reproduce social institutions rather than merely producing material substances. This dissertation is an in-depth anthropological study that focuses on a contemporary Mentawai Community in the southeast of the island of Siberut (West Sumatra, Indonesia), teasing out the local notions of foodways, kinship, autonomy, and equality/egalitarianism. It analyses altogether the importance of food’s materiality and the logic underlying foodrelated-activities (gardening, gathering, exchanging, feeding, cooking, distributing, eating, and sharing). Intrigued by the claim of ‘being hungry’ (malaje) in a land of food abundance, the dissertationadds a distinct case to discuss the dialectical production of social values and sheds new light onto the conventional anthropological themes of food, hunger, and the culture of relatedness in an egalitarian society. Show less
The Cinematic Santri explores the rise and course over the last ten years of cinematic practices among a younger generation of NU associates (Nahdlatul Ulama), the largest traditionalist Muslim... Show moreThe Cinematic Santri explores the rise and course over the last ten years of cinematic practices among a younger generation of NU associates (Nahdlatul Ulama), the largest traditionalist Muslim group in Indonesia and elsewhere. Theoretically, this dissertation draws on anthropological theories of discursive tradition and the ethics of and in everyday life, combined with an analysis of visual and material culture, in order to describe and analyse how young NU people have creatively adapted to, and successfully dealt with ‘modern’ film-making technologies and practices. Fieldwork for this research project took place during a one year stay at the Jakarta NU headquarters, and in an NU-affiliated pesantren (Islamic boarding school) in West Java. Here the author followed the pesantren students (santri) as they conducted film screenings and film discussions, when they watched popular films in a commercial cinema theater and created their own short films. He shows that the rise of cinematic practices is both a symptom of NU life, i.e, a result of changes in multiple sectors of the socio-political life of the NU community, especially among these young santri, and an approved method for them in dealing with problems of contemporary life. Their uptake of cinema in turn becomes an ethical practice that may help preserve pesantren traditions in a secular age of digital technologies. Show less
My research is about musicians, visual artists, music collectors, fans, curators and cultural activists, participating in the popular discourse of music through relevant music activities. It... Show moreMy research is about musicians, visual artists, music collectors, fans, curators and cultural activists, participating in the popular discourse of music through relevant music activities. It narrates these people, with some of their music-based plans and initiatives. It also narrates the implementation of the plans and initiatives takes place in Yogyakarta, Indonesia. It takes place in an urban media infrastructure setting. I employ self-organizing, collectivism, and institutionalization of cultural production as useful concepts to define the alternative milieu. It is the milieu which shapes the production of tools and ways of organizing a series of action on managing music, culture, and life. Music, which also serves as a commons, emerges as a horizon of possibilities, or a means, to be managed and maintained for different purposes. I propose sustainability as a shared imagination of what doing music means. The articulation of such imagination informs the structure of the dissertation. The structure articulates the questions brought about by managing commons; they are the questions about a sense of security, sustainability, and documentation. It provides insights into what aspects that the people need to work on when they think about music. Show less
Products and Producers of Social and Political Change. Activism and Politicking in the Mentawai Archipelago is about a generation of young, formally educated and politically engaged Mentawaians.... Show moreProducts and Producers of Social and Political Change. Activism and Politicking in the Mentawai Archipelago is about a generation of young, formally educated and politically engaged Mentawaians. From the late 1990s onwards these people, whom I have called the Mentawaian elite, have been involved in a quest for more access to the resources of the local state. The introduction of decentralisation and regional autonomy has formed an important window of opportunity for the Mentawaian elite. Due to their intense lobby the Mentawai Archipelago became an independent district in 1999. Freed from decades of cultural, economic and political hegemony of the mainland oriented Minangkabau, the Mentawaians now saw themselves placed for the laborious task to built a new district from scratch. Divided over seven chapters, this thesis describes and discusses developments in anticipation of the new district as well as the intense politicking that characterised the first years of Reformation. This thesis offers an in-depth portrait of a generation of Mentawaians that is as much a product as well as a producer of social and political change. Show less
The dissertation investigates how human communities and two large carnivores, tigers and leopards, are co-existing within the human-dominated landscape in Chitwan National Park (Nepal). The study... Show moreThe dissertation investigates how human communities and two large carnivores, tigers and leopards, are co-existing within the human-dominated landscape in Chitwan National Park (Nepal). The study documented a high density of carnivores occurring in prey-rich areas with a mosaic of habitats. Coexistence was facilitated by the temporal and habitat segregation. The study also documented that a large portion of the large carnivore population avoids conflicts with the human communities, and a small group of individuals cause disproportionately higher number of conflict incidents. Human communities were found supportive of wildlife conservation despite frequent safety threats and economic losses from wildlife. Large investments of the buffer zone programs have contributed to reducing the wildlife impacts on humans. The local communities recommended a buffer zone program to focus their activities in reducing human-wildlife impacts. Carnivores were primarily eating wild-prey and attacks on humans were mostly accidental. The study provided a clue for human-carnivore coexistence by considering the biological needs of the carnivores and enhancing the social tolerance of carnivores. The social tolerance towards wildlife can be enhanced by involving local communities in conflict management, practicing targeted interventions to reduce the wildlife damages, promoting alternative income sources, and quickly compensating the loss from wildlife. Show less
This research took place in South Sulawesi in order to investigate the implementation of jatropha projects in the period of 2006-2011. This research aims to understand the key factors that were... Show moreThis research took place in South Sulawesi in order to investigate the implementation of jatropha projects in the period of 2006-2011. This research aims to understand the key factors that were influential in the rise and fall of jatropha projects. The analysis was focused on jatropha actors’ motivations, strategies and experiences to understand what opportunities and benefits that were pursued by the involved actors and how the achievements of the opportunities and benefits redefine the failure of the projects. The findings were synthesized to draw a lesson learnt on what we can learn from the observed jatropha stories for the other miracle crops. Show less
At the most general level, this dissertation is about postsocialist change. It is about how people living in a remote part of Northern Mongolia have experienced the recent changes to have... Show moreAt the most general level, this dissertation is about postsocialist change. It is about how people living in a remote part of Northern Mongolia have experienced the recent changes to have occurred over the last ten to fifteen years since the postsocialist transition. My main argument is that while Mongolia’s postsocialist transition occurred over twenty years ago it is not clear what has come after socialism, or how we as anthropologists might conceptualise the contradictory, fuzzy, and often reversible experiences of people during the so-called postsocialist period. To this end I develop in this dissertation a new hermeneutic framework for elucidating the polydirectional experience of postsocialist change grounded in skilled practice. This approach envisions the transmission of skills as not only being reproduced between the generations, but also new skills learnt in articulation with change, as well as skills that are lost, forgotten, transformed, adapted, and transposed in relation to transforming social, economic, and political contexts. By observing transformations in skilled practice I argue we are afforded better insight into the polydirectional experiences characteristic of the late postsocialist context, and which can better reveal a more diverse range of processes as they are experienced by people in their everyday lives. Show less
A lamak is a long narrow hanging that is an essential requirement at most rituals in Bali. Made usually of palm leaves, it is by nature ephemeral. Although permanent forms of lamak, made of... Show more A lamak is a long narrow hanging that is an essential requirement at most rituals in Bali. Made usually of palm leaves, it is by nature ephemeral. Although permanent forms of lamak, made of cloth or coins, exist, the ephemeral palm leaf form must be present. Hung from altars and shrines, a lamak serves as base for offerings and attracts deities and deified ancestors to them. Decorative motifs representing sources of life are ordered according to Balinese concepts of the vertical structure of the cosmos. Through offerings and the active role of the lamak, worshippers offer thanks to their deities and request prosperity and protection. Despite decades of change and modernization in Bali, the role of the lamak has survived intact. This is the first study to examine in detail this unique form of ephemeral material culture which is a prominent aspect of Balinese creativity. The study answers the question: why do Balinese make lamak and why do they continue to make them time and again? It examines the use and function of the lamak in ritual, the motifs that decorate them, the materials and techniques to make them, regional and individual styles, and processes of change and commercialization. Show less
This PhD dissertation covers the dynamics of floodplain fisheries in the Waza Logone floodplain (Far North region, Cameroon) and conflicts between fishers. The main objective is to understand the... Show moreThis PhD dissertation covers the dynamics of floodplain fisheries in the Waza Logone floodplain (Far North region, Cameroon) and conflicts between fishers. The main objective is to understand the dynamics of the fisheries sector in the Waza Logone floodplain and specifically the level of fishing effort, diversity of fishing gear and conflicts between fishermen. It__s aims to (i) assess the current situation of the fishing effort and catches in the Waza Logone floodplain, (ii) evaluate the sustainability of fisheries practices, and (iii) provide a means to better understand the factors influencing conflicts and conflict resolution between fishers in the Waza Logone floodplain. Methodology consisted mainly of a rural appraisal technique and included an open workshop with 18 traditional and municipal authorities, leaders of international and national NGOs, an interview survey in 91 villages and a daily survey on fishermen, canoes and fishing materials, between August 2008 and June 2009 in 13 fishing spots. In addition, fishing channels along the Logomatya River, the Lorome Mazera River and around the Abana natural mares were counted, after which thirteen (13) of them were selected for a more detailed survey. It also included an institutional analysis on conflict management and fisheries policy in Cameroon and the Central and West African region. Show less
Three Christian films have become popular in the Commune of Cobly of today's Republic of Benin, notably the American "Jesus Film" (1979), the American-Ivorian film "La Solution" (1994) and the... Show moreThree Christian films have become popular in the Commune of Cobly of today's Republic of Benin, notably the American "Jesus Film" (1979), the American-Ivorian film "La Solution" (1994) and the Beninese video film "Yatin: Lieu de souffrance" (2002). The discussion centres on how people receive and understand these films together with the digital video technology that facilitate their recent success. Christian films are so important in this part of Benin that the question needs to be raised whether Christianity is shifting from a religion of the book towards a religion of film. The theoretical starting point is semiotics, a theory that has been foundational not only for film, media and media reception studies, but more recently also for the study of materiality. This thesis' main theoretical contribution is a critique of semiotics, arguing that this theory, which has been foundational to Western science, is in fact too limiting. Semiotics, even in its Peircean orientation, cannot sufficiently explain how people in the Commune of Cobly understand shrines, film and media more generally, both through their material manifestations and interactively in terms of communication. Instead, a process called "presencing", which goes beyond semiotics, can explain better people's understanding of shrines and media. Show less
This study concerns three central aspects of multiculturalism, which are closely related to fundamental debates on citizenship and are described as the principal dimensions of multicultural... Show moreThis study concerns three central aspects of multiculturalism, which are closely related to fundamental debates on citizenship and are described as the principal dimensions of multicultural citizenship. The first of these dimensions relates to national belonging: the recognition that citizens of various ethnic and cultural backgrounds belong to the national group. The second dimension bears upon social equality, on grounds such as ethnic origin, religion, gender and sexual orientation. The third dimension is the most defining aspect of multiculturalism: the recognition of cultural distinctiveness of the various groups in society, which is considered necessary (by proponents of multiculturalism) to achieve citizen equality. This study explores views in Dutch society on these potentially divisive issues. Essentially, this study provides insight into the question to which extent society attributes the quality ‘Dutch’ to Dutch citizens from various ethnic and cultural backgrounds. Show less
Dit proefschrift onderzoekt de juridische, religieuze en praktische mogelijkheden voor moslims om begraven te worden in Nederland en België. Het behandelt nationale regelgevingen, opvattingen van... Show moreDit proefschrift onderzoekt de juridische, religieuze en praktische mogelijkheden voor moslims om begraven te worden in Nederland en België. Het behandelt nationale regelgevingen, opvattingen van islamitische schriftgeleerden en de ideeën en wensen van moslims in Nederland en België met betrekking tot islamitisch begraven en de keuze voor begraaflocatie. Show less
The Philippine crocodile is a critically endangered species, endemic to the Philippine Islands. Indiscriminate hunting, the use of destructive fishing practices and the conversion of wetland... Show moreThe Philippine crocodile is a critically endangered species, endemic to the Philippine Islands. Indiscriminate hunting, the use of destructive fishing practices and the conversion of wetland habitat into rice fields continue to threaten the few remaining Philippine crocodile populations in the wild. This thesis describes the in-situ conservation efforts for the species in the northern Sierra Madre on Luzon by the Mabuwaya Foundation. Traditions, emotions and ethics form important reasons for rural communities in the northern Sierra Madre to support the conservation of the Philippine crocodile in their surroundings. But in contemporary conservation discourses such an argument is easily dismissed as hopelessly romantic, elitist or even irrational. In fact raising awareness, fostering pride and empowering rural communities to protect the resources they need and value is, in the end, a more pragmatic, pro-poor and rea listic strategy to mobilize local support for the protection of the Philippine crocodile than a narrow focus on generating economic incentives. Conservation efforts can be significantly strengthened if cultural and intrinsic values are taken into account. Pride, interest and respect offer the best hope for the survival of the Philippine crocodile in the 21st century. Show less
