This study explores the process of identity creation in the Caribbean archipelagic space by examining the last five centuries of Grenada’s layered history through detailing and analyzing the major... Show moreThis study explores the process of identity creation in the Caribbean archipelagic space by examining the last five centuries of Grenada’s layered history through detailing and analyzing the major human-environment interactions that have transformed its landscape, particularly following the invasion of Europeans since the 17th century and the establishment of plantation agriculture and slavery (utilizing enslaved Africans and their descendants), village settlements and subsistence agriculture, and much later tourism. It will analyze its landscape transformations by examining land use and settlement patterns of its human occupants from the Indigenous Kali’nago to its current inhabitants via the concept of creolization. Centuries of interactions between and among these various groups of people and the Grenadian environment have created a landscape best described as a palimpsest where layer upon layer of interactions intertwine, overwrite and blend with each other through time. Yet leaving glimpses or blurred pictures of impacts in various and discernable ways, thus creating a long-term biography of this islandscape. By examining the Grenadian palimpsest and analyzing the concept of landscape identity through historical representations and memory-traces embedded in the Creole cultural landscape this study explores the relationship between people and the landscape over time. Show less
In today's 'onlife' era, online and offline realities are intimately intertwined. This dissertation focuses on a specific expression of this interconnectedness: 'digital doppelgangers'. The focus... Show moreIn today's 'onlife' era, online and offline realities are intimately intertwined. This dissertation focuses on a specific expression of this interconnectedness: 'digital doppelgangers'. The focus is on visual digital doppelgangers, i.e. digital manufactured images of man. This dissertation aims to gain insight into the role that such doppelgangers play in the formation of human identity and self-understanding, using three disciplinary angles. The ‘image aspect’ of digital doppelgangers is explored through a visual culture studies/ media studies lens; the ‘human aspect’ through a philosophical anthropology/ philosophy of technology lens; and finally, the ‘identity aspect’ and unheimliche dimensions through a philosophical anthropology/ psychoanalysis lens. Three cases will elaborate on these themes: selfies, internet memes and deepfake videos. Drawing on the work of Helmuth Plessner, I show that man can be understood as a "doppelganger". The inevitable unheimlichkeit that results from this gets a more or less fixed character in visual digital doppelgangers. An important conclusion is that regulation of digital doppelgangers should not be so much focused on the (impossible) elimination of digital unheimlichkeit, but on preventing situations in which digital doppelgangers no longer can be adjusted. Living humanely in the onlife world requires being able to live the lives of our digital doppelgangers, too. Show less
Centuries of intense and involuntary migrations deeply impacted the development of the creolised cultures on the Dutch Caribbean islands of Aruba, Bonaire, and Curaçao. This volume describes... Show moreCenturies of intense and involuntary migrations deeply impacted the development of the creolised cultures on the Dutch Caribbean islands of Aruba, Bonaire, and Curaçao. This volume describes various forms of cultural heritage produced on these islands over time and whether these heritages are part of their ‘national’ identifications. What forms of heritage express the idea of a shared “we” (nation-building) and what images are presented to the outside world (nation-branding)? What cultural heritage is shared between the islands and what are some real or perceived differences? In this book, examples of cultural heritage on these three islands ranging from sports to questions of reparations, from museums to digital humanities, from archaeology to music, from language and literature to tourism, and from visual art to diaspora policies are compared to developments elsewhere in the Caribbean. Show less
Nakane, Ikuko; Maree, Claire; Ewing, Michael C. 2023
This dissertation examines the continued, yet hitherto overlooked, engagement of the Greek community in Egypt from the period after the en masse departure of most of its members (1962), until the... Show moreThis dissertation examines the continued, yet hitherto overlooked, engagement of the Greek community in Egypt from the period after the en masse departure of most of its members (1962), until the implementation of the infitāh policies in 1976 by Anwar Sadat. Beyond Departure: The Greeks in Egypt, 1962-1976 explores the Greeks’ multiple personal, local and institutional histories that make up the Greek presence in history after 1962. It reveales the diversity of Greek experiences based on geographical, socioeconomic and individual context. It analyzes the motivations and strategies they employed to respond to the economic and social changes in Egyptian society, such as the end of the Capitulations, WWI and WWII, the formation of the post-colonial state, and the 1961 Nationalization laws, among others, and the relations these events formed between Egyptian nationals and non nationals and the Egyptian state. It also explores how Greeks negotiated their presence, identity and feelings of belonging, in mind and practice, as a diaspora with a transnational agency. 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
This book starts with Vansina, who holds that old cultural traditions in Africa have been destroyed, but that new ones are emerging. With Prah, the study argues that a key role is played by... Show moreThis book starts with Vansina, who holds that old cultural traditions in Africa have been destroyed, but that new ones are emerging. With Prah, the study argues that a key role is played by education, which has to be based on African languages and values. Using a new quantitative comparative analysis, the study shows that maintaining former colonial languages as medium of instruction will become impossible to sustain. Over the next decade, some African countries will have to transition to African languages. The issue of language choice has vexed researchers and policymakers. The study shows how all over the world, designed languages serve speakers of several discerned languages. This solution could also be used in Africa, as demonstrated through six brief case studies. African languages in education will bolster the new, decolonised cultural traditions already taking shape on the continent. Show less
Duyvesteyn, Isabelle; Wal, Anne Marieke van der 2022
Studying change in the course of human history, in different places, through the lens of a diverse set of core themes, World History for International Studies offers readers a set of windows into... Show moreStudying change in the course of human history, in different places, through the lens of a diverse set of core themes, World History for International Studies offers readers a set of windows into different debates historians have been conducting. Key themes, such as communication, trade, order, slavery, religion, war, identity, modernity, norms and ecology, are linked to specific world regions, which tell a story about how local ideas and individual contacts developed, started to overlap and became globally understood and used by ever larger groups of people. These themes are brought to life by a diverse set of key primary sources, such as a book, a letter, a medal, a temple and an epic, to showcase how historians have used sources to tell these stories and conduct debates. The book provides an introductory resource into the study of history and includes detailed suggestions for further study. Show less
In this dissertation I have explored contemporary modes of displacement and citizenship in India. Rather than large-scale spectacular dislocations which are a focus of ‘refugee’ studies or set... Show moreIn this dissertation I have explored contemporary modes of displacement and citizenship in India. Rather than large-scale spectacular dislocations which are a focus of ‘refugee’ studies or set patterns of ‘voluntary’ population movement which come under the rubric of ‘migration’ studies, I am interested in low-key everyday forms of displacements which fall through these categories of understanding, are invisible, and remain undiscussed. I have explored everyday forms of displacement through Oren Yiftachel’s (2020) concept of displaceability. I draw on two case studies of two different displaced groups in Calcutta and North 24 Parganas in West Bengal: i) East Bengali dalit refugees coming from East Bengal (present day Bangladesh) to West Bengal and ii) a group of peripatetic impoverished rural people coming from the villages of Bangladesh and West Bengal to the urban agglomeration around Calcutta. The time frame of the dissertation is from the beginning of the Second World War in 1939 till the present. I have utilised the concept of displaceability to show how these groups are kept in a condition of permanent temporariness through deliberate state policies and how this erodes their citizenship. Displaceability expands understanding of displacement from an act to a systemic condition of informal urban living. In displaceable conditions actual displacements or the potential threats of it are utilised as an administrative tool to extract services from the urban poor and coerce them into participating in unequal political exchanges. My study shows that while these refugees and migrants become displaceable through state mechanisms, they negotiate this condition through their own brands of politics from below. Show less
Why has Africa not been doing so well and what is the way forward? This book starts with the analysis of Vansina and Prah: the old cultural traditions in Africa have been destroyed in colonial... Show moreWhy has Africa not been doing so well and what is the way forward? This book starts with the analysis of Vansina and Prah: the old cultural traditions in Africa have been destroyed in colonial times; new ones are currently taking shape, based in part in African languages. The book uses cross-cultural psychology to show that such new cultural traditions are indeed forming in Africa. However, almost all African countries currently use a former colonial language in secondary and higher education. The book demonstrates that if more and more people get educated, this system will no longer scale. Over the next decade, more and more African countries will have to make a transition towards increased use of African languages. The book proposes a distinction between discerned and designed languages. All over the world, designed languages are made to serve speakers of several discerned languages. This could and should happen in Africa as well. The book contains a number of brief case studies, showing how in fact such a transition is practically possible. In future, African countries will be able to achieve success in their educational systems by using a small number of languages as medium of instruction. Such a transition will also help to form the new cultural traditions that are already taking shape on the continent. Show less
This dissertation examines how the Serbs as a nation deal with the past through the prism of the 1915 Serbian Army retreat across Montenegro and Albania in the wake of the invasion of Serbia in... Show moreThis dissertation examines how the Serbs as a nation deal with the past through the prism of the 1915 Serbian Army retreat across Montenegro and Albania in the wake of the invasion of Serbia in October 1915. We investigate the remembrance of this iconic event as a symptom of Serbian mythologized self-perception. The Retreat today is a canonised memory symbolising Serbian heroism and sacrifice. The First World War and the Retreat are experienced as specific and personal. Any attempted introduction of alternative views of the Serbian role in the First World War are rejected as hostile revisionism. The Serbian government has used the centenary commemorations to distract the Serbian public from the more recent unexamined past — Serbia’s role in the wars of the Yugoslav succession of the 1990s. This commemorative opportunism has been termed in the thesis as historical frame switching —framing current political events within arguably irrelevant historical contexts mostly in order to present an image of biased and unjust treatment of Serbs by the West. Further, politically loaded commemorations are analysed alongside grassroot events and ceremonies that memorialise the War and the Retreat. The latter are recognised as fictive kinships of remembrance, as previously characterised by Jay Winter. Show less
This chapter focuses on interreligious encounter in contemporary Nigeria with the notion of ‘religious field’ at the forefront. This analytical frame acknowledges how lived religious experience can... Show moreThis chapter focuses on interreligious encounter in contemporary Nigeria with the notion of ‘religious field’ at the forefront. This analytical frame acknowledges how lived religious experience can cut across multiple religious traditions, which leads to a more holistic understanding of everyday lived religion. The bulk of the chapter is split into two sections. The first section utilizes two case examples from the Yorùbá region of Nigeria. Both case examples are based on participant observation and in-depth, longitudinal interviews that explore how two individuals, Ṣadé and Agbo, negotiate multiple religious belongings and identities within the multireligious milieu of contemporary Nigeria. The final section of the chapter shifts the discussion to case reflections, paying close attention to the methodological lessons related to World Christianity that can be gleaned from these cases. While it is recognized that every religious field is distinct and needs to be contextualized, the methodological lessons offered on religious belonging and identity, everyday lived religion, entangled religion, bias and hierarchy, and multi-directional exchange can be applied broadly in World Christianity scholarship. Show less
Before 1936, musical practices in Palestine relied heavily on colloquial poetry, especially in rural communities, which constituted most of the population. During the first half of the twentieth... Show moreBefore 1936, musical practices in Palestine relied heavily on colloquial poetry, especially in rural communities, which constituted most of the population. During the first half of the twentieth century, Palestinian music evolved as a reflection of the social, cultural, and political evolution of Palestinians. Palestinian music-making evolved exponentially resulting in the expansion of various folk tunes into shaʿbī songs, the creation of the Palestinian qaṣīda song genre, new compositions of instrumental music for traditional and Western music formations, the establishment of choirs and children music programing, and active engagement in composing in the styles of the dominant Egyptian genres of the time as well as muwashshaḥāt.In 1948, the vast majority of Palestinians were displaced, and musicians found themselves at the frontier of implementing new political and cultural visions in the countries of Jordan, Lebanon and Iraq. Therefore, the continuation of the musical narrative in the West Bank did not seem attainable. By the early 1950s, Palestinian musicians and intellectuals developed a vocabulary that reflected the topography, scenery, culture, dialects, and history of al-Mashriq, one that is independent of Egypt’s. Their input, intuition, experience, and convictions of various Palestinian musicians helped to make the music scene in Lebanon, Iraq, and Jordan what they are today. Show less
Throughout northern Europe, thousands of burial mounds were erected in the third millennium BCE. Starting in the Corded Ware culture, individual people were being buried underneath these mounds,... Show moreThroughout northern Europe, thousands of burial mounds were erected in the third millennium BCE. Starting in the Corded Ware culture, individual people were being buried underneath these mounds, often equipped with an almost rigid set of grave goods. This practice continued in the second half of the third millennium BCE with the start of the Bell Beaker phenomenon. In large parts of Europe, a ‘typical’ set of objects was placed in graves, known as the ‘Bell Beaker package’. This book focusses on the significance and meaning of these Late Neolithic graves. Why were people buried in a seemingly standardized manner, what did this signify and what does this reveal about these individuals, their role in society, their cultural identity and the people that buried them? By performing in-depth analyses of all the individual grave goods from Dutch graves, which includes use-wear analysis and experiments, the biography of grave goods is explored. How were they made, used and discarded? Subsequently the nature of these graves themselves are explored as contexts of deposition, and how these are part of a much wider ‘sacrificial landscape’. A novel and comprehensive interpretation is presented that shows how the objects from graves were connected with travel, drinking ceremonies and maintaining long-distance relationships. Show less
This thesis presents an investigation into how geopolitical change and religious control are reflected in the composition of copper-alloy costume artefacts, recovered from Roman and early medieval... Show moreThis thesis presents an investigation into how geopolitical change and religious control are reflected in the composition of copper-alloy costume artefacts, recovered from Roman and early medieval contexts. It engages with the challenging topic of portable X-ray Florescence Spectrometry use in archaeology, especially as applied to corroded copper-alloy artefacts. The relevance is twofold. Firstly it helps us better understand the globalising effects of the Roman Empire on distant cultures and the emergence of the western economy after the end of antiquity. This is investigated by detecting changes in craft production, considered a proxy for understanding changes in past economies and societies. Secondly it advances a methodology for the study of copper-alloy objects. Subsequently the composition of Roman brooches from Germania Inferior, suggested a strong link between brass and Roman military production. This connection was also seen in other parts of the Roman world, suggesting a degree of centralisation or control. The earliest roman objects found in the Baltic States, far north of the Limes frontier, are also in this 'Roman' alloy. These objects had a lasting impact on the peoples of this region. They adopted and adapted them stylistically to suit their local preferences for centuries after they first appeared. Show less
***Please note that the print and digital version of this thesis are not identical as to the order of the various parts of the front and back matter.***Following the emergence of concepts related... Show more***Please note that the print and digital version of this thesis are not identical as to the order of the various parts of the front and back matter.***Following the emergence of concepts related to Arab nationalism there was a clear struggle between the progressive thinkers who wanted to secure a secular society and release public life from religion, and the conformists who wanted to maintain their traditional practices. This research proposes a critical understanding of letterist abstraction works of art by devising a tool that allows scholars to place a letterist work of art on a spectrum of abstraction in relationship to different elements in the painting. It is a way to understand the artworks and their artists in relationship to each other. Understanding letterists abstraction artists and the dynamics that dictated their work was essential for understanding the movement and its artistic production.The research places the life and work of letterist abstraction artists in a wider artistic, social and political context, thus helping the reader form an understanding of the movement from a broader perspective. By tracing all the threads for the assessment of letterist abstraction works of art and artists, I hope to encourage the emergence of more such scholarly and critical works, until we have a better critical understanding of the contemporary Arab art scene as a whole. Show less
In the past decades a growing body of literature has been dedicated to explain desistance from offending behaviour, or to answer the question why some offenders quit crime and others do not.... Show moreIn the past decades a growing body of literature has been dedicated to explain desistance from offending behaviour, or to answer the question why some offenders quit crime and others do not. Currently, more psychological explanations infuse a prominent line of research emphasizing the importance of subjective, individual factors coming from within the offender, such as developing a new sense of self-identity. The aim of this study was to gain more insight into different dimensions of desistance, focusing on two aspects of identity: future expectations and conventional aspirations, and investigated how these related to (non-)criminal behaviour over time. Furthermore, this study examined how the parole experience interacted with the different dimensions of desistance. This qualitative, longitudinal study followed 28 male prisoners serving a long-term sentence in the Netherlands during their transition from prison to society. Findings illustrated the importance of individual factors such as believing in one’s own abilities in the context of pre-release expectations, the lack of conventional scripts and role models, and the contribution of parole supervision to the desistance process. Yet, it also revealed the pain of failure for men attempting to refrain from crime, mostly relating to structural support such as employment or housing issues. Show less
International Commercial Surrogacy (ICS) has emerged over the past decade as a modern method of family formation. ICS is unregulated internationally and domestic laws are struggling to keep pace... Show moreInternational Commercial Surrogacy (ICS) has emerged over the past decade as a modern method of family formation. ICS is unregulated internationally and domestic laws are struggling to keep pace with ICS. However, a child is at the centre of every ICS arrangement, and children conceived and born through ICS are at a heightened risk of their rights being infringed.Written over the course of time when ICS has rapidly developed, this book explores why and how the child's rights are at risk in ICS, and seeks to apply the standards and norms of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child to the ICS context. This book proposes approaches for balancing the competing rights and interests of the child and other parties in ICS. It presents a framework for protecting the rights of children born through ICS, illustrating that this is achievable in practice, in the absence of international consensus on ICS as a phenomenon.This book is relevant for child rights practitioners and academics, and useful for policy-makers, legislators and national and international decision-makers grappling with the children’s and human rights issues presented by this 21st century human rights challenge. Show less
