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
Since the 1980s, a migration has started from the Japanese community in Brazil "back" to Japan. This movement has been studied in recent publications as an interesting example of "return migration"... Show moreSince the 1980s, a migration has started from the Japanese community in Brazil "back" to Japan. This movement has been studied in recent publications as an interesting example of "return migration". This dissertation is based on interviews with migrants of the first and second generation, conducted between 2003 and 2010 in Kandatsu and surroundings. This ethnographic field research shows that the concept of “return” does not properly describe the migration of Japanese Brazilians to Japan, because it is rather a circular movement between the two countries. Moreover, it appears that the identity of these people is an ambivalent dynamic and strategic entity. The study provides important information about the motivation of the migrants, their experiences in Japan, and the challenges they face within and outside the family. It is a very heterogeneous group. Differences in cultural background, appearance, affinity with Japanese culture and Japanese language skills are decisive for the integration process. Within this process migrants handle different strategies that ultimately lead either to a permanent establishment in Japan or a decision to return temporarily or permanently to Brazil. Crucial to the integration process is the success of the Japanese-Brazilian children in Japanese schools. Show less
In the late middle ages, the inhabitants of the duchy of Guelders had to deal with a number of negative stereotypes. They were reputed to be lumpish, barbaric, belligerent, and rebellious. These... Show moreIn the late middle ages, the inhabitants of the duchy of Guelders had to deal with a number of negative stereotypes. They were reputed to be lumpish, barbaric, belligerent, and rebellious. These stereotypes had come into existence during the many wars with the Burgundian and Habsburg princes, who wanted to conquer the duchy. Some Guelders historians, however, used these negative stereotypes in order to create a positive image of their compatriots: they described the people of Guelders as natural, brave, and as lovers of freedom. According to them, these labels were the essence of the Guelders identity. In Gelre. Dynastie, land en identiteit Aart Noordzij describes the development of a political identity in Guelders between 1100 and 1600. He does this by analyzing the interaction between political processes, state-formation and the shaping of identities. Successively, the formation of the dynasty, the structure of the territory, and the imagination of the dynasty, the territory, and its inhabitants pass in review. By reconstructing the interaction between political processes, imagination, and the shaping of identities, we can understand how a political community like Guelders, notwithstanding its complexity and lack of unity, could exist, function, and get coherence. Show less
=========ABSTRACT=========It is tempting to think of precolonial India as a harmonious society, but was it? This study brings evidence from new and unexpected sources to take position in the... Show more=========ABSTRACT=========It is tempting to think of precolonial India as a harmonious society, but was it? This study brings evidence from new and unexpected sources to take position in the sensitive debate over that question. From the investigation of six conflicts in the Deccan region it draws conclusions about group behaviour that put modern clashes in context. Some of the conflicts under investigation appear odd today but were very real to the involved, as the antagonism between Left and Right Hand castes was for about a thousand years. Other conflicts continue to the present day: the seventeenth century saw lasting changes in the relationship between Hindus and Muslims as well as the rise of patriotism and early nationalism in both India and Europe. This book carefully brings to life the famous and obscure people who made the era, from the Dutch painter Heda to queen Khadija and from maharaja Shivaji to the English rebel Keigwin=========NOTES=========First Leiden University Press edition, 2009. Entirely revised from the author’s dissertation Xenophobia and Consciousness in Seventeenth-Century India: Six Cases from the Deccan, 12-Mar-2008. Show less
