1,721,056 research outputs found
Honderd jaar ‘Europese burgeroorlog’
Get PDFIn deze master thesis beschrijf ik de wijze waarop de Europese Unie (EU) betrokken is bij de herdenking van de Eerste Wereldoorlog in 2014, precies een eeuw nadat de eerste schoten werden gelost in Sarajevo. Daarnaast vergelijk ik de herinnering van de “Europese burgeroorlog”, een term van de Italiaanse Europarlementariër Sergio Berlato, met de nationale herdenkingsprogramma’s van Duitsland en Groot-Brittannië. Deze twee landen heb ik om verschillende redenen gekozen, maar de twee voornaamste zijn het gegeven dat ze lijnrecht tegenover elkaar stonden gedurende de oorlog en de verschillende posities binnen de huidige EU. Hoewel veel herdenkingen plaatsvinden op regionaal en lokaal niveau, concentreer ik me op het nationale speelveld, omdat ik geïnteresseerd ben in mogelijke overeenkomsten of spanningen met het transnationale, Europese herdenkingskader. Om een beeld te krijgen van dit laatste, analyseer ik de herdenkingsplannen van de Europese Commissie (EC), het uitvoerende orgaan van de EU. Mijn belangrijkste bronnen zijn beleidsdocumenten die geschreven zijn door/voor de EC. Voor het nationale perspectief baseer ik me op verslagen van parlementsvergaderingen, overheidswebsites en mediaberichtgeving.
Hoewel er enkele kleinere Europese herdenkingsprojecten georganiseerd worden, is het Europe for Citizens-programma (2014-2020) de speerpunt van herdenkingsbeleid van de EC. Net als zijn voorganger, dat tussen 2007 en 2013 liep, verbindt het programme ‘active European remembrance’ aan Europees burgerschap. Volgens EC-president Jose Manuel Barroso staat de EU voor haar grootste uitdaging, door de economische crisis, maar zeker ook door een crisis in het vertrouwen. De uitslagen van de verkiezingen voor het Europese Parlement in 2014 lijken zijn gedachtegang te bevestigen; eurosceptische partijen versterkten hun positie immers aanzienlijk. Herinnering speelt een meer prominente rol in deze tweede run van het programma: waar er tussen 2007 en 2013 slechts vier procent van het budget aan herdenkingen werd besteed, is dit in de komende zes jaar ruim een vijfde van het totale budget (186 miljoen euro). Voor 2014 is de ‘centenary’ van de Eerste Wereldoorlog een van de herdenkingsprioriteiten van de EC, samen met de 25ste verjaardag van de Val van de Muur en het jubileum van de EU-uitbreiding van 2004. Het idee achter het programma is dat een gedeeld gevoel van verleden, een 'culture of remembrance based on shared European values’, bij zou dragen aan (de vorming van) een Europese identiteit en actiever burgerschap. De Commissie zet de herinnering aan onder andere de Eerste Wereldoorlog dus bewust in met een hedendaags doeleinde in het achterhoofd: een proces dat ook omschreven wordt als ‘memory politics’.
De twee nationale herdenkingsprogramma’s verhouden zich zeer verschillend tot dit narratief van een gedeeld verleden. Het Britse Centenary programme – over de periode 2014-2018 goed voor 60 miljoen euro – is sterk op de eigen natie gericht. Daarnaast wordt er aandacht besteed aan de rol het Gemenebest tijdens de oorlog. De focus op de eigen natie en op delen van het voormalige Empire zou een manier kunnen zijn om om te gaan met de ‘crisis of Britishness’, een door verschillende experts beschreven toenemend verlies aan gevoel van Britse identiteit. Waar het woord ‘Europa’ min of meer afwezig is in het Britse programma, beandrukt de Duitse overheid juist sterk het belang van een vereend Europa, ook met het oog op Eerste Wereldoorlogherdenkingen. Het concept ‘Versöhnung’, verzoening tussen voormalige vijanden, en het streven naar een sterke EU zijn met elkaar verstrengeld in het overigens kleinschalige Duitse herdenkingsprogramma (circa 4 miljoen euro). In beide programma’s lijkt dus sprake van ‘memory politics’ en in beide gevallen herdenken de landen in lijn met hun houding ten opzichte van de huidige EU
Constructing the Past Through Play
No full textSince 1974 Playmobil produced a fair amount of historically themed sets. The three biggest historical themes are the Wild West, pirates and knights. These historical themes often articulate perceptions about history that are subconsciously validated in our society. The perception of history reiterated through these toys can be analysed by using the concept visual historical culture. Historical culture offers a framework through which to deconstruct the current myths, narratives and perceptions about history. Visual culture enabled the identification of signs and semiotic meanings embedded within the visuals in the catalogues. By examining the relationships between these signs, it was possible to uncover underlying historical myths, which could then be contextualised within broader ideas of historical culture. Thereby providing an answer to the Research Question: How has the visual representation of the Wild West, pirates, and knights in Playmobil catalogues changed since 1974, and to what extent are these changes indicative of changes in broader historical culture?
The research analysed the three biggest historical themes presented in the annual catalogues published by Playmobil from 1974 to 2024. The visualisation of the Wild West was analysed in reference to changing postcolonial critique and focussed on the visualisation of the Indians and American cavalry. The Wild West shows a significant shift during the mid-1990s from visualising colonial myths, to a more nuanced, albeit stereotypical, presentations of the Indians as a cultural entity. The pirate theme was analysed in relation to changing visualisations of pirates in the cinematic industry. The pirate theme illustrates a shift from a focus on historical myths, influenced by the film Treasure Island, towards a more mythical and fantasy shift influenced by the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise. The knights theme was analysed in relation to changing narratives in the literary genre. The knight theme shows how the visualisation moved from historical myths to the inclusion of fantasy and mythical elements, influenced by changes in the Fantasy genre.
This study concludes that Playmobil's historical themes are actively shaped by and reflect historical culture of their time. The thesis demonstrates that visualisation of children's toys are not neutral but carries implicit narratives that inform and reproduce historical myths. Understanding these visual narratives through the lens of historical culture provides insight into how perceptions of history are constructed through play
Conceptualizing Justice
No full textWhat justice is, and how we can achieve it, is a persistent academic question. Today, it seems that justice is even more contested by the appearance of all different kinds of justice: transitional justice, climate justice, criminal justice, future justice, etcetera.
The thesis, aims to uncover the processes of constructing notions of justice within the biggest international court of the world, the International Court of Justice (ICJ or Court), asking the following question: How were concepts of justice contested and deployed in key ICJ cases, and how did these contestations reflect and shape broader political transformations across different historical moments? Applying a conceptual history to the materials produced by the Court, particularly majority judgments and individual opinions, the thesis analyzes two specific cases: the Corfu Channel case (1949) and the Continued Presence of South Africa in Namibia (South West Africa) case (1971).
Within the first case, the concept of justice illuminates competing conceptions of international justice, shaped by individual understandings of history, perceived authority, and Cold War dynamics. International justice is particularly contested across the bench with regard to the Court's use of indirect evidence to accuse Albania. The concept implies the idea of pursuing equality among states. Advocated by Judge Alvarez, the idea of social justice also appears, having a broader scope and implications for international arbitration. In this case, the existence of two different law-making attitudes is argued: present-oriented and future-oriented. In the former perspective, international law should continually adapt to the present; for instance, given the acknowledgment of interdependence among states by Judge Alvarez, international law should entail duties towards the community of states itself. In the latter attitude, the future is embedded and taken into account in legal reasoning. In the majority judgment as well as in Judge Krylov's opinion, the law is thought to avoid an event from happening in the future.
In the Continued Presence of South Africa in Namibia (South West Africa) case, time plays the most prominent role in shaping the idea of justice. The majority of the Bench supports a progressive conception of justice, which argues that law should adapt to the present by rejecting discriminatory policies and supporting self-determination and decolonization. Another example of a present-oriented way of reasoning. Aligned with this idea, the position of Judge Padilla Nervo advocates social justice, which is associated with the principles of freedom, equality, and independence. On the other side, this progressive idea of justice is contested by a more static one, where a strict separation between law and politics is argued, and justice is not affected by the passing of time. In this case, the negotiation of justice reflects broader shifts within the Court itself, as its composition and authority evolved in response to global political change
Televising Russia's Strategic Narrative: "Traditional Values" in RT's Broadcasting (2014-2024)
No full textThis thesis explores Russian strategic narrative-building within the English-language broadcasts of RT in the context of the Russo-Ukrainian War (2014-2024). Following the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, scholars have focused on Russian hybrid warfare, disinformation campaigns, and soft power politics. Strategic narrative-building can be seen as a form of soft power, aimed at garnering foreign public support for Russian geopolitical efforts. While the problematic nature of these narratives is clear to Western policymakers, strategic narratives are often difficult to identify. This thesis explores the formation of strategic narratives within the English-language Russian state media outlet, RT. To this end, the thesis conducts a narrative analysis of RT broadcast transcripts, carefully selected from a GDELT Project database of over 100,000 transcripts. It examines how Russia has used RT to construct a strategic narrative of being the protector of "traditional values" and how these narratives align with broader Russian geopolitical goals. The analysis argues that strategic narrative-building within RT broadcasts emerged in the months leading up to Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 and has remained evident since. Before this period, the narrative of Russia as the protector of "traditional values" has come forward, particularly during elections in Western countries. The established narrative largely focused on "othering" the West, portraying Russia as the protector of traditional values by critiquing liberal values and policies, such as those related to "woke" culture and LGBTQ+ rights, which were framed as evidence of the "decay" of Western values. This narrative has been identified to align with Western populist narrative. Influential thinkers and journalists were used within RT broadcasts to garner support from the Western conservative community. These elements are directly linked to the war in Ukraine and Russia's aspirations for a multipolar world order. Strategic geopolitical moments, such as foreign elections and key events in the war with Ukraine, were utilized to reinforce this narrative within RT broadcasts, highlighting the geopolitical connection between this strategic narrative and Russia's broader geopolitical objectives
The Rhythm of Eternity. The German Youth Movement and the Experience of the Past, 1900-1933
No full textThe Weimar era in Germany is often characterized as a time of significant change. Such periods of rupture transform the way people envision the past, present, and future. This book traces the conceptions of time and history in the Germany of the early 20th century. By focusing on both the discourse and practices of the youth movement, the author shows how it reinterpreted and revived the past to overthrow the premises of modern historical thought. In so doing, this book provides insight into the social implications of the ideological de-historicization of the past
Latent and explicit mnemonic communities on social media:studying digital memory formation through hashtag co-occurrence analysis
Get PDFThis article explores the nature and dynamics of mnemonic communities within the context of social media platforms and proposes to identify mnemonic communities using hashtag co-occurrence analysis. The article distinguishes between 'explicit' and 'latent' mnemonic communities, arguing that while some digital mnemonic communities may exhibit characteristics of offline communities, others exist latently as discursive spaces or semiospheres without direct awareness. On platforms like Instagram, hashtags function as semiotic markers, but also as user-chosen indexes to the content. As hashtags link the social and semantic aspects of community formation, hashtag co-occurrence analysis offers a robust framework for understanding and mapping these communities. This method allows to detect and analyse patterns of hashtag use that suggest the presence of networked community structures that may not be apparent or conscious to the social media users themselves. Additionally, a metric is introduced for determining the degree of 'latentness' of communities that quantifies the cohesion within communities compared to their external connections. The article demonstrates this approach by applying hashtag co-occurrence analysis to a dataset of Instagram posts tagged with #Juneteenth, a popular hashtag used to commemorate the ending of slavery in the United States. It identifies 87 mnemonic communities that reflect the diversity and complexity of how platforms facilitate memory-sharing practices and the role of semiotic markers in forming (latent) mnemonic networks.</p
Multimodal meaning-making:How social media shapes students’ historical understanding
Get PDFThe 2022 Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) report showed an 'unprecedented' drop in student performance across OECD countries. Particularly problematic for History education is the performance drop in reading skills, as reading ability is generally understood to be a prerequisite for historical understanding. Although test scores in Australia did not see as steep a decline as they did in Europe, there is little optimism as Australia's rise in the score rankings is due to other countries failing, rather than Australia improving its education. It is a worrying situation for History educators, as language proficiency determines students' capabilities to understand questions, interpret textbooks and sources, and report findings. Apart from the COVID-19 pandemic, one of the identified causes for performance drops in education are digital distractions, such as social media. The effects of using digital tools such as tablets or smartphones in education highly depends on whether they are used in ways that really enhance education. Banning mobile phones in schools is an understandable response, but also a highly problematic one, as it creates a rift between school learning and everyday communication and media consumption
From Concept to Classroom:Historical Consciousness and History Education
Get PDFHistorical consciousness is a key concept in history education and history didactics. By tracing the history of the integration of historical consciousness in Dutch history education, this article highlights the complexities and negotiations involved in operationalizing the concept within curriculum frameworks. Additionally, the article discusses the limitations of current implementations and advocates for a “meta-historical consciousness”, a higher-order awareness of the frameworks and assumptions that shape our understanding of history, that encourages critical reflection on historical representation and its effects, as well as the influence of one’s own positionality
Dark Academia: Curating Affective History in a COVID-Era Internet Aesthetic
No full textDark academia is an ‘internet aesthetic,’ an aesthetic style used in posts on platforms such as TikTok, Instagram, and Tumblr that resonates the atmosphere of life in boarding schools, prep schools, and (Ivy League) colleges from the last decades of the nineteenth century up until the 1940s. It expresses a fascination with (neo-)gothic architecture; with tweed, lace, wool, and leather; with literature and art, and Romantic longing. Having been a main trend on social media platforms throughout the coronavirus pandemic, dark academia captures and facilitates cultural engagement in times of social isolation and closed college campuses. This article studies the dark academia aesthetic as a mnemonic curatorial practice with tendencies to counter hegemonic norms and narratives. Focusing on the affective dimensions of dark academia, this article argues that the aim of this internet aesthetic is to annul historical distance by capturing a mood and atmosphere associated with early twentieth-century campuses through the means of curated social media representations. This de-historicization allows for the renegotiation of values, like inscribing queerness – associated with secret queer romantics at gender-divided schools – into its representational language, without having to reassert historical gender binaries
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