Search

What is transdisciplinarity - and what are its methods? How does a living lab work? What is the purpose of citizen science, student-organized teaching and cooperative education? This handbook unpacks key terms and concepts to describe the range of transdisciplinary learning in the context of academic education. Transdisciplinary learning turns out to be a comprehensive innovation process in response to the major global challenges such as climate change, urbanization or migration. A reference work for students, lecturers, scientists, and anyone wanting to understand the profound changes in higher education.

This article analyses the media reporting on conflicts and cooperation in the Brahmaputra River basin. We used 2437 newspaper articles published between 2010 and 2020 from the four riparians (China, India, Bhutan and Bangladesh) to explain the science–media interlinkages and what print media reports on conflicts and cooperation. We have found that most articles focus on conflicts, especially relating to hydropower development, data and information asymmetry, and disaster governance. There is limited media reporting on the avenues of cooperation such as informal water diplomacy, collaborative research opportunities, and the community and the culture that brings the riparians together.

The COVID-pandemic has forced cafes and restaurants to close doors and transition to take-out menus. Resulting in a sharp increase in food and drink take-out in the Netherlands. The disposable packaging used for wrapping these products contributes to one of the main issues of the current unsustainable planetary situation: the unprecedented amount of waste produced by consumer societies. Alternatives to disposable packaging are on the rise: reusable packaging networks are emerging on a rapid scale. This research explores the individual acts and practices of sustainable citizenship within reusable food packaging networks. The three chapters of this thesis assess to what extend these practices reflect neoliberal individual responsibility (chapter one) and collective action (chapter two) or political action (chapter three). This case study of the PackBack reusable packaging network illustrates how market-related practices encompass elements of collective and political action that go beyond and even contest neoliberal logic. This study aims to nuance the anthropological critiques on the market and individual practices as sphere for social change through showing the elements of collective and political action which may arise within individual and market-related practices. Simultaneously it highlights the limitations of the market and individual practises as solution to the ecological crisis.

"The way integration and citizenship should be interpreted has been an important aspect in the integration debate of the Netherlands over the years. However, the idea of integration and citizenship is often only focused on the policy-makers’ point of view within the literature. Because of this, the opinion of Syrian refugees about whether they feel fully integrated is not heard. This anthropological research will contribute to the debate about whether Syrian refugees feel they received Dutch citizenship after their integration into the new society. It is important to look critically towards the Dutch integration system and look if it really helps the integration of the refugees from Syria or that they still feel like outsiders in the Dutch society. This research will focus on Dutch language integration through the language schools in Rotterdam. The research shows that language schools are a very important tool for the Syrian refugees to integrate into the Dutch society. Mainly in the beginning, the classes are the key getting access to the language and the Dutch norms and values. Due to these classes, the Syrian refugees find their way in becoming part of the Dutch society and receiving their Dutch citizenship in a formal way as well as a belonging to the society. However, this research explains that the language school is not the only tool that can influence the Syrians. The refugees find it very important to also be an active participant outside the school, because they argue that the classes are not enough to receive Dutch citizenship. Besides this, the Syrian refugees argue that language schools can influence their place in the Dutch society. However, these schools do not influence feeling as a Dutch citizen. Feeling as a citizen of Rotterdam, comes from outside the language schools as well. "

Autonomous sensory meridian response (ASMR) is a physiological response in the form of a tingly feeling on the head, neck, and back. ASMR is produced through the affective power of external sensory triggers such as whispering, tapping, roleplaying of caregiving professions, and personal attention. The ASMR community creates and shares videos on the social media platform YouTube intended to stimulate ASMR. On YouTube, ASMR has become increasingly popular, and creators of ASMR videos have been able to monetize their videos. Because of the intimate, interpersonal nature of ASMR, the phenomenon is regularly perceived as sexual by outsiders of the community. The thesis explores how community members contribute to the sexualization and commodification of affective experiences such as ASMR on YouTube. The researcher has created ASMR videos and managed the ASMR channel AnthroSMR as a form of participant observation. ASMR community argues that ASMR is a non-sexual experience, but at the same time, sexual elements are often incorporated into ASMR because ‘sex sells’. The commodification of affective experience is possible through the introduction of alienating components, such as sex. While affect is not inherently alienating, the interplay with sexualization estranges both viewer and creator from ASMR as a non-sexual experience. The ability to employ and perform sexualizing behaviors in ASMR becomes both a source of alienation for affective laborers and consumers and a resource of exploitation for financial benefits. This thesis sheds an anthropological lens on the ASMR community and suggests the relevance for anthropologists to use affect as a framework to analyze contemporary forms of affective experience such as ASMR.

Dominant discourses of migration in the media, tend to reinforce the strongly imagined norm of national and stable communities disrupted by migrants, even when there are many examples of migrants enriching those communities economically and culturally. This ethnography is centered around a creative community in Amsterdam; Makers Unite. Makers Unite is a creative enterprise with a social mission to facilitate access to social and work activities for migrants in the Netherlands. Through methodologies of co-creation, creative empowerment and production of sustainable objects, they aim to start a dialogue, with a view to developing trust and confidence between people with different backgrounds. The past three months, I volunteered with Makers Unite; conducted participant observation in their atelier, various online workshops, and in-depth interviews with 11 creatives linked to the Makers Unite Community. The group of creatives encompasses both people with refugee backgrounds and lifestyle migrants. . Belonging in this context is perceived as a journey, a process that constantly evolves. It consists out of a physical dimension, a place and an emotional dimension, a feeling, something intangible. Building on an intersectional approach and arts-based research methods, this thesis uncovers how these creatives navigate their lives, identity, social networks and a sense of belonging in Amsterdam.

The COVID-pandemic has forced cafes and restaurants to close doors and transition to take-out menus. Resulting in a sharp increase in food and drink take-out in the Netherlands. The disposable packaging used for wrapping these products contributes to one of the main issues of the current unsustainable planetary situation: the unprecedented amount of waste produced by consumer societies. Alternatives to disposable packaging are on the rise: reusable packaging networks are emerging on a rapid scale. This research explores the individual acts and practices of sustainable citizenship within reusable food packaging networks. The three chapters of this thesis assess to what extend these practices reflect neoliberal individual responsibility (chapter one) and collective action (chapter two) or political action (chapter three). This case study of the PackBack reusable packaging network illustrates how market-related practices encompass elements of collective and political action that go beyond and even contest neoliberal logic. This study aims to nuance the anthropological critiques on the market and individual practices as sphere for social change through showing the elements of collective and political action which may arise within individual and market-related practices. Simultaneously it highlights the limitations of the market and individual practises as solution to the ecological crisis.

Critiques on animal welfare in the 1970s has urged zoos to shift from leisure-oriented institutions to institutions that focus on conservation, research, and education on nature. Zoos are institutions in which humans participate in the process of cultural self-definition against an opposed nature that is varied and constructed by humans. Understanding the representations that zoos present to their visitors thus allows for an understanding of how human-animal relationships are re-constructed and produced. This thesis, through 16 semi-structured interviews, a content analysis with a discourse analytic approach, desk research, participant observation and multispecies perspective, explores how the variety of representations of the white rhino in GaiaZOO reflect and materialize the position that humans hold within nature through an anthropological lens. Through analysing structural processes of the zoo, visual representations on sight and on social media accounts as well as the organizational structure of GaiaZOO, the position of humans within nature is uncovered. This thesis illustrates that despite the best efforts of zoos to bridge the gap between humans and nature in the process of becoming conservation and nature-oriented institutions, they are trapped in a series of contradictions that limit their potential to achieve their set goal. Human domination, that is present within all the processes explained in this thesis, does not only keep animals physically captive but also captive in the perspective of humans. Therefore, this thesis argues that, within their limits as institutions made by humans for humans, zoos have ground to gain to reach their full potential as nature-oriented institutions.

An ethnographic dialogical narrative approach addressing the academic knowledge gap regarding Spoken Word (in the Netherlands). Utilizing auto-ethnography and novel methodological usage of the 'deep story'.

This thesis is an exploration of tiny houses and how a choice for living in a small alternative house can stand for a bigger idea about the current society. It starts with the challenging road to building and designing your own house, which is often quite a challenge. In addition to this, it is also necessary to find a location for this new home. This is equally difficult as a result of the strict housing rules and lack of space in the Netherlands. Once the house is designed, built and placed, life in and around it is very different from the mainstream. The basic facilities influence the life of the residents and they have to adjust their consumer behaviour and habits to the small space of the house. Living in a small alternative house often means living and working together in a community, but that collaboration does not always go as smoothly as one would hope. Members of a community can give each other a hard time. To conclude, it is explored how those three aspects of living in small alternative houses correspond with the ideas of an environmental movement.

"The Dutch delta nature is changing along the policy turn towards nature-based solutions. Polders are filled with water and beaver can build their castles, so also on the island of Tiengemeten. Nature is young here and still becoming. This seven-kilometer long island has been repurposed by the provincial council, and the farmers working the fields there, were displaced. This thesis discovers what was lost and what was gained according to the experiences of people related to the island today. Identities and position towards nature changed along with the new non-human inhabitants. This multi-species ethnography attempts to include more species besides humans, that are making the landscape. How the human residents position themselves into this new environment has been explored with the use of the participatory action mapping method. The research data lead to the argument and warning, that during the process of naturification for an increase in biodiversity, could occur at the expense of cultural diversity by disrupting community fabrics and local knowledge. Justice is not only the fair share of space and resources, but the also recognition for a community, identity, its knowledge and its local uses."

This work has been conducted to contribute to the gap in the existing literature. Although there are many papers that look at the themes and ideas of globalisation, aspirations, tourism and education, there is not a paper that groups these themes together and looks at the way that globalisation has engendered aspirations which are fulfilled by community led educational opportunities. Furthermore, a lot of the work in regards to the anthropology of aspiration focuses on the aspirations of the poor or underserved in society. This paper focuses on the aspirations of citizens who have experienced vast opportunity in life such as higher education, financial security and those who have their basic needs met. Focusing on this group allows us to see how this demographic in particular are affected by globalisation and the way in which new opportunities have determined their future aspirations. This paper is also important as it looks at the intersection between local citizens in one part of the world, in this instance Saigon, Vietnam, and discusses how international tourists utilise globalisation to fulfil their own aspirations by interacting with one another. This paper will present various different groups that are utilising the process of community led educational opportunities to fulfil their own aspirations. This thesis which can be read in order to develop an understanding of such activities and behaviours.

"Climate change is a big, complex, and obtrusive issue. Informa- tion about this issue is conveyed to citizens by journalists, some of which, after much research, are taking an activist position on the seriousness of the problem. This thesis will look at one specific way journalists cover climate change through knowl- edge-based journalism. The involvement with their topic brings two worlds together: activism and journalism. Three debates influence this relationship: (1) legitimization of knowledge, (2) trustworthiness, and (3) action. These points are ethnographi- cally explored over the full length (production, dissemination, and consumption) of climate journalism within the Dutch media organization De Correspondent. It explores how journalism and activism are interwoven when reporting on climate change. The findings explain how personal opinions about the topic of climate change influence the tone of voice of climate journalism, and how the urgency of the topic is confusing activistic motiva- tions with a journalistic responsibility."

"On a global scale, one third of the food which is produced for human consumption is wasted. At the same time, different movements related to food and food waste, engage with different practices in order to save food from the dumpster. In this study I inquire the practices which re-insert otherwise wasted food into the mundane sphere of the members of Taste Before You Waste, a non-profit organisation based in Amsterdam which rescues and redistributes food waste on a local level."

This thesis highlights the socionatural forces that produced the Vietnamese Mekong Delta as well the entangled dynamics in which humans inhabit it and give meaning to it. Over the past decades the Delta experienced a rapid transformation which is mostly defined by the changing role of water. State-led water control efforts have largely altered the way people engage with water in which adaptation made place for the perception that human can construct their environment. Under the process of urbanization rivers were replaced by roads and life along the rivers was considered backwards. Despite rapid urban transformations there are still traces from the water-centered way of living detectable in present-day Can Tho. Cai Rang floating market embodies the human-engagement with water and is not only a tourist attraction but also an expression of how human adapt to the changing conditions in the Delta. By focusing on human-water engagements in an urban context, this thesis will show how the perception that humans can construct nature is to be contested and that adaptation is still a valuable quality of those who inhabit the Delta.

This thesis is the result of three months of fieldwork research at the border between Morocco and the Spanish exclave of Ceuta. There are no official trade relations between Ceuta and Morocco, because Morocco officially does not recognize the border as legitimate and therefore has not instated a customs office. In the place of formal trade relations a whole informal industry has taken shape, focused around the flows of predominantly Moroccan labour and Spanish goods across both sides of the border. Central to this thesis is the (im)mobility of the Moroccan porters, who are employed to carry goods across the border on their back. How does the mobility of porters become a resource to them and to the industry which depends on them? I show that porters make their living in an uncertain relational form of (im)mobility, which takes shape between contrasting demands for economic flows and securitisation and immobility.

Aims: This article aims to (1) explore the levels of perceived insecurity in a sample of patients with mood or anxiety disorders and (2) assess whether living in 'big cities' can influence the levels of patients' perceived insecurity and social contacts compared to living in a non-urbanized context. Methods: A total of 24 Italian mental health centers (MHCs) have been invited to participate. Twenty patients consecutively accessing the MHC have been recruited. All patients have been assessed using validated assessment tools. Results: The sample consisted of 426 patients, mostly female, with a mean age of 45 years. Globally, 52.2% of patients had a diagnosis of mood disorders, and 37.8% had anxiety disorders. Half of the sample declared that the main feeling toward life is uncertainty; higher levels of pessimistic views toward life have been detected in patients living in urban areas. A positive association between negative attitudes toward life and higher levels of depressive and anxiety symptoms, poor social functioning and higher levels of perceived psychological distress has been found. Conclusion: Our findings confirm the presence of a common sense of perceived uncertainty among our sample. Such attitude toward life can have a detrimental impact on patients' psychological and physical well-being, contributing to high levels of distress.