Brabant is Here:Making Sense of Regional Identification

Although people increasingly move across the world, physically, online, in their imagination, or through consumption patterns, they continue to be attached to the places they live in or come from. But how do people identify with North Brabant, a province located in the south of the Netherlands? And how do these identifications manifest in everyday life? For this research, I used several cases and methods to research these contemporary processes of identification. In doing so, I chose to analyse everyday elements, particularly in relation to media, both online (e.g. Facebook) and on television (e.g. the series Smeris). On the basis of these different cases, I emphasise the role of unreflexive processes in regional identification. Moreover, familiarity, knowledge of the locality, and proximity also play a role. Regional identification is embedded within the recognizable locality of everyday life. People are often unreflexively concerned with regional identification, even when they do feel connected to their region. If people talk about Brabant, stereotypical elements and existing (traditional) discourses may play a role. However, if we look beyond this to the way in which people identify with Brabant, and how people experience Brabant, then the distinction between Brabanders and others becomes blurred. Unreflexive processes play a role for regional identification.Recognizability and knowledge of the local contribute to identification with a region. Both the more tangible knowledge (such as expressed in some Facebook posts) and more tacit intuitive knowledge (such as the recognizability of Tilburg in Smeris) play a role. Expressing this knowledge of the recognized situations, people and places and expressing the mistakes in these expressions contribute to someone’s regional identification.People define what is Brabantish based on what is close. This is not the entire province, but it is a Brabant that confirms with one’s personal and nearby surroundings. People relate the elements they consider as ‘from here’ to Brabant’s thick identity. In that sense, identification with Brabant follows existing territorial boundaries. The process of identifying with one’s surroundings is connected to an existing region: in this case, Brabant. My analyses show that while people may speak about Brabant, it does not mean they always refer to Brabant; they may also refer to their local surroundings or a larger space while calling it Brabant. This dissertation, thereby, shows that Brabant means in daily life mostly that which is ‘here’

Giving Meaning to RFID and Cochlear Implants:Technology as tool, the normal self, and the enhanced self

RFID implants are controversial for their potential use in society. However, as the social shaping of technology predicts, technology itself is not inherently good or bad; it is important how the technology is used. Through an ongoing process of giving meaning to a technology, people incorporate a technology into their lives and in this sense ‘domesticate’ it. Using semi-structured interviews with people with a cochlear implant (CI) and do-it-yourselfers with a RFID implant, this study sheds light on the meaning individuals give to their implants. Three repertoires were found among my respondents: technology as a tool, the normal self, and the enhanced self. CI-users perceive the implant as a tool to be able to hear and participate in society. This study shows that the CI-users desire a body that functions as it normally should because they want to participate in society. The CI is a means to achieve this normalization and the fact that it is implanted rather than attached to the body is generally of minor concern. The RFID tagged persons can also perceive their implant as a tool, but attach different meanings to it. Whereas the CI-users want to blend in society, some RFID implantees use their implant to stand out. Some RFID implantees perceive themselves as upgraded and welcome a tighter integration of technology and their bodies. Moreover, believing in an enhanced self corresponds with wanting to modify the human body to improve the body’s capacity. This shows that desiring human enhancement is not only about the exact details of the enhancement, but also about the mere fact of being enhanced

Tilburg in Smeris: Local Audiences Engaging with (Familiar) Locations on National Television

When a city that is rarely featured on television is used in a television series, local audiences get enthusiastic. Locations featured on screen have particular cultural values to those living close to these television locations. This article expands on local audiences’ experiences by using a case study of the Dutch television series Smeris. Besides analysing the series and metadata, audience research, including Tweets and interviews, was conducted. While the first season of Smeris is set in Tilburg, the second season is mainly filmed in the capital Amsterdam. The normality of viewing Amsterdam on the screen is contrasted against the novel and special, yet familiar, experience of seeing Tilburg. Precisely because Tilburg is rarely featured on television, local audiences play with this physical place in relation to the place as featured on television. Local audiences may display their pride in this repositioning of Tilburg as a central figure. Locals may engage with the (mistakes within the used) mediated familiar locations. Moreover, residents may mix elements of reality (e.g. news articles) with events from the series. Thus, locals engage with this television series in for them new ways through mixing the places with their imagination