Teba al-Samarai wins Political Science Master’s Thesis Prize 2018
Teba al-Samarai has won the Political Science Master’s Thesis Prize 2018. Teba’s study deals with the distinction between ‘allochtoon’ and ‘autochtoon’, and how these terms are understood by various kinds of foreign- and local-born subjects in the Netherlands.
Exemplary thesis
This project required her to do extensive ordinary-language interviewing—not an easy task. Fieldwork is complicated in any environment, especially with such a pinched timeframe, and Teba succeeded at a very high level, according to the jury. ‘Her interpretive analysis is strong and the paper is well written and argued throughout.’ Thus, Categorizing Ethnicities in the Netherlands: Integrating the Subjects in Conversation is an ‘exemplary thesis’. It was written under the auspices of thesis adviser Matthew Longo and second reader Corinna Jentzsch.
The jury, consisting of Arjen Boin and Frits Meijerink, considered 9 theses, which were drawn from the category ‘high scores’ and nominated by thesis advisors. The jury selected a winner from the Research Master theses and from the regular students’ theses.