Toespraak Edward Dew bij aanvaarding eredoctoraat
Op 1 november 2012 ontving Edward Dew, emeritus hoogleraar politieke wetenschappen aan Fairfield University, een eredoctoraat in de maatschappijwetenschappen van de Anton de Kom Universiteit van Suriname. Dew is de auteur van onder andere The difficult flowering of Surinam. Ethnicity and politics in a plural society (1978) en The Trouble in Suriname, 1975-1993 (1994). Hieronder volgt de tekst van Dews toespraak bij de aanvaarding van zijn eredoctoraat.
Salutations
Being retired, one ponders on the value of one’s professional life and work. Receiving this recognition gives me a big boost emotionally. My apologies for speaking in English. I might stumble more if I tried this in Dutch.
It is such a pleasure to be back in Suriname and it is a great honor to receive an honorary degree from the Anton de Kom University of Suriname. I started my teaching and research career at Fairfield University just a year before Anton de Kom University was established. My university is only some 20 years older than yours. A young university changes, grows, expands and becomes more and more an integral part of the surrounding community. I congratulate Surinameto have nurtured this university now for 44 years, enriching a society that itself has such a rich, diverse, culture and history.
Like Suriname’s diversity, my academic endeavors have been diverse: studying and travelling to what was then the Soviet Union, writing my dissertation and first book on Peru, subsequently studying some of the other countries in Latin America and the Caribbean. In the early 1970s my wife, Anke, and I made our first summer visit to Suriname, a completely new experience for me. I was fascinated –and hooked. But a lot of time has passed. Though not actively doing such research any more, I try to follow events in Suriname from a distance. As I write this, for example, the reports of a big fire here in town truly sadden me.
The openness and welcome of the Surinamese people made my research here a delight. There were many sources to get good basic information: records of the Staten and other government offices along with the bounteous newspaper archives. Suriname can be proud of its journalists and others who seriously debate the issues of the day in your lively newspapers and other publications. Thanks to this valuable information I could start my rounds of interviews with many participants in the political process. Journalists, politicians, union leaders, businessmen, all gave generously of their time, knowledge and opinions. Supplemented by research in The Netherlands, I was able to piece together a political history of Surinamefrom the 1930s to Independence, a very complex history.
For most people in the United States, the name “Suriname” is a mystery. Is it a country? Where is it? Africa? South-East Asia? The name “Dutch Guyana” brings a glimmer of recognition to the older generations of my country. But while I have to explain that Suriname is located on the north coast of South America, I say also that one does find Africa, and the peoples of South and South-East Asia very much alive in Suriname’s population, along with the native people, people from Europeand from many other places. It is, as you like to say, “the world in miniature”.
Suriname’s history, of course, started long before the 1930s. I was enthralled by Anton de Kom’s Wij Slaven van Suriname, which shaped my concern for the later historic development of this country. Focusing on the internal politics of Suriname, one must also address many cultures from around the world adding their challenges to this melting pot. Life was not easy for those who came to Suriname. So, inevitably, over time, many left. Just recently, my wife and I attended a Suriname Day in New York, with some Surinamese friends, enjoying the food, music, and conversations of the expatriate community there. No one wants to give up their ties to their tropical home, and some eventually return, after studying and gaining experiences abroad, to help in the development of the country and of the university. I can only say “more power to them!”
So, there are clearly many, many ties, historical and otherwise, with the rest of the world. I was so pleased to see that the university had invited Sir Shridath Rampal, the distinguished representative and leader of the Caribbean Community to strengthen your ties with the Caribbean. I hope that the university’s ties with other parts of the Caribbean can continue to strengthen and grow. I have studied and admired the energy and scholarly interests of the people of the whole Caribbean region, and Suriname’s academic community fits right in.
Sadly enough, while doing my research here in the 1970s, I had little contact with the young Anton de Kom University. But I was privileged to be a part of your University as a Fulbright Scholar in 1990. I found myself in a safe haven for social and scientific activity. Providing a shelter for exploration and inquiry, the University has been a bulwark for academic freedom. It gave me the opportunity to resume my research. Now, more than twenty years later, as the University celebrates its forty-fourth birthday, its protection and encouragement of higher learning commands our respect and support.
There are many, many people in Suriname whom I would like to thank for making my work possible. This feels like accepting an Oscar in Hollywood, where I grew up. My parents were in the theatre industry there, and they always encouraged and financially supported my non-Hollywood endeavors. Grants and foundations helped greatly. But while I cannot list all the names of everyone here who helped me, I do want to mention three: my sister-in-law, Jaike van Dijk, who worked in the Governor’s office and generously opened her home to us; Mrs. Irma Gomes, the guiding angel of the Surinamese Staten, who took me under her wings and helped me with my interviews. Finally, my wife, Anke van Dijk Dew, who stood by me throughout this adventure, helping me struggle with the Dutch language and trying to keep me focused, while doing her own research on family planning.
For this visit, I want to thank Roseanne Franklin and Henry Ori of the University’s Governing Board for assisting my wife and myself. I want to thank the Chancellor and Board of Governors of the University for selecting me for this great honor and participation in this historic event. To you all, our many, many thanks.
RSS
Facebook
Twitter
