Decolonising Epistemologies. Reinterpreting Traditional Knowledge in Suriname
On 24 September, Cheryl White (Anton de Kom University of Suriname) will deliver a guest lecture on the decolonisation of knowledge production and museum collections in Suriname. This lecture is the first of the lecture series 50 Years of Surinamese Independence: Histories, Legacies, and Heritages.
Decolonising Surinamese museum collections
In 2024, the Anton de Kom University of Suriname (AdeKUS) received a grant from the Dutch Research Council (NWO) for the project Decolonizing Epistemologies: The Reinterpretation of Existing Traditional Knowledge in Suriname, as part of the NWO programme Research into Collections with a Colonial Context.
Within this project, researchers from the AdeKUS collaborate with several institutions to research objects taken from Suriname over one hundred years ago. These institutions are the Suriname Museum, the Jodensavanne Foundation, Wageningen University and Research, Naturalis Biodiversity Center, the Wereldmuseum, the Allard Pierson, and the Jewish Historical Museum.
This project allows historians, heritage specialists, ethnobotanists, archaeologists and Indigenous and Maroon peoples to study and reinterpret the function and meaning of objects. It will culminate in the virtual (and/or physical) restitution of historical objects to the Suriname Museum in Paramaribo. In this lecture, White will discuss what this means for the ongoing decolonisation of knowledge production and museum collections in Suriname.
Lecture series 50 Years of Surinamese Independence
Cheryl White’s guest lecture opens the series 50 Years of Surinamese Independence: Histories, Legacies, and Heritages, organised by Debby Esmeé de Vlugt at the Department of History and Art History. The series is funded by the Van Oostrom grant from the Friends of Utrecht Humanities Fund.
From September to December 2025, this lecture series brings together scholars from Utrecht University and beyond to reflect on Suriname’s (anti/de/post)colonial histories and their continuing relevance for the present. This first lecture is organised in collaboration with the Cultural History Seminar.
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