Slavery in the Cultural Imagination
Conference – Slavery in the Cultural Imagination; Voices of Dissent in the Neerlandophone Space, 17th-21st Century
The Amsterdam School for Cultural Analysis (ASCA), Amsterdam School of Historical Studies (ASH), and Institute for Cultural Inquiry (ICON) are co-convening a two-day conference on the cultural imagination of slavery. The conference will be held on Thursday 28 and Friday 29 October 2021 at the universities of Amsterdam and Utrecht.
The members of the organising committee are Dr Saskia Pieterse (Utrecht University), Dr Marrigje Paijmans (University of Amsterdam), Dr Karwan Fatah Black, Prof. Yra van Dijk and Aafje de Roest MA (Leiden University).
The conference offers an educational programme of 2 ECTs for rMA and PhD students (priority will be given to members of OSL, NICA and Huizinga Institute). The registration for this programme opens in September, through the NICA-website.
About the Conference
Four hundred years of colonial history and involvement in slavery and indenture have left palpable traces in the emotions and imagination of the Dutch (Wekker 2016, Hoving 2012). Yet ‘Dutch exceptionalism’ and the ubiquitous myth of the Netherlands being a ‘colour blind’ country, has heavily glossed over these traces (Mathijsen 2019). The lack of awareness about the role of the Netherlands in slave trade and the anti-black and orientalist cultural production that accompanied it, stems from a complex merger of political, economic and cultural interests that prohibit the prospering of a critical understanding of Dutch racism and its history. This conference acts on the urgent need for knowledge of the Dutch colonial past and its current impact by bridging the compartmentalisation of the study of the Dutch colonial past (Stoler 1995; Snelders 2018). In doing so, it strives to move beyond ‘Dutch exceptionalism’, without ignoring the specific Dutch context.
Confirmed keynotes: Prof Hasana Sharp, McGill University, Prof Marlene Daut, University of Virginia
Programme
Full Programme with Abstracts Download
Online Sessions
- Interview with Hasana Sharp and Marlene L. Daut, 28 October, 4 pm: [https://uva-live.zoom.us/j/83860759646].
- Keynote lecture by Alicia Schrikker, 29 October, 10 pm: [https://uva-live.zoom.us/j/84261357297].
- To visit the evening programme Silent / Loud Voices / Bodies, either online or offline, please, register at the Spui25 website.
Thursday 28 October, University of Amsterdam
Location: University Theatre, Nieuwe Doelenstraat 16.
| Time | Activity | Location | Speaker and short title |
| 10:15 | Welcome with coffee | Hall | |
| 10:45 | Introduction | UT | Organising committee |
| 11:00 | Session 1a Silence and Dreams | UT | Chair: Sophie van de Elzen * Mikki Stelder, ‘Attending to the Leusden’ * Thomas van Binsbergen, ‘A Philosopher’s Dream’ * Sophie Rose, ‘Enlightenment Imaginations’ |
| Session 1b Literature and Empathy | 101a | Chair: Sruti Bala * Sarah Adams, ‘Subversion and the White Self’ * Pichayapat Naisupap, ‘Elephants and Slavery’ * Claudia Zeller, ‘Attitudes on Slavery in Travel Accounts for Children’ | |
| 12:30 | Lunch | Hall | |
| 13:30 | Session 2a Political Debates | UT | Chair: Karwan Fatah-Black * Gertjan Schutte, ‘Dutch debates about slavery and the “Berbice Rebellion”’ * Philip Post, ‘A Benign Empire?’ * Dirk Alkemade, ‘Pieter Vreede, Abolitionism and Human Rights’ |
| Session 2b Women’s Voices | 101a | Chair: Barnita Bagchi * Gerlov van Engelenhoven, ‘Historical Voices and Silences’ * Claire Morrison, ‘Whitewashing Nature’ * Marijke Huisman, ‘Protestant and Feminist Appropriations’ | |
| 15:30 | Tea | Hall | |
| 16:00 | Online interview with keynote speakers | UT | Moderators: Rachell Gillett and Marrigje Paijmans * Hasana Sharp * Marlene Daut |
| 17:00 | No programme | ||
| 18:00 | Conference dinner | Kantjil en de tijger, Spuistraat 291 | |
| 21:30 | Evening Programme Silent / Loud Voices / Bodies | Spui25 | Moderator: Fenneke Wekker * Charl Landvreugd, ‘A boat came from Braamspunt’ * Charissa Granger and Francio Guadeloupe, ‘Trans-Caribbean Theorizing via Trance-Caribbean Daaance’ * Sandy Bosmans, performance |
| 22:30 | End of programme |
Friday 29 October, Utrecht University
Location: University Library, Drift 21
| Time | Activity | Location | Speaker and short title |
| 9:30 | Welcome with coffee | D21 0.32 | |
| 10:00 | Keynote lecture | D21 0.32 | Moderator: Nancy Jouwe Alicia Schrikker, ‘Januari’s Ghost’ |
| 11:00 | Coffee | Hall Drift 21 | |
| 11:30 | Session 3 On Tour and on Display | D25 3.03 | Chair: Alison Boyd * Ghanima Kowsoleea, ‘The Golden Coach’ * Emmanuel Akwasi Adu-Ampong, ‘Tourism and the Cultural Imagination of Slavery’ * Esther Captain and Jennifer Tosch, ‘Sites of Memory: Drift 27’ |
| Student programme | D21 0.32 | More information can be found here. | |
| 13:00 | Lunch | Hall Drift 21 | |
| 14:00 | Session 4a Contemporary Culture | D21, 0.32 | Chair: Margriet van de Waal * Anne Marieke van der Wal, ‘Kaap AFRIKAans Hip-hop’ * Aafje de Roest, ‘Slavery in Contemporary Dutch Hip-Hop’ * Ayesha Harruna Attah, ‘Uncovering Silence in Slavery’ |
| Session 4b Archives and Activism | D21, 1.05 | Chair: Devin Vartija * Laura Wetherington, ‘Henk Rossouw’s Xamissa’ * Brenda Bikoko, ‘Appropriated Postcoloniality?’ * Karen van Minnen, ‘Mining Inequality’ | |
| 15:30 | Tea | Hall Drift 21 | |
| 16:00 | Panel discussion Anton de Kom in education | D21, 1.05 | Moderator: Yra van Dijk * Thalia Ostendorf * Michiel van Kempen * TBA |
| 17:00 | Wrap up | D21, 1.05 | Organising committee |
| 17:15 | Drinks | Restaurant Gys, Voorstraat 21 | |
| 18:00 | End of conference |
RSS
Facebook
Twitter
