Op donderdag 27 mei 2021 ondertekenden Rita Rahman, voorzitter van de Werkgroep Caraïbische Letteren, en... Lees verder →
Reclaiming the Narrative; Doorwerkingen van het Nederlandse Trans-atlantische slavernijverleden
Dit jaar wordt van 1 juli 2023 tot 1 juli 2024 het Herdenkingsjaar Slavernijverleden uitgeroepen en ter gelegenheid daarvan organiseert het NiNsee op vrijdag 2 juni 2023 het symposium Reclaiming the Narrative om het jaar in te luiden.
read on…Studiemiddag Educatienetwerk Slavernijverleden
Tropenmuseum – vrijdag 18 november Studiemiddag voor docenten en leerkrachten uit het primair- en voortgezet onderwijs rondom het Nederlands trans-Atlantische slavernijverleden.
read on…Tropenmuseum geeft bezoekers inkijk in omgang met roofkunst
Bezoekers van het Tropenmuseum kunnen binnenkort interactief meekijken met de stappen die het museum zet om meer te weten te komen over roofkunst in de collectie. Het Amsterdamse museum wil zo aandacht schenken aan de omgang met kunstobjecten die in het verleden onvrijwillig zijn afgestaan. Dat laat inhoudelijk directeur Wayne Modest dinsdag aan NU.nl weten.
read on…Conference: Collaboration, Creativity and Change in the Imaginations of our Kingdom
Both national and international funding agencies increasingly require research proposals to incorporate multilevel collaboration in order to impact the lives of the people we do research with. As a beneficiary of such funding, the IMANAT (Imagining the Nation in the Classroom) consortium included partners from various disciplines from across the Kingdom. These collaborations raised some important questions: How to integrate various needs, demands and imagination, or better: who decides what is valuable to who? How can collaborations change during and after research? Does academic knowledge or research experience allow us any sort of ‘expert’ position? Must we produce academic papers and policy briefs only, or can we coproduce films, sounds and art collections? How indeed do we employ our creativity? This one-day symposium brings together artists, activists, various academics, and policymakers to share previous experiences and imagine new possibilities in Dutch Caribbean research.
read on…Angela Davis: aftrap van een volle week
Tekst en foto’s van Anja Meulenbelt
De aftrap van een volle week, met Angela Davis en Gina Dent, die er voor zijn overgekomen uit de VS. Tropenmuseum, een passende omgeving, dit eens koloniale museum. Vijfhonderd mensen in de zaal, en wachtlijsten. Het is al lang geleden dat Davis in Nederland was, iemand uit de zaal kan het haar precies vertellen: 16 jaar geleden en 25 jaar geleden. Zo’n bijeenkomst als deze had toen niet gekund, zegt Davis. read on…
The whiteness of gender and people of colour
by Helen Weeres
I, the writer of this paper, am a white woman and I will not deny that this affects the writing and analysis performed in this paper. Due to my being white I have lived a life of certain privilege and obliviousness, so please keep this in mind as a critical perspective on my writing as you are reading this paper. Additionally, I admit that I am not necessarily the person that should be given the opportunity to write a paper on this topic that might be published online, for I believe that a person of colour would provide the reader with more ‘real’ and insightful thoughts on this specific topic. read on…
Change is good
by Bonnie van der Lee
History is present
If I would have to summarize this course I would say that during it we’ve talked about the history of slavery and colonialism and in particular how this is still seen and felt today. Due to the fact that we had guest lecturers every week this gave us a unique insight into multiple different fields and opinions. This essay will focus on protecting cultural heritage through dance (Aminata Cairo), change through activism and preserving of black history (Mitchell Esajas) while also taking into account the actuality of slavery past (Wayne Modest). read on…
Blinding Nationalism; shared colonial histories, isolated struggles for acknowledgement
by Luzie Louisa Richt
To understand our shared history of slavery and colonialism, there are not only the century-old racial boundaries that have to be crossed, but also the seemingly-ignored national ones. Presented with new research findings from the side-wings of the Dutch colonial history as a non-national history, I wondered why we perceive of Europe’s colonial legacy as nation-specific endeavor, separating and isolating histories along the geographical lines of the imagined communities of nation-states.
Motivated by realizing my lack of knowledge of the German colonial history due to a privileged ignorance, I was surprised to discover the similarities of the colonial legacy of the Netherlands and Germany. Discussing my own situatedness, I want to plead for the broadening of our conception of history into multiple, nation-independent strands that, despite their contradictions, their discrepancies, allow to sketch a bigger picture and connect us, regardless of our inherited appeal to divide ourselves along ethnical, cultural and national lines. read on…
Een onbekend verleden
Over een incomplete geschiedschrijving van het slavernijverleden
door Lieneke Glas
De slavernij en het koloniale verleden zijn gevoelige onderwerpen in Nederland. Dit is alleen al zichtbaar aan de jaarlijks terugkerende Zwarte Piet-discussie, maar het onderwerp an sich is tijden niet eens bespreekbaar geweest (Coenders & Chauvin 2017). Daar proberen diverse groeperingen en organisaties nu verandering in te brengen. Zo kwam in augustus 2017 het boek Roofstaat Compact uit, waarin de andere kant van het Nederlandse verleden wordt belicht (Mulder 2017). read on…
When the Side Wings Take Center Stage
An Essay on Structural Racism in the Netherlands
by Eline de Jong
In December 2016, Dutch filmmaker Sunny Bergman presented her documentary Wit is ook een Kleur (The Color White). In the documentary, she asks her audience, her interviewees, and also herself: what does it mean to be white? read on…
To all Dutch universities: our colonial history is not a past!
by Tim Vroegindeweij
Hans Broek in his account in the Volkskrant on the 12th of January 2018 wrote about the dehumanising practises of the Dutch during their colonial rule over the Gold Coast, present day Ghana. In his article, he argues that the measurements the Dutch imposed on their colonised peoples were of such an objectionable nature, white Dutch citizens today cannot but foster a certain sense of guilt and shame towards their colonial past. His account is a reaction to an article by Hubert Peters, who argued that the Dutch have nothing to be ashamed of when it comes to their collective colonial history. The latter is a clear example of how lacking knowledge of a historic period and in particular its implications for our society at present, continues to divide social groups. This brief paper discusses the importance of this lacking knowledge and attempts to advocate the introduction of more academic courses on the subject at Dutch universities. read on…
What we don’t see; The Side Wings of Slavery & Colonialism
Lectures on Slavery in the former Dutch Colonies, and its Aftermath
Institute for Interdisciplinary Studies, University of Amsterdam
This lecture series brings together different, less exposed themes on Dutch slavery and colonialism. The course intends to educate students about more than the general perception of slavery and colonialism.
Slavery in the former Dutch colonies is often discussed with reference to an overall picture about Trans-Atlantic slavery. The focus of this course is about what we don’t know, but should know about slavery. Why is it that the Dutch East Indies were long neglected when it comes to slavery, while numerically it is comparable with slavery in the Caribbean? How did Africans who were dragged to the New World in slave shackles, still achieved success in their lives? What was the significance of art and cultural expressions like dance in colonial times? Which traces of slavery are still visible in modern socieity? These are all questions that will be adressed.
Starts Thurday 16 November 2017, 19.00-21.00 h., Oudemanhuispoort, room C 0.17. (University of Amsterdam, Oudemanhuispoort 4-6, 1012 CN Amsterdam).