Dutch Colonial Research Articles

Sanitizing Stories, Palatable Books: Fictionalizing Dutch Colonial History for Anglophone Audiences in The Miniaturist and The Naturalist of Amsterdam

ABSTRACT Works of “book club fiction” like Jessie Burton’s The Miniaturist and Melissa Ashley’s The Naturalist of Amsterdam often are destined to reach a wide non-academic audience, potentially becoming the primary conduit through which that audience is exposed to the histories of so-called “minor empires.” For this reason, it is critical that we think carefully about exactly what stories are being told in narratives of this type. While The Miniaturist has ironically attracted criticism from reviewers for coming across as almost too aware of and engaged with social justice issues, a careful reading of both Burton’s and Ashley’s novels reveals pressing questions about how well they address colonial histories. Although Burton and Ashley confront the usurpation of women’s agency in various forms and imagine anti-patriarchal resistance in a rich array of guises, both texts also reproduce persisting mythologies of empire that oversimplify and occlude the challenging relationships between gender, race, and imperial power. A paired reading of Burton’s and Ashley’s novels illustrates the continuing vulnerability of the histories of “minor empires” to being suppressed, sanitized, and made palatable for white Anglophone readers from former or current colonizer societies – including in ostensibly feminist texts where intersectional perspectives are missing or are incompletely rendered.

THE FORGOTTEN LIONESS: RASIMAH ISMAIL, MINANGKABAU WOMAN AGAINST DUTCH COLONIALISM IN WEST SUMATRA

This article discusses the role of Rasimah Ismail in resisting Dutch colonialism in West Sumatra between 1912 and 1933. Its background includes the historical context of Dutch colonialism in Indonesia and the political and social situation in West Sumatra during that period. The aim of this research was to understand the role and contribution of Rasimah Ismail in the resistance against Dutch colonization. The research method used included historical analysis based on primary and secondary sources consisting of several stages: heuristic, criticism, interpretation, historiography. Sources sought included archives, photographs, as well as Dutch and Indonesian newspapers conducted online and offline. The findings highlighted Rasimah Ismail's important role in organizing Minangkabau women to resist Dutch colonialism through various social and political activities and actively demanding Indonesian independence. Rasimah Ismail was also known for her bravery and firmness in expressing opinions against colonial government policies, leading to her exile and imprisonment in Semarang. The conclusion of this article emphasized the importance of women's roles in anti-colonial resistance movements and paid tribute to Rasimah Ismail as one of the active figures in that struggle.

An Imperial Snapshot: Colonial Anxiety and Picture Postcards in Early c.20 Indonesia

This article examines the concept of colonial anxiety through the prism of printed postcards sent from the colonial Dutch East Indies, now Indonesia, during the early twentieth century. The argument is that picture postcards featuring colonial images or scenes act as multimodal forms of communication, allowing the sender to promulgate colonial-imperial assumptions while sending an often-banal tourist message to friends and family back home. The study approaches the topic by examining the postcolonial exchange in terms of a symbolic structure through which the coloniser and the colonial society produce symbolic knowledge, through items such as picture postcards, to portray their authority and knowledge of the colonised other. This is contextualised with the Lacanian understanding of structural anxiety to demonstrate the slippage which occurs when symbolic knowledge breaks down. Finally, this article calls for a more inclusive debate on colonial anxiety, drawing attention to the relative lack of definition of the term and the tendency for certain former colonies, such as Indonesia, to be excluded from discussion in favour of the oft-used South Asian example.

Teaching Islam in the Palembang Malay During the Dutch Colonial Era

Teaching Islam in the Palembang Malay During the Dutch Colonial Era

ANALYZING COLONIAL REMNANTS: A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF INDONESIAN ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT (1950–1980)

The Global South has always been a running contributor to the global inequality index, becoming a threat to international stability and sustainability. In most cases, it is found that colonial dependency is one major factor that causes this hindrance in development, leading to inequality. In its journey to independence, Indonesia had undergone a strict economic system under Dutch colonialism, and further transitioned to two different governing systems before its reformation, producing different outcomes of economic policy management and spread of inequality. Thus, this research wishes to understand the differences of economic system governance between the Soekarno and Soeharto era, and whether they possess any remnants of colonial dependency integrated within them. The Dependency Theory is used in this research with the concepts of postcolonialism, development, and inequality embedded into the discussions. The data of this research is gathered through academic literature, utilizing a qualitative approach, and is conducted with a descriptive and historical comparative approach. This research finds that Dutch colonialism contributed a major role in how Indonesia manages its economic strategies and how it impacts its high social and economic inequality. Further stretching to post-independence, it is found that Soekarno's decoupling of Western values translated worse into the economy, compared to Soeharto's Western-centric approaches to trade. The root causes of colonial dependencies and habits affect the outcome of economic habits, and thus contribute to the efficiencies of how Indonesia manages its economy during the period before reformation.

Unveiling Complexity: Cinematic Representations of Apartheid History and the Post-Apartheid Dutch- Afrikaner Relationship in <em>Black Butterflies</em> (2011) and <em>An Act of Defiance</em> (2017)

The cinematic representation of Apartheid, and in particular the tendency of using white protagonists to narrate the story of black suffering, has been the object of much scholarly enquiry but this has never included Dutch films. This article explores the representation of Afrikaner anti-Apartheid activism in Dutch cinema through an analysis of the films Black Butterflies (2011) and An Act of Defiance (2017). It investigates how these films perpetuate or challenge the paradigm of ‘white heroism’ and ‘white saviourism’ prevalent in cinematic portrayals of colonial and Apartheid history. Through a comparative study, it reveals nuanced narratives of white protagonists, highlighting their complexities as ‘tragic heroes’ rather than conventional ‘white saviours,’ yet at the same time suggesting a societal inclination towards absolving their past sins, echoing a broader post-Apartheid narrative of forgiveness and reconciliation. By contextualising these representations within broader societal discourses on colonialism and post-Apartheid reconciliation, the article sheds light on evolving Dutch attitudes towards Afrikaners, as the descendants of Dutch colonists, and their historical culpability, offering insights into contemporary Dutch engagement with issues of race, identity, and historical memory.

Politics, Gender and the Global: New Directions in the History of Christianity in South Africa

Two contradictory tendencies mark the historiography of Christianity in South Africa. First, the country has been a rich crucible for important scholarship on Christianity. In a country where 80 per cent of the population currently claim Christian affiliation, it is not hard to imagine why this would be the case. The country has a centuries-old Christian presence, spanning the Protestantism of early Dutch settlers in the Cape to the many European and North American missionaries of all persuasions who descended upon South Africa in subsequent centuries (some estimated that the south-eastern region of Natal in the nineteenth century was the most missionised area in the world at that time). An equally great magnet for scholarship was the size and diversity of the independent church movement in South Africa – or those Christians who broke away from missionary oversight to form Black-led congregations, many affiliated with other Black Christian organisations in the Atlantic world. By the mid-century, thousands of churches labelling themselves as Zionist, Apostolic and Ethiopian filled South Africa and attracted a commensurately rich scholarship; many such studies focused on how Christianity was Africanised via the independent church movement. In a darker vein, a further impetus for scholarly interest was the way in which Protestantism was wielded by (some) Afrikaners to justify the apartheid regime. Unsurprisingly, this led to an expansive twentieth-century literature on state power and Christianity, both social scientific as well as theological. Finally, historical studies in general have tended to cluster more densely in South Africa than is the case for many other regions of the African continent – a phenomenon that is due to the country's thriving research scene and its many tertiary education institutions. Viewed from this perspective, the large number of histories of Christianity in South Africa should be seen as a smaller subset of the extensive scholarship on South Africa itself.

The Impact of Colonialism on the Islamic Education System: Changes in Education Systems in Colonized Regions Such as Indonesia, India, and North Africa

This study examines the impact of colonialism on the Islamic education system in colonized regions such as Indonesia, India, and North Africa, using a literature review method. The research finds that colonialism brought significant changes to the Islamic education system, both structurally and curricular. In Indonesia, the influence of Dutch colonialism is evident in the introduction of Western-based formal education, which shifted the position of traditional madrasas, although these institutions managed to survive by adopting modern curricula. In India, British colonialism introduced Western education, influencing the madrasa system with the adoption of some modern elements in its teaching. Meanwhile, European colonialism in North Africa created a dynamic interplay between Islamic traditions and modernity, leading to changes that reflect a compromise between local values and foreign influences. In conclusion, colonialism not only transformed the landscape of Islamic education in these regions but also drove adaptation and innovation within Islamic educational institutions to maintain their relevance amidst changing times.

A Historical Review of the Artificial Pollination of Vanilla planifolia: The Importance of Collaborative Research in a Changing World.

The natural fertilization of Vanilla planifolia has long been a matter of speculation. Stingless (tribe Meliponini) and orchid bees (tribe Euglossini) are often cited as effective pollinators, but direct evidence is notoriously lacking. As with other food-deceptive orchids, the natural fruit-set in V. planifolia is low and does not occur spontaneously outside its native range in Middle America. Fruiting has, therefore, necessitated human intervention through artificial pollination. How Vanilla first came to be artificially pollinated is a controversial issue spurring egotism and nationalism. There are numerous texts offering differing versions of the historical events that led to the discovery of the artificial fertilization of V. planifolia and its propagation as a crop. Historical records show Vanilla was simultaneously being pollinated in several parts of the world. I argue that the suspected independent simultaneous discoveries made in Liège, Paris, Padua, the Dutch colony of Java (Indonesia), and the French insular colonies Réunion (Bourbon), Guadeloupe, and Martinique are not unconnected. I conclude that they can be traced back to a single discoverer whose feat was spread around the globe by a tight network of corresponding naturalists. This view contrasts with previous authors. Finally, current concerns regarding Vanilla pollination and production are addressed, highlighting the need for immediate actions to conserve the genetic diversity of the crop's wild relatives to attenuate the effect of extreme climates in a changing world. A plea is made to shift the focus to Middle America, stimulating and supporting local research and conservation efforts and the allocation of funds from this billion-dollar industry.

The Case of Dutch and Japanese Colonial Political Policies on Islamic Education in Indonesia

During the colonial period, education must have been very difficult to get, because the colonizers who were in power at that time did not want education to reach the indigenous people. The Islamic education system during the Japanese occupation was basically the same as the Islamic education system in the Dutch era, namely in addition to the pesantren education system established by traditional scholars, there was also a classical education system as seen in madrasas. The Dutch have colonized Indonesia for centuries. And during the Dutch colonial period, access to Islamic education was very difficult because Dutch education was more dominant in non-Islamic education. While Japan actually gave relief to Islamic education in Indonesia, it was precisely the waiver from Japan that made Japan withdraw from Indonesia. The research method used in this study is a Literature Study that collects data from various written sources. This research aims to find out the cases of political policies related to Islamic Education in Indonesia during the Dutch and Japanese colonial periods.

Revisiting the history of colonialism and international law in Indonesia: the legacies of G. J. Resink

Power is exercised through truth claims, as seen in the case of Dutch colonialism in Indonesia. Gertrudes Johan Resink, a scholar of international law, successfully exposed the history of Dutch colonialism in Indonesia and demonstrated the pre-existence of international law before European expansion by considering the role of international law in Indonesia’s history. This article examines Resink’s legacy and the potential for elaborating further on his ideas in Indonesia’s history of international law. Although this article deals with a specific context, the Indonesian experience can contribute to the history and development of international law in the region more generally.

Changeability, adaptability, and resiliency of Indonesian historic area: a case of Kesawan, Medan

Abstract This paper aims to analyse changes in buildings and plots in a historical area in Medan, Indonesia, in 1875, 1945, and 2023. Change is discussed from the aspect of physical and functional change. The ability of an environment to change and adapt is in line with the concepts of resilience and sustainability. This paper shows that buildings change functionally from hotels and clubhouses to banks. Plots became smaller as previous plots were divided into smaller parts separated by new streets or alleys. This pattern was more pronounced in large, square-shaped plots. Factors that drove these changes were influenced by political factors (lack of government regulation and social movement against Dutch colonialism) and economic factors (Kesawan’s role as a business center).

The Impact of Hikayat Prang Sabi on the Community: A Sociology of Literature Study

The growing fighting spirit of the Acehnese people against the Dutch colonialists has been documented in history. One factor that significantly influenced this heroic spirit was the Hikayat Prang Sabi (The letter literature of war). How did this text shape the courageous spirit of the Acehnese in their resistance against the invaders? This paper examines the influence of Hikayat Prang Sabi (HPS) on its readers and the broader community. This study aims to reveal the impact of Hikayat Prang Sabi on Acehnese society. The theoretical framework used is the sociology of literature, focusing on the relationship between author, the literary work, and the reading public. The methodology employed is a descriptive qualitative approach that draws on literary sociology. The results indicate that HPS was a significant literary work that deeply affected its readers, especially the Acehnese who embraced it. The creation of HPS by Tgk. Chik Pante Kulu was closely tied to the political conditions in Aceh at the time, as the region was engaged in conflict with Dutch military force. During the Aceh-Dutch war, HPS was read before going to battle until it was confiscated and destroyed by the Dutch. Even after the war, HPS remained a crucial reference for the Acehnese in rebuilding political power.

Perception of perpetrators’ acknowledgement of victimhood increases rather than decreases support for reconciliation with another victim group

ABSTRACT Centuries of colonial oppression in the collective memory of native Indonesians perpetuated their perception as victims of historical injustice, and left behind violent intergroup conflicts. We investigated how perceived acknowledgement of victimhood by perpetrators and another victim group would predict support for reconciliation with Chinese Indonesians through acknowledgement of ingroup wrongdoing and reduced prejudice. We conducted an online survey among native Indonesians (N = 333) and identified an indirect relationship between perceived acknowledgement of victimhood by Dutch colonizers and support for reconciliation with Chinese Indonesians via the mediating effect of prejudice. However, contrary to expectations, participants with higher levels of perceived acknowledgement of victimhood by perpetrators were more likely to show prejudice, which in turn predicted lower support for reconciliation. Acknowledgement of ingroup wrongdoing was not a statistically significant mediator. This study suggests that, in some cases, acknowledgement of victimhood by the perpetrator group may be primarily taken as a confirmation of victimhood rather than a direct path towards a more peaceful co-existence with other groups.

What the Dutch benefits scandal and policy's focus on ‘fraud’ can teach us about the endurance of empire

In the benefits scandal, the Dutch state wrongfully accused at least 35,000 Dutch parents of young children of committing fraud with subsidies for childcare, based on ethnic profiling. Especially families with heritage in the former Dutch colonies in the Caribbean and Suriname were hit. Because they had to compensate for this supposed ‘fraud’, families were often thrown into severe debt and years of financial and legal struggle, a struggle that is ongoing for many. For the parents of more than 2,000 children, this even led to the loss of custody of their children. The Dutch state has formally acknowledged that ‘institutional racism’ was part of the problem, yet the scandal remains analysed by many, especially white scholars and journalists, as unintended, incidental and unrelated to Dutch colonial history. This commentary addresses the scandal as a case of an enduring colonial legacy of targeting racialised and gendered citizens in social policy. ‘Fraud’ is a social policy category through which this is made possible and violence continues to be inflicted upon racialised and gendered members of the Dutch population.

Establishing Bandung as a Center of Nationalism: R. A. A. Wiranatakusumah V's Political Policies Amidst the Independence Movement

This study aims to analyze the political policies of R.A.A. Wiranatakusumah V in establishing Bandung as a center of nationalism amidst Indonesia's independence movement. This research uses a literature study method with a historical approach to explore Wiranatakusumah V's role as the Regent of Bandung, including his response to significant events such as the founding of the Indonesian National Party (PNI) and Bung Karno's trial by the Dutch Colonial Landraad. The findings indicate that R.A.A. Wiranatakusumah V's policies successfully made Bandung a region that welcomed the national movement while maintaining harmony between indigenous and colonial groups. This research contributes to a deeper understanding of how inclusive and nationalist political policies can shape a city's identity as a center of the national movement. The study also offers lessons for the younger generation on the importance of leadership that can unite various societal elements in the struggle for independence.

Kyai Abd. Rachman Bin Sopa Hamid: Jejak Keluarga Kesultanan Palembang Darussalam Di Tulung Selapan Ogan Komering Ilir

This research is the result of historical research with the title " Kyai Abd. Rachman Bin Sopa Hamid: Palembang Darussalam Sultanate Family in Tulung Selapan Ogan Komering ". This research was conducted to determine the journey and role of Kyai Abd. Rachman Bin Sopa Hamid in Tulung Selapan through the historical evidence left behind. In this research, Levinson's Role Theory is used. Through this theory, the traces, role and position of Kyai Abd can be analyzed. Rachman Bin Sopa Hamid in the Tulung Selapan village community, Ogan Komering Ilir Regency during the Palembang Darussalam Sultanate era until its current influence on the local community. Apart from that, the research method used is descriptive qualitative. From the results of his research, it is known that the fall of the Palembang sultanate into Dutch hands was marked by the capture of Sultan Mahmud Badaruddin II and his family who were then exiled to Ternate (North Maluku). At the same time, several imperial families and other Mujahid figures also fled to other areas, including Kyai Abdurachman bin Sopa Hamid, who at the time also fled to the Ogan Komering Ilir area, precisely in Tulung Selapan, until he died. The whereabouts of Kyai Abd. Rachman Bin Sopa Hamid in Tulung Selapan is marked by the presence of several relics in the form of a collection of swords and tenongs as well as the existence of Kyai Abd's food. Rachman Bin Sopa Hamid. During his escape in Tulung Selapan, Kyai Abdurachman bin Sopa Hamid then preached and broadcast the Islamic religion through education to the local community so that he was also known as a cleric and played a major role in politics such as leading the local community in facing the Dutch colonialists who came to Tulung Selapan to this day

Book Review: Genesis and Nemesis of the First Dutch Colonial Empire in Asia and South Africa, 1596–1811 by Gerrit Knaap

Book Review: <i>Genesis and Nemesis of the First Dutch Colonial Empire in Asia and South Africa, 1596–1811</i> by Gerrit Knaap

Gaya Arsitektur Rumah Istri Sultan Amaluddin Tengku Khalijah di Kota Maksum

Kota Maksum is an elite area that was once the residence of the nobles of the Deli Sultanate since the royal family moved from the palace in Labuhan to the Maimun Palace in 1891. The development of Kota Maksum was inseparable from the collaboration between the kingdom and the Dutch colonialists at that time so that the buildings of the Sultanate Many Delis were built by Dutch architects, including the Kota Maksum area. One proof of the legacy of the residence of the Deli nobles in Maksum City today is the house of Sultan Amaluddin Tengku Khalijah's wife. This house is the residence of Tengku Khalijah, the wife of Sultan Amaluddin Sani Perkasa Alamsyah, located in Maksum City. What's unique is that this house still stands strong today, even though it looks like the house is not very well maintained. In this way, the author immediately plunged into the field to see the house. This research aims to reveal the architectural style and ornaments used in the house of Sultan Amaluddin Tengku Khalijah's wife in Maksum City. The research method used in this research is a historical approach using data collection techniques through field observations, direct interviews with Tengku Khalijah's descendants, and literature study. The findings from this research show that Tengku Khalijah's house is structurally styled using Dutch colonial architecture which can be seen in elements such as stiles, doors, windows, dormer roofs, roof peak decoration and the use of the dominant color white in the house which is generally also used. on Other Colonial houses. Several typical Malay ornaments with floral motifs are also used in this house.

Civil aircraft procurement and colonial ties: Evidence on the market for jetliners, 1952–89

We investigate the extent to which (quasi-)colonial ties played a role in the procurement of jet aircraft by airlines in the Global South. Because we do not have access to archival data on the sensitive issue of aircraft procurement, we take an indirect empirical approach. Our investigation is based on a dataset including all Western jet aircraft delivered between 1952 and 1989. We ask if, to what extent, and how long airlines from former British, French, Dutch, and US (quasi-)colonies tended to buy jets from their former or, respectively, most recent colonial master. We compare the (ex-ante) expected geographical distribution of politically unbiased jet deliveries to the (ex-post) actual historical and potentially biased distribution. We find that colonial ties to former colonial masters from Europe especially mattered until the early/mid-1970s when, triggered by the two oil price crises, pure economic motives gained more significance in informing procurement decisions.