Gendered Empire: Intersectional perspectives on Dutch post/colonial narratives

Jaarboek voor Vrouwengeschiedenis #39

by Nancy Jouwe (Editor), Eveline Buchheim (Editor), Ernestine Hoegen (Editor)

What do we see when we look at our collective Dutch colonial legacies from a gender perspective? How are these colonial legacies reflected in our museum collections and archives? Do herstories remain hidden and are there unknown biographies to unravel? Or do we reinterpret existing master narratives?

Using an intersectional perspective, Gendered empire looks at the current growing Dutch interest in its own colonial legacy from a more critical and self-reflexive stance. The authors bring historical and current examples in the Dutch metropole and colonies together. Collectively they share archival silences, biographical counternarratives and a museum world grappling with its own colonial legacy, all the while wondering: what has gender got to do with it?

Content

- NANCY JOUWE, Introduction

The silent archive:
- SUZE ZIJLSTRA, Free and enslaved Asian women in European and Eurasian households in 18th-century Makassar
- MERVE TOSUN, Women at home and men outdoors? Locating enslaved peole in 18th-century Batavia
- NANCY JOUWE, Beyond the Dapur. Listening to Papuan Women
- STEPHANIE WELVAART, Cultural violence in the making. Representations of Indonesian women in Dutch testimonies on the Indonesian war of independence

Biographies of ‘the other’:
- EMMA VAN MEYEREN, Whiskey in a crate: an interview with Glenda Martinus and her son Quinsy Gario about the 30 May 1969 uprising on Curaçao
- SIDRA SHAHID, Violent Benevolence. Dutch Colonialism and the burqa ban
- CARLA TJON, In Godforsaken places. Shenzen - Hong Kong - Paramaribo - The Hague - Rotterdam. A legacy of overseas expansion
- LARA NUBERG, ‘Then I guess you must love cooking?’
- GLORIA WEKKER, How families navigate empire

The hidden museum:
- CAROLINE DRIEËNHUIZEN, Of beauties and brides. Tracing the representation of colonized women through two museum objects, 1930-present
- EVELIEN WALHOUT & JACQUES DANE, Picturing the East. A visual analysis of Dutch late 19th- and early 20th-century educational tools from the collection of the Dutch National Museum of Education
- EVELINE BUCHHEIM & MARLEEN REICHGELT, Hidden in plain sight. Critical reflections on Een verborgen geschiedenis: anders kijken naar Nederlands-Indië by Thom Hoffman
- MARLEEN REICHGELT & LARISSA SCHULTE NORDHOLT, Colonial Heritage and Restitution: a round-table discussion among museum professionals, with Wim Manuhutu, Henrietta Lidchi & Jos van Beurden, and reactions by Priya Swamy & Sadiah Boonstra

231 pages, Paperback

First published December 15, 2020

Reviews

[lex · Rating 4 out of 5]

Boeiende beschouwingen over de geschiedschrijving en representatie van de gekoloniseerden in de Nederlandse kolonies. Aandacht voor de vrouwen maar ook in bredere zin de representatie in het onderwijs, de kunsten en de museale collecties. Een van de interessantere stukken vond ik die van Sidra Shahid, die het 'boerkaverbod' uit 2019 in de context plaatst van ons koloniale verleden (o.a. de ethische politiek in Nederlands-Indië) .

[Anna · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great read!