Presented By: University Library
Dutch Studies: A Decolonial Revision
50 Years of Dutch at the University of Michigan
In 1956, 11 years after proclaiming Indonesia’s independence from 350 years of Dutch occupation, the first president of Indonesia, Sukarno, received an honorary doctor of civil law degree conferred by U-M President Harlan Hatcher. As we celebrate fifty years of Dutch at the University of Michigan with this exhibit, we trace our paths toward a new frame for Dutch Studies — one that emphasizes colonial repair and rethinks which voices matter. View the exhibit in the north lobby of the Hatcher Library.
About the exhibit:
In the section titled “A New Canon," the exhibit includes an empty space where the novel Max Havelaar by Multatuli would be, the “top 10” book touted to have “ended colonialism." With the empty space, we acknowledge the book’s white saviorism that rang in the new era of colonial oppression and cultural genocide called the “(Dutch) Ethical Policy." The books in our new canon crowd out Multatuli’s empty space in the same way that the other materials on display, such as the sound of the carillon score of Gold Coast composer, Charles E. Graves, or the voice of Indonesian forerunner of colonial reparations, Jeffry Pondaag, drowns out the spaces left blank by Willem Janszoon Blaeu’s maps, which reside in our U-M Library collections but are purposely not displayed.
The exhibit continues with collections of materials that show the Dutch program’s comparative approach to Dutch Studies, one that connects histories and cultures and creates understanding through familiar frames of reference. Our collection of Anne Frank materials is supplemented with U-M Professor of History Rudolf Mrázek’s comparative work on the “model camps” of Theresienstadt (Nazi) and Boven Digoel (Dutch). A translation of Leendert van der Valk’s article “1619” on the Dutch foundations of U.S. slavery lies next to Marjolein van Pagee’s Banda: De Genocide van Jan Pieterszoon Coen, an analysis of the 1621 Dutch genocide and enslavement of the Bandanese people.
The last part of the exhibit highlights the speakers scheduled to deliver lectures at an end-of-semester anniversary symposium.
About the exhibit:
In the section titled “A New Canon," the exhibit includes an empty space where the novel Max Havelaar by Multatuli would be, the “top 10” book touted to have “ended colonialism." With the empty space, we acknowledge the book’s white saviorism that rang in the new era of colonial oppression and cultural genocide called the “(Dutch) Ethical Policy." The books in our new canon crowd out Multatuli’s empty space in the same way that the other materials on display, such as the sound of the carillon score of Gold Coast composer, Charles E. Graves, or the voice of Indonesian forerunner of colonial reparations, Jeffry Pondaag, drowns out the spaces left blank by Willem Janszoon Blaeu’s maps, which reside in our U-M Library collections but are purposely not displayed.
The exhibit continues with collections of materials that show the Dutch program’s comparative approach to Dutch Studies, one that connects histories and cultures and creates understanding through familiar frames of reference. Our collection of Anne Frank materials is supplemented with U-M Professor of History Rudolf Mrázek’s comparative work on the “model camps” of Theresienstadt (Nazi) and Boven Digoel (Dutch). A translation of Leendert van der Valk’s article “1619” on the Dutch foundations of U.S. slavery lies next to Marjolein van Pagee’s Banda: De Genocide van Jan Pieterszoon Coen, an analysis of the 1621 Dutch genocide and enslavement of the Bandanese people.
The last part of the exhibit highlights the speakers scheduled to deliver lectures at an end-of-semester anniversary symposium.
Co-Sponsored By
Explore Similar Events
-
Loading Similar Events...
