Book presentation: State and Slavery
The Dutch colonial slavery past and its repercussions
- Koninklijke Schouwburg, Korte Voorhout 3 in The Hague
- with livestream
On Thursday, June 15, several editors and scholars who collaborated on State and Slavery: the Dutch colonial slavery past and its repercussions will present the book to Hanke Bruins Slot, Minister of the Interior and Kingdom Relations, at the Koninklijke Schouwburg from 4:30 to 5:30 p.m. in The Hague.
State and Slavery researches the role played by the Dutch state and its predecessors in the colonial slavery past. It describes how various stakeholders, such as enslaved people, administrators and entrepreneurs in the metropolis and in colonized societies, responded to slavery. By reflecting on current themes and debates, over thirty authors discuss the afterlives of Dutch slavery, the presence of a system of slavery in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, the effects this system had on societies all over the world, and the earliest interests in slavery and colonialism starting in the sixteenth century.
State and Slavery is a project commissioned by the Ministry of Interior and Kingdom Relations, as a direct result of a motion filed by Dutch parliamentary Don Ceder. Now, in the commemorative year of 2023, the book calls upon the current representatives of the Dutch state to create a space for ongoing dialogue about the slavery past and the possibility of recovery from its effects and afterlives. More information about this project can be found here.
The book consists of four parts, one of which contains chapters on the former Dutch colonies and the impact the Dutch colonial slavery past has had on these societies. The chapters in this part cover regions that lie amongst others in presentday Brazil, United States, the Dutch Caribbean islands, Surinam, Guyana, Ghana, Angola, South Africa, Madagascar, Mauritius, India, Sri Lanka, Myanmar and Indonesia.
Authors: Markus Balkenhol, Ulbe Bosma, Pepijn Brandon, Jan Breman, Titas Chakraborty, Kate Ekama, Tom van der Geugten, Helmut Gezius, Jeanne Henriquez, Nicole Immler, Nancy Jouwe, Marjoleine Kars, Michiel van Kempen, Ellen Klinkers, Lauren Lauret, Andrea Mosterman, Kwame Nimako, Erik Odegard, Jeroen Puttevils, Charles do Rego, Matthias van Rossum, Alicia Schrikker, Valika Smeulders, Alex van Stipriaan, Martijn Stoutjesdijk, Raymund Schütz, Joris van den Tol and Arthur Weststeijn.
The editors have also invited the artists Iris Kensmil, patricia kaersenhout, Theo Frids Hutabarat and Brian Elstak to reflect on the history of slavery. Their work precedes each separate part of the book
De editorial staff of this extrodinary book consists of:
- Esther Captain is a historian and senior researcher at the Koninklijk Instituut voor Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde (KITLV) in Leiden.
- Matthias van Rossum is a historian and senior researcher at the Internationaal Instituut voor Sociale Geschiedenis (IISG) in Amsterdam.
- Urwin Vyent is a sociologist and director of the Nationaal instituut Nederlands slavernijverleden en erfenis (NiNsee) in Amsterdam.
- Rose Mary Allen is an antropologist and a Distinguished Professor of Culture, Community and History at the University of Curaçao.
Do you want to watch the book launch online next Thursday, June 15? Then click on this link for the livestream. It starts at 4:30 p.m.
Staat en slavernij. Het Nederlandse koloniale slavernijverleden en zijn doorwerkingen (Dutch only) can be purchased from 15th June at Athenaeum—Polak & Van Gennep | ISBN 9789025316617 | paperback | 480 pages | price € 32,50.
