Plants and peoples’ connections intertwine in multiple histories, often captured in textual accounts and illustrations, such as the Historia Naturalis Brasiliae (1648) and the Libri Picturati (c.... Show morePlants and peoples’ connections intertwine in multiple histories, often captured in textual accounts and illustrations, such as the Historia Naturalis Brasiliae (1648) and the Libri Picturati (c. 1640). These materials originated in the colonial context of Dutch Brazil and circulated among naturalists, physicians, merchants, and wealthy collectors for centuries. Today, we looked at these collections to identify the documented flora. With an ethnobotanical approach, we analyzed whether these plants are still used the same way in Brazil, their origins, and how they were collected. This study pays attention to the Indigenous and enslaved peoples living in the colony, whose rich corpus of botanical knowledge was appropriated within Western epistemologies and used in the colonial enterprise in Brazil, and beyond. Show less
What is 'the news' and how does it differ from 'news'? The latter speaks to power, diversity of news media, and multiple publics. This dissertation is an ethnographic study of 'the news' and 'news... Show moreWhat is 'the news' and how does it differ from 'news'? The latter speaks to power, diversity of news media, and multiple publics. This dissertation is an ethnographic study of 'the news' and 'news' in, respectively, an institutional and a popular public on the Dutch Caribbean islands, Curaçao and Sint Maarten. The metaphor of the ‘glasshouse’ refers to how social life on these islands took shape under Dutch colonial rule and has since evolved as part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. Like (real) glasshouses, built as regulated atmospheres to optimize the growth of plants outside their natural habitat, I argue that as part of the Dutch colonial project Curaçao and Sint Maarten were designed and regulated as social environments according to capitalist principles. Yet, as unruly transformations emerge in (real) glasshouses, so do unforeseen flowering and mushrooming take place on Curaçao and Sint Maarten. With a focus on news as a social process that generates common, contested, and at times cathartic senses of belonging, this dissertation aims to broaden the understanding of what 'news' means and does, while showing how everyday dynamics of 'the news' and 'news' articulate the creative transformations around (re)imagining and constructing the island communities. Show less
Besides trading, the Dutch East India Company (VOC) and its Western Indian counterpart (WIC) also sought to expand their dominant position by establishing and managing colonies. Central to this... Show moreBesides trading, the Dutch East India Company (VOC) and its Western Indian counterpart (WIC) also sought to expand their dominant position by establishing and managing colonies. Central to this strategy was to stimulate an orderly, self-producing colonial population, with a European elite at the top and a sharp distinction between free citizens and people in slavery. The reality was less orderly, however: in disparate colonial settlements such as Batavia, Cochin, Ceylon, Elmina, Suriname, Curaçao and Berbice, people from different backgrounds, religions, and social positions encountered one another and formed relationships – formal and informal, coercive and consensual – which could either challenge or reinforce the social divisions on which colonial hierarchies rested. Regulating Relations, focusing on the abovementioned settlements in the eighteenth century, investigates how norms around marriage, family, and sexuality formed in this complex world: how did colonial authorities attempt to regulate the intimate relations of populations under their control, and how did men and women of various backgrounds give shape to these norms through their own behavior and use of institutions? Show less
This dissertation examines the efforts and motives of conservation actors on Bonaire, Saba, and Sint Eustatius, and situates these actors within the larger context of the Caribbean Netherlands. The... Show moreThis dissertation examines the efforts and motives of conservation actors on Bonaire, Saba, and Sint Eustatius, and situates these actors within the larger context of the Caribbean Netherlands. The main research question addressed is: How are the efforts of conservation actors to protect the environment of the Caribbean Netherlands affected by the recent social and political changes and their (post) colonial context? To get at these issues, this dissertation combines insights and approaches from environmental psychology, anthropology, and Caribbean studies to investigate how and why residents of the Caribbean Netherlands engage in conservation actions. Situated in social history, cultural and environmental anthropology, public administration, and environmental science, this research aims to create a broader, less compartmentalized, picture and also addresses societal concerns. Because of its multidisciplinary and multi-method character, this dissertation produces information that will be useful in engaging more people in environmental conservation In the (Dutch) Caribbean. Show less
De primaire focus van dit proefschrift is het onderzoeken van de politieke ideeën van BG Tilak (1856-1920), de congres-extremistische leider van de Indiase nationalistische beweging en, in het... Show moreDe primaire focus van dit proefschrift is het onderzoeken van de politieke ideeën van BG Tilak (1856-1920), de congres-extremistische leider van de Indiase nationalistische beweging en, in het proces, de politieke en intellectuele geschiedenis van Maharashtra en India te reconstrueren tijdens de late 19e en begin 20e eeuw. Deze dissertatie daagt de oudere stijlfiguur uit die Tilak binnen de reikwijdte van de meerderheid van de hindoe-nationalistische politiek plaatst. Het plaatst zijn sociale conservatisme in de heersende sociale overtuigingen van en liturgische lezingen aangeboden door de laat 19e-eeuwse Marathi openbare intellectuelen. De belangrijkste agenda van Tilak was de creatie van een gecollectiviseerd en geradicaliseerd hindoe-zelf, geponeerd tegen het Britse kolonialisme. Zijn creatieve versmelting van moderne westerse historische exegese met Sanskriet kennissystemen in het pleiten voor hoge oudheid voor de Arische beschaving worden onderzocht. Zijn commentaar op de Bhagavad Gītā bood een infusie van ethische principes in massaal politiek activisme. Tilak slaagde erin om provinciale parochialisme ten opzichte van pan-nationale identiteiten te verminderen. Ten slotte stelt dit proefschrift dat het nationalistische ideaal van Tilak beperkt was tot Svarājya of Zelfbeschikking voor India binnen het Britse Gemenebest. Show less
Cultural objects have a protected status on account of their intangible value, as symbols of an identity. This has been so since the early days of international law, and today there is an extensive... Show moreCultural objects have a protected status on account of their intangible value, as symbols of an identity. This has been so since the early days of international law, and today there is an extensive legal framework that ensures this protection.Yet, when it comes to claims by former owners to items such as Nazi looted art, colonial booty, or more recently looted antiquities, the situation is less straightforward. On the one hand, such claims are often not supported by positive law at all. On the other hand, non-binding regulations urge present possessors to find `just' solutions to claims – not as a legal obligation but as a matter of morality. This raises a fundamental question: if we believe that the application of the law leads to injustice, is it not time to change the law or the way it is applied?This study explores how cross-border claims to cultural objects fit in the wider legal framework, and where blind spots or clashes occur. Its aim is to identify new directions that can help further develop this field, with the ultimate aim of fostering just solutions. Show less
This dissertation studies the changes in the rural economy and society of south-eastern Panjab during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. This region was an ecological and political frontier,... Show moreThis dissertation studies the changes in the rural economy and society of south-eastern Panjab during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. This region was an ecological and political frontier, where nomadic-pastoral and agrarian ways of life overlapped, and effective power lay in the hands of different husbanding communities, which were each represented by warlords from established clans. This research seeks to understand the impact of colonization upon south-eastern Panjab, where the British East India Company first acquired a foothold in 1803. The Company faced two main challenges. First, the large number of princes, chiefs, and warlords whose domains dotted the region, and whose authority posed a challenge to that of the British. Second, the itinerant ways of local agro-pastoral populations, which made them difficult to monitor and tax. How did the state’s attempts to counter these challenges impact local populations? In particular, how did it affect the households of the husbandman, the warlord and the preceptor, the three key figures in rural society? It is these questions that this thesis seeks to answer. It suggests that while the region was impoverished by colonization, the household-based rural order survived into the twentieth century. Show less
Before 1936, musical practices in Palestine relied heavily on colloquial poetry, especially in rural communities, which constituted most of the population. During the first half of the twentieth... Show moreBefore 1936, musical practices in Palestine relied heavily on colloquial poetry, especially in rural communities, which constituted most of the population. During the first half of the twentieth century, Palestinian music evolved as a reflection of the social, cultural, and political evolution of Palestinians. Palestinian music-making evolved exponentially resulting in the expansion of various folk tunes into shaʿbī songs, the creation of the Palestinian qaṣīda song genre, new compositions of instrumental music for traditional and Western music formations, the establishment of choirs and children music programing, and active engagement in composing in the styles of the dominant Egyptian genres of the time as well as muwashshaḥāt.In 1948, the vast majority of Palestinians were displaced, and musicians found themselves at the frontier of implementing new political and cultural visions in the countries of Jordan, Lebanon and Iraq. Therefore, the continuation of the musical narrative in the West Bank did not seem attainable. By the early 1950s, Palestinian musicians and intellectuals developed a vocabulary that reflected the topography, scenery, culture, dialects, and history of al-Mashriq, one that is independent of Egypt’s. Their input, intuition, experience, and convictions of various Palestinian musicians helped to make the music scene in Lebanon, Iraq, and Jordan what they are today. Show less
This dissertation explores the causation of mass conversions to Islam in Bolaang-Mongondow and to Protestant Christianity in Sangir-Talaud and Minahasa (North Sulawesi, Indonesia) in the eighteenth... Show moreThis dissertation explores the causation of mass conversions to Islam in Bolaang-Mongondow and to Protestant Christianity in Sangir-Talaud and Minahasa (North Sulawesi, Indonesia) in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. It demonstrates that despite deviations in particularities, the mass conversions to world religions in these regions broadly shared similar causations. It places emphasis on particular periods in the nineteenth-century when the Dutch colonial state centralized political authority and imposed census-based monetary taxation with the aim of commercializing the economy. It points to these reforms as the immediate triggers that enabled both Dutch apical rulers and especially indigenous apical rulers to weaken the authority of subaltern chiefs. It illustrates that these reforms were weaved into the religious conversion agenda of rulers as a strategy to further consolidate authority by depriving the subaltern chiefs of their functionally undifferentiated and socially embedded authority. As such, this dissertation shows that the apical rulers could expand their political and economic reach while paving the way for their claimed subjects to access prestigious religious identities, which had hitherto been exclusive to the ruling elite. Show less
This dissertation points out the stark inequalities of segregated criminal justice in nineteenth-century Java and analyses this unequal system in practice, shown by an actor-focused approach... Show moreThis dissertation points out the stark inequalities of segregated criminal justice in nineteenth-century Java and analyses this unequal system in practice, shown by an actor-focused approach and through a framework of legal pluralities. Ravensbergen searched for the conflicts occurring around the green table of the 'pluralistic courts'(landraden and ommegaande rechtbanken) where the non-European population was tried by Javanese and Dutch court members, and Islamic and Chinese legal advisors. The pluralistic courts, the only places in Java where all regional power structures met and actively worked together, were courtrooms of many conflicts. The courts were also in interaction, and conflict, with other state institutions, together all furthering the project of colonial state formation. By taking this approach, Ravensbergen shows how it was not only inequality, but also uncertainty and injustice, that were central to colonial criminal justice imposed on the local population. Show less
This thesis discusses the negotiation of custom in the Landraad, a judicial forum set up by the Dutch East India Company (VOC), in eighteenth-century Sri Lanka. The Landraad had a majority of VOC... Show moreThis thesis discusses the negotiation of custom in the Landraad, a judicial forum set up by the Dutch East India Company (VOC), in eighteenth-century Sri Lanka. The Landraad had a majority of VOC officials and a subordinate minority of local headmen. It was a space in which agency was multifarious. The nuances of everyday practice as studied here reveal both rejection and manipulation by local actors. This in turn informs us of everyday life in early-modern colonialism. A choice of laws came into play, that choice being significant at varying degrees for different areas of the law such as evidence, inheritance, land and marriage law. Based on over a hundred cases brought forward by men and women from the Galle district in southern Sri Lanka, the lived experience of legal pluralism is emphasised. This thesis adds an empirical study and the insights of socio-legal studies of legal pluralism to the existing literature on Roman-Dutch law in Sri Lanka. While there was inevitable conflict, in practice the local normative order was as much a social fact for the early colonial rulers as Roman-Dutch law. Show less
Discussions about colonial chieftaincy in Africa have tended to focus upon the ways in which indirect rule structured and framed traditional authority; for the majority of contemporary historians... Show moreDiscussions about colonial chieftaincy in Africa have tended to focus upon the ways in which indirect rule structured and framed traditional authority; for the majority of contemporary historians of British colonialism the question has been to what extent Lord Lugard’s blueprint for effective native administration, The Dual Mandate, invented, shaped, and restructured political and social identity. Whilst acknowledging the importance of these neo-traditional perspectives which focus much on the ways in which colonial frameworks ethnicised and tribalised African society, this thesis argues that indirect rule was as much a spatialising process as it was a tribalising one. Colonial tools of territoriality mapped politics in geographically bounded ways and as a result associating power with place began to assume new importance in the ways African leadership was defined, and given authority. By further exploring the spatial context of traditional power in colonial Malawi through the example of a Tumbuka chief named Timothy Chawinga, this thesis reveals new conclusions about the nature of chieftainship in Northern Malawi. It also provokes new questions about how we understand the role of African traditional authorities more generally, in both the past and the present. Show less
This study of an indigenous community combines the use of archival documents with evidence from archaeological excavations to offer an anthropological analysis, drawing on the concepts of... Show moreThis study of an indigenous community combines the use of archival documents with evidence from archaeological excavations to offer an anthropological analysis, drawing on the concepts of dialogics, doxa, and practice to show how we can understand historically obscured people and histories. A network of pueblos de indios integrated themselves in colonial society in Honduras through service in a coastal watch, while resisting exploitation beyond the legal requirements of encomienda. The circulation of people between towns as spouses allowed for the sharing of colonial experiences and tactics of persistence. This network perpetuated indigenous practices, including the cultivation, circulation, and use of cacao, likely for ritual, and the use of chipped stone tools. Masca, later known as Candelaria, was one such indigenous town located in the district of San Pedro Sula. Its people identified as a community defined by the presence of their houses, church, agricultural fields, and cacao plantations. The community used a variety of techniques to persist under colonization until the nineteenth century. These included exploiting the colonial legal system, the continued use of indigenous family name by community elites, moving the entire community to avoid violence, and exploiting the casta system to change the perceived identity of individuals. Show less
This thesis investigates the structural changes in the agrarian society in Western parts of Sri Lanka as seen in the mid and late eighteenth century in the context of the encounter with the Dutch... Show moreThis thesis investigates the structural changes in the agrarian society in Western parts of Sri Lanka as seen in the mid and late eighteenth century in the context of the encounter with the Dutch United East India Company (VOC) administration. It attempts to understand the developments in the period from the vantage point of the peasantry, particularly by looking at the ways in which the peasants were affected by the Dutch colonial intervention and how they adjusted themselves to the changing economic and political reality. One of the characteristic features of the VOC rule was the higher degree of exploitation of peasant compared with the situation under pre-colonial rulers, because economic interests of the former was much higher than the latter. This situation brought about a break down of the structural equilibrium of the system of production and taxation. It is mainly within this context of structural break down that this study try to understand the long lasting changes in the social and economic setting. It discusses the changes in the production system with special reference to land utilization and labour organisation, changing aspects of the land tenure system, emergence of new class differentiations and new dynamics of caste formation. Show less
As a study of the colonial situations of first millennium BC Sardinia, this book is as much an investigation into colonialism as a sociological category, as it explores the specific historical... Show moreAs a study of the colonial situations of first millennium BC Sardinia, this book is as much an investigation into colonialism as a sociological category, as it explores the specific historical conditions of a particular region. Taking a fresh look at colonialism in Mediterranean archaeology from a so-called postcolonial point of view, it examined the archaeologically relevant features of this perspective in conjunction with other current ideas about society, human agency and material culture in order to sketch the contours of a postcolonial archaeology of colonialism. These ideas are subsequently elaborated and practically applied in a detailed study of rural settlement in west central Sardinia. The archaeological evidence for this is provided by the (preliminary) results of the Riu Mannu survey carried out in west central Sardinia since 1992 as well as by a wealth of existing published and archived data. Considering themes such as the (re)creation of identities and cultural resistance, this study especially looks into the ways in which people deployed material culture and inhabited the landscape in order to cope with the colonial situations. Comparing these specific instances of colonialism finally leads to a consideration of historical contingency and structure in colonial situations and to an assertion of the centrality of identity in colonial situations. Show less
