To commemorate the Dutch Revolt people from both the Northern and Southern Netherlands commissioned, kept, and collected a large variety of objects. From paintings to clay pipes, from hearth plates... Show moreTo commemorate the Dutch Revolt people from both the Northern and Southern Netherlands commissioned, kept, and collected a large variety of objects. From paintings to clay pipes, from hearth plates to gable stones, from clothing to cannonballs; all these objects were used to either remember of forget the war in the late sixteenth and seventeenth century. Especially on an urban level many of these material memories survive. They are part of an urban memory landscape, a set of shared memories which survived on several levels of the urban community and involved multiple stakeholders such as the magistrate, the church, corporations, and individual citizens. Within the urban community these stakeholders used diverse objects to promulgate a certain message about the Revolt. Subsequently this could become part of a city's urban identity and civic representation. Whether in the Dutch Republic or in the Habsburg Netherlands cities were well aware of their options either to include, exclude or reinterpret stories about the past. Material memories of the Dutch Revolt were therefore continuously and carefully (re)selected and used to reflect on what the urban community had gone through during eighty years of war Show less
In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, three Dutch playwrights who are not known to have ventured beyond the precincts of Europe dramatized historical events which occurred in Asia. The... Show moreIn the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, three Dutch playwrights who are not known to have ventured beyond the precincts of Europe dramatized historical events which occurred in Asia. The episodes which became the plots for their plays were either contemporaneous or occurred very close to their own times. This study analyses these plays, namely Joost van den Vondel’s Zungchin (1667), Frans van Steenwyk’s Thamas Koelikan (1745) and Onno Zwier van Haren’s Agon (1769). It studies the information networks which made these literary endeavours possible and evaluates the role played by the Dutch East India Company (VOC) in transferring information about these historical events from Asia to the Dutch Republic. This study also appraises how Asia was represented in these plays and how these characterizations were influenced by its channels of information transfer. This study concludes that these plays revolved around the idea of transfer and the information that the playwrights used originated in the archives of the VOC. This information consequently featured in popular printed works in the Republic which provided the playwrights with the necessary fodder for their plays. This study argues that the striking feature of this transcontinental passage of information was the metamorphosis of Oriental imagery Show less
This thesis examines how the process of social change in the area of Mwinilunga, a district in the north-western province of Zambia, was manifested between 1870 and 1970. The process of social... Show moreThis thesis examines how the process of social change in the area of Mwinilunga, a district in the north-western province of Zambia, was manifested between 1870 and 1970. The process of social change is examined by looking in detail at four aspects, namely production, mobility, consumption and social relationships. Social change has received much attention in Zambian historiography. The anthropologist Victor Turner linked social change in Mwinilunga District to settlement patterns, predicting a change from large concentric villages to small settlements along the roadside. This change in settlement patterns would be accompanied by changes in patterns of production (from subsistence to market production of cash crops), mobility (labour migration to urban areas), consumption (from locally manufactured to store-bought goods) and social relationships (from extended kinship to family nucleation and individualisation). Did such changes indeed occur, or was change more complex and non-linear? Show less
The study looks at the State-social movements relation under the administration of Evo Morales in Bolivia and its impact on the process of democratization. It questions the State-society dichotomy... Show moreThe study looks at the State-social movements relation under the administration of Evo Morales in Bolivia and its impact on the process of democratization. It questions the State-society dichotomy and suggests a network analysis that enables a more integrated and ‘dialectical’ view. It shows that social movements are the most important political actors under the Morales administration. The network analysis shows how State and social actors interact in ‘political networks’ that are articulated around specific issues and that are constantly changing. As such the manner of relation does not answer to fixed patterns of ‘autonomy’ or ‘co-optation’ –traditional categories for the assessment of the relation between State and social movements. The study shows that the ‘political networks’ also include other actors that influence the relation. Two are analyzed: the national NGOs and the media. The dissertation concludes that the ‘political networks’ are decisive for the political process under the Morales administration; that social leaders in political posts are key in mediating the State-society relation, explaining the preponderance of the figure of Morales; and that the prominence of social movements in the political arena, aside some points of concern, has been positive for a process of democratization in the Andean country. Show less
In 1566, the Revolt of the Netherlands against the Habsburg overlord Philip II of Spain erupted. The conflict broke the Low Countries in two parts: the Dutch Republic in the North and the Habsburg... Show moreIn 1566, the Revolt of the Netherlands against the Habsburg overlord Philip II of Spain erupted. The conflict broke the Low Countries in two parts: the Dutch Republic in the North and the Habsburg Netherlands in the South. In these two polities, two radically different narratives about the conflict emerged. Throughout the seventeenth century, people in the North remembered the Revolt as a successful struggle for freedom while inhabitants of the South remembered the conflict less vividly. Historians of the Dutch Republic have shown that in the North a canonical narrative arose about the origins of the conflict. Since they rest on the nationalist-inspired assumption that this was a self-evident development, they have left unaddressed the question of how and why such a narrative came into being. Historians of the Habsburg Netherlands have interpreted the 'silences' in the South as proof that, there, people had forgotten the rebellion. There are no comparative studies that try to explain why and how memories of the past diverged. This study examines how and why such conflicting interpretations of the Revolt arose, why they remained relevant throughout the seventeenth century, and what role memories of the Revolt played in Northern and Southern identity formation. 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
The dissertation analyzes the production of a new elite group in Indonesia, the managers, during the early independence period. Indonesia faced lack of expertise and a government incapable of... Show moreThe dissertation analyzes the production of a new elite group in Indonesia, the managers, during the early independence period. Indonesia faced lack of expertise and a government incapable of managing a national plan. The expansion of the managerial class was the result of the lack of leadership of the political elite, the expansion of tertiary education, the rise of an American-led, international aid structure that provided both expert advisors and scholarship for Indonesian students to study in mostly American universities. This resulted in the import of new ideas that corroborated the strengthening of a managerial or developmental state. These ideas include scientific management and the American modernization theory. These ideas looked at the state executive as the major institution for development. It promoted the military elite to become part of a managerial elite. It also was dismissive of liberal ideas regarding the role of the law and the separation of power. Within this managerial ideology, the state was to function as a corporation. The idea of individual initiative was replaced within a planned system. By analyzing these developments, the thesis wants to show that the foundation of the New Order Developmental State should be traced to this period. Show less
This dissertation examines the memory cultures of Netherlandish migrants who left their homes during the Dutch Revolt (ca. 1568-1648) and the religious persecutions preceding it. It shows how... Show moreThis dissertation examines the memory cultures of Netherlandish migrants who left their homes during the Dutch Revolt (ca. 1568-1648) and the religious persecutions preceding it. It shows how narratives of exile and victimhood were transmitted between generations and cultivated in various social and religious settings until the eighteenth century. The consciousness of a shared past connected Netherlandish diaspora groups all over Europe and at the same time provided them with models of identification with their various local host societies. Integration into the various host societies in Germany, England and the Dutch Republic did not inhibit the commemoration of the refugee past, but led to an incorporation of exile narrative into new memory canons. New generations could often benefit from identifying with the fate of persecuted ancestors, especially in pietist and puritan circles in Germany and England. Having suffered for one’s faith served as a proof of religious steadfastness and the identification with the persecuted ‘small flock of true Christians’ appealed to many pietists without a migrant background. Exile narratives were increasingly shared by migrants and non-migrants and allowed individuals to participate in cultures of religious exclusivity Show less
Bunkeya et ses chefs provides a history of town of Bunkeya, a traditional centre of rule in Katanga, the south-easterly province of the Democratic Republic of Congo. Primarily, it tells the history... Show moreBunkeya et ses chefs provides a history of town of Bunkeya, a traditional centre of rule in Katanga, the south-easterly province of the Democratic Republic of Congo. Primarily, it tells the history of the Yeke chiefs, the first of whom, Msiri, founded a kingdom based on slave exports and the control of firearms. In 1891 Msiri was assassinated by the Belgian colonisers, and his capital was abandoned. However, his successors established good relations with the Belgians, and from 1910 returned to Bunkeya, which became a regional centre, with schools, missions and a flourishing commerce. On the basis of the education they received, the successors of Msiri, above all the brothers Antoine and Godefroid Munongo, became major political figures in the region. In particular Godefroid was a leading politician, advocating Katangese succession. In the turbulent times after the independence of Congo, Godefroid was i.a. heavily involved in the murder of Patrice Lumumba, and the government of Moise Tshombe, but nevertheless managed to survive, and to became a leading lieutenant of the dictator Mobuto. Godeforid was able to use the power he so accrued to greatly improve the economic position of Bunkeya, so that it is now a flourishing commercial town. Show less
