Manumission is the release from slavery, and therefore, a transition from the most extreme form of subjugation into another position and status in society. Some historians have defined manumission... Show moreManumission is the release from slavery, and therefore, a transition from the most extreme form of subjugation into another position and status in society. Some historians have defined manumission as a formal act, often understood as a gift that severed the bond between slave and master. More recently researchers have emphasized that it was a lengthy process that involved pre-existing dependencies and resulted in new hierarchies. This article takes a fresh look at the process and tries to gain a fuller understanding of manumission by examining it from the position of the manumitted and their social relations. Taking into consideration a wide range of documentary sources from colonial, notarial and Dutch governmental archives, we reconstruct the dependencies that were created in the process of manumission. The dependencies that evolved during manumission processes were related to family and other kinship ties, but also had an urban, communal, religious, economic and institutional logic. Manumission was not only an act at a specific moment, but also a process, and it was not a bilateral, but a multilateral one. With the instrument of manumission and within the limits set by economic reality and the colonial government, the manumittees tried to make meaningful life choices that transformed slave society profoundly. We find that they created complex dependencies across boundaries of status and racial categorization. Show less
"Indianisatie" was de term waarmee in het interbellum de opkomst van Indonesiers in de lagere middenrangen van gouvernement en westers bedrijfsleven werd beschreven. Deze Indonesiers wisten zich... Show more"Indianisatie" was de term waarmee in het interbellum de opkomst van Indonesiers in de lagere middenrangen van gouvernement en westers bedrijfsleven werd beschreven. Deze Indonesiers wisten zich met beperkte westerse opleiding op te werken binnen bedrijven en Europese vakbonden, die door de krappe arbeidsmarkt van hen afhankelijk werden. In de vakbondsbladen van onder meer de Indische Post lieten zij hun stem horen. Toen de Indische regering tijdens de grote crisis deze indianisatie zowel als natuurlijke ontwikkeling en als bezuiniging presenteerde, barstte een ongekend felle discussie los tussen de fracties in de raad. In deze discussie bleek hoezeer het rassencriterium, hoewel officieel passe, in praktijk het Nederlandse sociale beleid in de kolonie nog vorm gaf. Conservatieve Indonesische Volksraadsleden, onder meer van het Inlands Binnenlands bestuur, raakten gaande de discussie doordrongen van het feit, dat het indianisatiebeleid van de Indische regering blijvend te kort schoot. Met de nationalistische fractie in de Volksraad gingen zij indianisatie zien als opstap naar het grote bestuurshervormingswerk waarvan zij voor Indonesie hoopten dat het met rasse schreden zou naderen. Show less
Neither red nor orange is a study of the manner in which Dutch sailors developed as a professional group during the period 1870-1914, and how the (naval and other) authorities and the 'outside... Show moreNeither red nor orange is a study of the manner in which Dutch sailors developed as a professional group during the period 1870-1914, and how the (naval and other) authorities and the 'outside world' responded to this. The key questions are: how did the Dutch rating's emancipation proceed in the period prior to the First World War, and what responses did this fight for emancipation provoke among the (naval) authorities, Parliament and the press? It is likely that the dissatisfaction, the alleged sympathy for the SDAP among sailors, and the fierce response of the naval authorities were interrelated. This doctoral thesis aims to analyse and explain the formation of the tensions within the Royal Netherlands Navy that reached an evident peak in 1918. In essence, this entails addressing the more abstract question of how an authoritarian organisation such as the Navy and an increasingly democratic society came to relate to one another. In doing so, this study outlines the background against which the discussion about the reliability and political affiliations of the fleet should be considered. Show less
External PhD candidate Annette Jenowein investigated how women have changed the meaning of gender by claiming their place in traditionally male-dominated domains. Her research focuses on the life... Show moreExternal PhD candidate Annette Jenowein investigated how women have changed the meaning of gender by claiming their place in traditionally male-dominated domains. Her research focuses on the life of Charlotte Jacobs: the first woman to establish herself as an independent pharmacist in the Dutch East Indies, a profession that was then regarded as a male profession. Since 1866, when girls were allowed to take the apprentice pharmacist's exam, a woman in the pharmacy was no longer a peculiarity. But when the first woman graduated as a pharmacist in 1881, (male) colleagues openly questioned whether a woman could also manage a busy pharmacy and establish business contacts just as well as a man could. Charlotte Jacobs, sister of Aletta Jacobs (1854-1929) - who was seven years younger and was a doctor and advocate for women's suffrage - managed to run her pharmacy in Batavia for nearly thirty years, all of which she managed exclusively with female assistants. Jenoweins research shows that the entry of women into male domains, such as science and higher professional work, has not only changed the meaning of gender, but has also radically changed the meaning of these institutions. After her death, Charlotte Jacobs earmarked a large part of her assets for a study fund for women and girls who wanted to study at a university but could not pay the costs themselves. This Charlotte Jacobs Study Fund still exists and flourishes and annually supports an average of thirty women and girls who want to study at a Dutch university. Show less
This article discusses slavery and the lives of enslaved people in Jaffna, northern Sri Lanka, under Dutch and British rule. It argues that by sanctioning and tapping into a perceived local... Show moreThis article discusses slavery and the lives of enslaved people in Jaffna, northern Sri Lanka, under Dutch and British rule. It argues that by sanctioning and tapping into a perceived local practice of slavery and legally constituting slaves, Dutch colonial rulers further strengthened the power of the dominant caste Vellalar over their subordinates. This was done through processes of registration, legal codification, and litigation. For some enslaved people, however, bureaucratization provided grounds for negotiation and resistance, as well as the potential to take control over their individual lives. British rule that took over areas controlled by the Dutch East India Company or Vereenigde Oostindische Compagnie—first in the guise of the East India Company (1796–1802), then under the Crown (1802–1948)—introduced a number of measures, acts, and incentives to dismantle slavery as it was practiced on the island. This article draws from Dutch and early British period petitions, court records, commission reports, and slave registers to interrogate the discourse of freedom that permeated the British abolition of slavery from 1806 to 1844 and suggests that in Jaffna after abolition there remained bondage in freedom. Show less
Animation has long been overlooked as source for political thought. The aim of this thesis is to rectify this, and it will do so in two ways. First, it makes a theoretical and empirical case... Show moreAnimation has long been overlooked as source for political thought. The aim of this thesis is to rectify this, and it will do so in two ways. First, it makes a theoretical and empirical case for animation as an intellectual source of political thought that should be used along with philosophical canon. Second, it sheds light on the political significance and expressive potentials of nonconventional sources for political theorists. The thesis explores the philosophical idea of emancipation, and expands the traditional corpus by drawing on Japanese science fiction animation (SF anime), a source that does not normally enter these philosophical debates. It argues that SF anime is a useful site for political theorists to interrogate pressing philosophical ideas, and it can engage with ongoing philosophical discussions through illustrations and thought experiments. Show less
Was the failure to establish civil and political equality for the former slaves during Reconstruction the more-or-less inevitable consequence of the essentially conservative nature of the federal... Show moreWas the failure to establish civil and political equality for the former slaves during Reconstruction the more-or-less inevitable consequence of the essentially conservative nature of the federal Reconstruction project? The Politics of Terror instead suggests that even the limited program enacted by lawmakers in Washington DC might have achieved far more, had the federal government enforced its provisions vigorously when faced with extra-legal, often violent resistance by Southern whites. Reconstruction's ultimate failure represented not so much a ‘Compromise of Principle,' as an all-out capitulation in the face of terrorism. In the decade after Appomattox, Southern whites developed increasingly effective strategies to thwart the promise of civil and political equality embodied in Congressional Reconstruction. These included a transition from widespread violence to more targeted threats and intimidation, as well as a media campaign aimed at deflecting a vigorous Northern response by undermining the perceived legitimacy of Southern Republicans. At the same time, local military commanders achieved successes, albeit limited and temporary, in containing violence and enforcing the civil and political rights of the black population. Such episodes provide a crucial counterpoint to the narrative of violent resistance, reminding us of what Reconstruction might have achieved had organized terror not triumphed over the rule of law. Taking Louisiana's Red River Valley as a case study, The Politics of Terror explores the dynamics and experience of incessant political violence that characterized local Reconstruction politics in much of the cotton South. Emphasizing the fundamentally contested and anarchic nature of these local politics, it shows how control over the day-to-day levers of power was often more important than the formal outcome of institutionalized political processes. At the same time, these localized struggles over political, economic, and racial control both reflected and influenced the developments of Reconstruction on a national scale. This thesis also deconstructs the highly moralized narratives imposed on Reconstruction by both Dunningite and Revisionist historians. Southern whites were hardly the innocent and set-upon victims of a few conniving whites who manipulated hordes of ignorant former slaves; but neither were the white and black Republican leaders universally high-minded and idealistic prophets of the twentieth century civil rights movement. The story of Reconstruction, in fact, boasts few heroes and offers little comfort to those who conceive of American history as a uniform march towards progress. Show less
