Bertus Haverkort groeide op in een boerengezin in Slagharen. Hij genoot van modernisering op de boerderij van zijn jeugd, omdat dit het werk verlichte en de opbrengsten verbeterde. Met in zijn... Show moreBertus Haverkort groeide op in een boerengezin in Slagharen. Hij genoot van modernisering op de boerderij van zijn jeugd, omdat dit het werk verlichte en de opbrengsten verbeterde. Met in zijn bagage een dosis moderne landbouwkennis uit Wageningen, werkte hij aan programma’s in de tropen waarbij overdracht van westerse kennis het doel was. De aanpak blijkt niet te werken. Hij plaatst vraagtekens bij de toepasbaarheid van de westerse kennis in situaties waar de ecologie, economie en cultuur zoveel verschillen. In samenwerking met lokale deskundigen uit India, Bolivia en Ghana wordt onderzocht hoe lokale wereldbeelden, waarden en kennis een rol spelen. Daarvoor wordt gewerkt aan een onderwijsmethode voor endogene ontwikkeling en aan een benadering voor co-creatie van wetenschappen uit verschillende tradities en wereldstreken. De internationale ervaringen worden in verband gebracht met de huidige crisis in de landbouw in Nederland en monden uit een pleidooi voor klimaat- en natuurvriendelijke landbouw. Show less
EnglishThe position of children under the Dutch East India Company (VOC) in Sri Lanka has been a hitherto fairly neglected subject in the historiography on the VOC. Recent studies have demonstrated... Show moreEnglishThe position of children under the Dutch East India Company (VOC) in Sri Lanka has been a hitherto fairly neglected subject in the historiography on the VOC. Recent studies have demonstrated the importance of focusing on children in colonial contexts during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, especially when analysing political rationalities of colonial power and religion. While the VOC was an early modern mercantilist company, it sought to impose intellectual, moral and bodily discipline on the local population. The Company wanted to create subjects through education and the introduction of Protestant religion, explicitly targeting children. Why did an early modern mercantilist Company-state attempt to create loyal subjects? How was the Dutch Reformed Church involved in this process of subject-making in Sri Lanka, and what was the importance accorded to children? Using ordinances, visitation reports, minutes from church council meetings and school thombos (parish registers containing school data), I will show why children in eighteenth century Sri Lanka were targets of Dutch colonial subject-making.NederlandsDe positie van kinderen onder de Verenigde Oostindische Compagnie (VOC) in Sri Lanka is een tot nog toe weinig verkend perspectief in de historiografie over de VOC. Recente studies over kinderen in de negentiende- en twintigste-eeuwse koloniale context hebben laten zien dat dit een belangrijk uitgangspunt is voor het bestuderen van de politieke visies achter koloniale en religieuze machtsstructuren. Hoewel ze een vroegmoderne, commerciële compagnie was, wilde ook de VOC morele, intellectuele en lichamelijke discipline opleggen aan de lokale bevolking. Door het gebruik van educatie en het invoeren van de protestantse religie wilde de Compagnie hen omvormen tot loyale onderdanen, en zij richtte zich daarbij expliciet op kinderen. Waarom probeerde een vroegmoderne, mercantilistische Compagnie-staat haar bevolking door een proces van ‘subject-making’ aan zich te binden? Hoe was de Nederduits Gereformeerde Kerk betrokken in dit proces in Sri Lanka, en welke rol en welk belang werd hierin aan kinderen toebedeeld? Met behulp van visitatierapporten, minuten van de Kerkenraadvergadering en ‘school thombos’ (kerkelijke dorpsregisters die schooldata bevatten) laat ik zien waarom kinderen in het achttiende-eeuwse Sri Lanka het doelwit waren van een Nederlands, koloniaal disciplineringsbeleid. Show less
The remains of Dutch East India Company forts are scattered throughout littoral Asia and Africa. But how important were the specific characteristics of European bastion-trace fortifications to... Show moreThe remains of Dutch East India Company forts are scattered throughout littoral Asia and Africa. But how important were the specific characteristics of European bastion-trace fortifications to Early Modern European expansion? The Company Fortress takes on this question by studying the system of fortifications built and maintained by the Dutch East India Company (VOC) in present-day India and Sri Lanka. It uncovers the stories of the forts and their designers, arguing that many of these engineers were in fact amateurs and their creations contained serious flaws. Subsequent engineers were hampered by their disagreement over fortification design: there proved not to be a single ‘European school’ of fortification design. The study questions the importance of fortification design for European expansion, shows the relationship between siege and naval warfare, and highlights changing perceptions by the VOC of the capabilities of new polities in India in the late eighteenth century. 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
The German physician and botanist Paul Hermann (1646–1695), considered as one of the pioneers of Asian Botany, collected the first plant specimens in the Dutch colony of Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) in... Show moreThe German physician and botanist Paul Hermann (1646–1695), considered as one of the pioneers of Asian Botany, collected the first plant specimens in the Dutch colony of Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) in the 1670s. Hermann’s collections were bound in several book herbaria, some of which formed the basis of influential 18th century publications: Linnaeus’s Flora Zeylanica and Species plantarum and Burmann’s Thesaurus Zeylanicus. Two of Hermann’s book herbaria, currently kept by Naturalis Biodiversity Center at Leiden, the Netherlands, remained largely unnoticed. Our aim was to identify all specimens of the Leiden Hermann collection, translate his handwritten Latin notes, and analyse both the scientific importance and societal relevance of this historic herbarium. By publishing the entire Leiden Hermann herbarium online, we intend to make this valuable botanical treasure available to the public for the first time in 339 years. The Leiden Hermann herbarium contains 183 specimens, belonging to 157 species (61 families). Striking aspects are the 15 cinnamon specimens, reflecting the interest in the spice trade of Hermann’s employer, the Dutch East Indian Company. Four specimens are probably collected by Rumphius in the Moluccas and 49 species are lacking from Hermann’s other book herbaria kept at London, Paris and Erfurt. Although there are no Linnaean type specimens present in the Leiden volumes, these specimens did form the basis of Hermann’s drawings, species descriptions and notes on local names and plant uses that were published after his death. For 130 specimens, one or more of Hermann’s 17th century Sinhala names are still used in Sri Lanka, although differently spelled and sometimes only partly conserved. Most of the plant uses written on the vouchers or later published in the Musaeum Zeylanicum are still practiced in southern Asia. The manufacturing of gunpowder from charcoal, substitutes for betel chewing and several ritual uses, however, seem to have gone lost or remained undocumented. The Leiden Hermann collection reflects the Dutch colonial quest for valuable spices, materials and medicines, and offers opportunities for ethnobotanical and linguistic research on changes in Sri Lankan plant names and uses over the past centuries. This historic herbarium is also relevant for validating claims on culturally important plant use by Sri Lankan citizens, whose ancestors shared their knowledge and enabled the making of science in the late 17th century. Show less
Ethnopharmacological relevanceFrom 1640–1796, the Dutch East India Company (VOC) occupied the island of Ceylon (now Sri Lanka). Several VOC officers had a keen interest in the medicinal application... Show moreEthnopharmacological relevanceFrom 1640–1796, the Dutch East India Company (VOC) occupied the island of Ceylon (now Sri Lanka). Several VOC officers had a keen interest in the medicinal application of the local flora. The Leiden University Library holds a two-piece codexentitled: Icones Plantarum Malabaricarum, adscriptis nominibus et viribus, Vol. I. & II. (Illustrations of Plants from the Malabar, assigned names and strength). This manuscript contains 262 watercolour drawings of medicinal plants from Sri Lanka, with handwritten descriptions of local names, habitus, medicinal properties and therapeutic applications. This anonymous document had never been studied previously.Aim of the studyTo identify all depicted plant specimens, decipher the text, trace the author, and analyse the scientific relevance of this manuscript as well as its importance for Sri Lankan ethnobotany.Materials and methodsWe digitised the entire manuscript, transcribed and translated the handwritten Dutch texts and identified the depicted species using historic and modern literature, herbarium vouchers, online databases on Sri Lankan herbal medicine and 41 botanical drawings by the same artist in the Artis library, Amsterdam. We traced the origin of the manuscript by means of watermark analysis and historical literature. We compared the historic Sinhalese and Tamil names in the manuscript to recent plant names in ethnobotanical references from Sri Lanka and southern India. We published the entire manuscript online with translations and identifications.ResultsThe watermarks indicate that the paper was made between 1694 and 1718. The handwriting is of a VOC scribe. In total, ca. 252 taxa are depicted, of which we could identify 221 to species level. The drawings represent mainly native species, including Sri Lankan endemics, but also introduced medicinal and ornamental plants. Lamiaceae, Zingiberaceae and Leguminosae were the best-represented families. Frequently mentioned applications were to purify the blood and to treat gastro-intestinal problems, fever and snakebites. Many plants are characterised by their humoral properties, of which ‘warming’ is the most prevalent. Plant species were mostly used for their roots (28%), bark (16%) or leaves (11%). More Tamil names (260) were documented than Sinhalese (208). More than half of the Tamil names and 36% of the Sinhalese names are still used today. The author was probably a VOC surgeon based in northern Sri Lanka, who travelled around the island to document medicinal plant use. Less than half of the species were previously documented from Ceylon by the famous VOC doctor and botanist Paul Hermann in the 1670s. Further archival research is needed to identify the maker of this manuscript.ConclusionsAlthough the maker of this early 18th century manuscript remains unknown, the detailed, 300-year-old information on medicinal plant use in the Icones Plantarum Malabaricarum represents an important ethnobotanical treasure for Sri Lanka, which offers ample opportunities to study changes and continuation of medicinal plant names and practices over time. Show less
Crucial challenges for multiparty mediation processes include the achievement of adequate cooperation among the mediators and consequent coordination of their activities in the mediation process.... Show moreCrucial challenges for multiparty mediation processes include the achievement of adequate cooperation among the mediators and consequent coordination of their activities in the mediation process. Existing literature goes only as far as to make it clear that successful mediation requires necessary cooperation and coordination between mediators, as if these features were exogenous to the process. Available research does not consider whether these features might change over time and if such change could have an impact on the overall mediation process. Experience shows that it is not rare for mediators who were initially willing to pool their resources and act in concert with one another to decide at a later point to stop cooperating. Using a game theoretical model (developed for the purposes of this research) and an analysis of five cases of multiparty mediation, this research illustrates the importance of maintaining necessary levels of cooperation and coordination to achieve successful outcomes and provides insights on how to achieve them in case the mediating coalition is faced with internal conflict of interests. 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
Regardless of when, precisely, Sri Lanka’s protracted conflict began, this conflict is most often cast as one between the majority Sinhalese and the minority Tamils. In this bipolar understanding... Show moreRegardless of when, precisely, Sri Lanka’s protracted conflict began, this conflict is most often cast as one between the majority Sinhalese and the minority Tamils. In this bipolar understanding of the conflict, the Muslim community seems to have no place, even though Muslims constitute close to 40 percent of the population in the conflictaffected Eastern Province and have been expelled from the Northern Province. This article describes the plight of these Muslims and analyzes the discursive and political powers by which Muslims are marginalized. Show less
The promise of return which has been embraced by Muslim refugees from Northern Sri Lanka may be ephemeral. Nonetheless, dreams of returning are vital in attempts to repair the past and the wounds... Show moreThe promise of return which has been embraced by Muslim refugees from Northern Sri Lanka may be ephemeral. Nonetheless, dreams of returning are vital in attempts to repair the past and the wounds of the Eviction. The author shows that through dreaming the prospect of a peaceful multi-ethnic northern Sri Lanka remains imaginable, thus allowing for at least one ray of optimism concerning the future of a deeply troubled society. Show less
