Talk show: Listening to the silence. Slavery in the former Dutch East Indies
Throughout 2023, Het Indisch Herinneringscentrum, Stichting Pelita and Museum Maluku, in collaboration with Museum Sophiahof, are organising a programme series Listening to the silence. Slavery in the former Dutch East Indies. The first talk show is on the evening of Thursday 26 January 2023. With, among others, Reggie Baay, Peggy Wijntuin, Gert Oostindie and Nancy Jouwe. They will shed light on the history of slavery in the East and address the question of why, with all the attention slavery receives in the public debate, it is in fact not a subject of conversation.
Listening to the silence. Slavery in the former Dutch East Indies.
The apologies of Prime Minister Mark Rutte on 19 December 2022 and the fact that 2023 has been declared a Slavery Remembrance Year raise the question of why the history of slavery in the former Dutch East Indies (abolished there on 1 January 1860) is barely part of public debate. Many people are not even aware that it existed, or have the impression that it ‘wasn’t so bad’, whereas in scale and cruelty it was in no way inferior to trans-Atlantic slavery.
Naturally we will first look at what slavery in the East actually involved before turning to questions such as: What shapes our perceptions? Why is there so little attention to this part of the colonial past within the community with a Dutch East Indies background? What is needed to make this part of colonial history visible? We will exchange thoughts on this with, among others:
Reggie Baay, author, specialised in colonial and postcolonial literature and history;
Gert Oostindie, emeritus professor of Colonial and postcolonial history at the Institute for History, Leiden University;
Peggy Wijntuin, project leader of the Hague Slavery Past Memorial and
Nancy Jouwe, cultural historian and editor of several publications on the Dutch history of slavery
Programme
19.00 – Doors open, with coffee, tea and spekkoek** 19.30 – Opening of the programme** 19.35 – ** Talk show with Reggie Baay, Peggy Wijntuin, Gert Oostindie and Nancy Jouwe, and the audience 20:30 – Informal drinks and conversation** 21:00 – ** End
Tickets and registration
Tickets for the talk show Listening to the silence. Slavery in the former Dutch East Indies** **cost € 7.50. This includes coffee, tea, spekkoek and a drink. Order your tickets here.
Slavery Remembrance Year
From 1 July 2023 to 1 July 2024 attention will be paid to the fact that 150 years ago, in 1873, slavery in Suriname and the Caribbean islands genuinely came to an end (slavery was abolished by law in 1863, but enslaved people had to keep working on the plantations for another ten years in order to limit ‘the damage’ to the slave owners). Look here for more information.
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