Postcolonial Studies in the Context of the ‘Diasporic’ Netherlands

‘A way of seeing and telling’: Resistance through language and form in the work of the Dutch authors Hafid Bouazza and Ramsey Nasr

“…The editors and their contributors call for a specific Low Countries post-colonial perspective that carefully rearticulates strategies, concepts and practices from Anglophone post-colonial theory for a Low Countries’ setting. In contrast to Minnaard, Boehmer and Gouda (2012) argue strongly in favour of joining the separate strands of post-colonial and migration literature under the collective heading of ‘diasporic writing’. This is not in an attempt to erase differences or obscure specificities, but in order to connect all forms of transcultural and multicultural writing in the hope that it may – at long last – trigger meaningful engagement with the postcolonial condition of the Netherlands.…”

An archaeology of decolonization: Imperial intimacies in contemporary Lisbon

“…The memory of colonial violence is systematically occluded by an image of Dutch colonialism as a well-tempered enterprise based on trade and the management of native tensions. The “virtues of colonial synthesis” became a contemporary source of Dutch pride and national identity (Boehmer and Gouda, 2012: 26–28).…”

Post-colonial Immigrants and Identity Formations in the Netherlands

“…While the positions and debates are still in flux in France, Portugal and the UK, in the Netherlands, post-colonial tranquillity reigns outside academic citadels and, as Boehmer and Gouda (2009) have argued, within most universities, too. Perhaps it is a good sign that the most vexing postcolonial issues were resolved or taken to their graves by the first generation of post-colonial immigrants.…”

“…The reasons for ignoring this genre of post-colonial reflection might be due, firstly, to the narrow economic paradigm with which 'post-colonialism ', 'newcomers', 'integration' and 'migration' are approached. Another reason for dismissing discussions that are embodied in cultural forms may be the above-mentioned lack of intellectual engagement with colonialism and decolonisation, and it may also be a consequence of the prolonged tendency to consider all writing about the Dutch colonial experience as 'colonial', irrespective as to when or how it was written (D 'haen 2002;Gouda and Boehmer 2009: 50 also mention this remarkable point of view. )…”

“…The subversion of a canon would therefore involve not only an analysis of these institutional practices, but also a systematic study of the many ways in which contemporary multicultural society is connected with the past history of Dutch colonisation in South-East Asia and the Caribbean. The fact that the Netherlands has failed to acknowledge the continuing influence of its colonial legaciesits history of participation in the slave trade, the huge profits made in Asia and the nineteenth and twentieth century dealings with Islam in the Dutch East Indiesreveals that the country has still not come to terms with its colonial past (see Boehmer & Gouda 2009; see also Barnouw, De Keizer & Van der Stroom 1985). It should be mentioned that the Netherlands is not the only nation suffering from 'colonial amnesia'.…”