As colonial archives increasingly digitalise their collections, questions about their contents, descriptions, and context surface. Following the research question of ‘what do the current practices...Show moreAs colonial archives increasingly digitalise their collections, questions about their contents, descriptions, and context surface. Following the research question of ‘what do the current practices of colonial photographic archives tell us about how archival practices need to develop as archives begin to digitalise?’, this thesis explores colonial photography's archival processes and how digitalisation impacts them.Show less
Historians of the late pre-colonial Indian political and military landscape have often pointed to the prevalence of self-interested pragmatism, intrigue and shifting allegiances within it. Against...Show moreHistorians of the late pre-colonial Indian political and military landscape have often pointed to the prevalence of self-interested pragmatism, intrigue and shifting allegiances within it. Against this backdrop, this thesis examines a prominent, yet understudied, military and political player within late-eighteenth and early-nineteenth century India, Amir Khan of Tonk, through the lens of martial honour. This is done through analysis of both his career and memoirs, the Amirnama, in which he is represented as one “whose conduct and character within and without were clear as the spotless sun”. Following the Amirnama’s account of the four main stages of his career, whilst also cross-referencing with other relevant contemporary sources, reveals the complex and manifold relation of theoretical ideals of martial honour with the realities of political and military action within his world. During the early stages of his career, cultivating a reputation for bravery and clemency on the battlefield facilitated his social climbing, enhancing “his fame and rank” and forging valuable alliances. Yet increasingly, a gulf appeared between the rhetoric and reality. Whilst honour could legitimise political action, it also contrasted sharply with the flexibility of allegiance, use of deception and even murder increasingly deployed by Amir Khan to achieve his ambitions and strategic aims. Ultimately, securing his political survival in the face of encroaching British power would necessitate jettisoning a plethora of social obligations to those with whom he was theoretically “honour-bound”. Examining Amir Khan’s self-fashioning in the Amirnama in light of these controversial acts reveals how the gap between the theoreticals of martial honour and the murkier realities of realpolitik pragmatism could be, at least rhetorically, reconciled.Show less
This study examines the colonial dynamics of knowledge production about Indonesian textiles in the collecting practices of hippie trail collectors Rudolf Smend and Mary Hunt Kahlenberg. Its focus...Show moreThis study examines the colonial dynamics of knowledge production about Indonesian textiles in the collecting practices of hippie trail collectors Rudolf Smend and Mary Hunt Kahlenberg. Its focus is on the private collections of these individuals, which are documented in multiple catalogues, and their engagement with these objects as textile experts. The study demonstrates the scholarly relevance of the ‘hippie trail collector’ as an analytical category and asserts its implication in the ongoing epistemological, ontological, and territorial colonialism foundational to and perpetuated by the hippie trail. To analyse the case studies, it first establishes the enmeshment of these collectors with the hippie trail network, it then examines their contributions to knowledge production about Indonesian textiles, and lastly it explores their engagement with the epistemological hierarchies regarding these objects. It argues that both Smend and Kahlenberg have aided the incorporation of Indonesian textiles into a Western art system, a venture which has a colonial genealogy but also fits with the countercultural period’s renewed international interest in textile arts. Through said revaluation as well as the co-option and capitalization on Indonesian expertise, these collectors promote the erasure of other meanings and reproduce the colonial underpinnings of knowledge production about these textiles.Show less
Study of the scientific collaboration between Japanese anthropologist Torii Ryuzo and his wife Torii Kimiko through a study of multiple travel diaries, biographies and autobiographies.
This thesis looks at the narratives surrounding Dutch and British expeditions of exploration in New Guinea to study the roles of nationalist and internationalist sentiment within the narratives of...Show moreThis thesis looks at the narratives surrounding Dutch and British expeditions of exploration in New Guinea to study the roles of nationalist and internationalist sentiment within the narratives of these expeditions.Show less
There has never been a specific investigation of the ideology of the Dutch colonial functionaries of the Binnenlandsch Bestuur, or the corps B.B., during the Indonesian Independence War. We do know...Show moreThere has never been a specific investigation of the ideology of the Dutch colonial functionaries of the Binnenlandsch Bestuur, or the corps B.B., during the Indonesian Independence War. We do know that the corps, just before 1942, largely mistrusted the Indonesian independence movement and had no great misgivings about the colonial relationship between Indonesia and Holland. We also know that in 1945 the Dutch policy was revised under the leadership of Governor General Van Mook-favoring the formation of a federal Indonesian state, and de facto acknowledging the Indonesian Republic in 1946 by signing the treaty of Lingaddjati. Given a large poll of B.B. officials’ ideological thinking in 1945, it is clear that a majority of these officials supported Van Mooks’ plans. However, we do not know why this ideological break with the pre-1942 period could have happened in the first place, or whether the B.B. even perceived there was a break at all. In this thesis, the ideological developments within the colonial state and B.B., c. 1900-1942, are first explained. This period was defined by the debates surrounding the Dutch ‘Ethical Policy’ and the formation of an Indonesian national movement. The period would define the thinking of B.B. officials leading into the Japanese Occupation and the subsequent Indonesian Independence War. Then, in the research chapter, I discuss the political opinions of roughly 10 B.B. officials (left in writing), working c. 1945-1949. I use memoirs, letters, memoranda, and (concept-versions of) publicized articles to do so. These B.B. officials largely agreed that explicit colonialism in Indonesia should end. When it came to important aspects of de-colonization, like formulating a policy towards the Indonesian Republic, and figuring out how to achieve rapid political emancipation for the Indonesians, their political opinions became complicated. There was no clear consensus on how to ‘deal’ with the Republic. When it came to emancipation, they continued to, in practice, rely on the Indonesian aristocracy, as they had done in the colonial epoch, while keeping the Republican-leaning intellectuals at arms’ length, a probable result of the desire to build an Indonesian state where the Dutch could feasibly maintain their influence.Show less
In this research,I focus on two specific instances where the vanquished wrote their version of history to influence how nations should understand their past and their sense of national identity....Show moreIn this research,I focus on two specific instances where the vanquished wrote their version of history to influence how nations should understand their past and their sense of national identity. Specifically, I am proposing a comparative analysis, using Discourse Analysis (DA), of how history can be rewritten by the vanquished, to variant degrees of effectiveness and in very comparable manner, by societies that differs from each other both historically and geographically. I do so by analysing a selected number of works from those authors most relevant for the propagation of the counternarratives that constitute those Lost Cause myths and that in various forms were able to politically endure and even thrive in the post-conflict reality governed by very victors they seemed to despise and distrust.Show less
This thesis shows the reluctant imperialist rhetoric stems from the “exceptionalism trope” underlying contemporaneous debates over Dutch colonialism. Instead it is insisted the activities of the...Show moreThis thesis shows the reluctant imperialist rhetoric stems from the “exceptionalism trope” underlying contemporaneous debates over Dutch colonialism. Instead it is insisted the activities of the Dutch East India Company along Java’s Northeast Coast between 1704 and 1720 can best be understood as a civilising mission. On the one hand, it is shown how the Dutch presence in Asia was imagined as a benign commercial enterprise, aimed at fostering intercultural cooperation and mutual friendship between nations. On the other hand, it is argued that the encounter with the non-European world stimulated the gradual proliferation of orientalist discourses, which eventually signalled the emergence of the Company as a the predecessor of the modern colonial state.Show less
A thesis which contributes a new perspective to the ongoing discussion on the human contacts made between North and Meso-America before Columbus. This is done specifically by looking at maize as an...Show moreA thesis which contributes a new perspective to the ongoing discussion on the human contacts made between North and Meso-America before Columbus. This is done specifically by looking at maize as an exotic good used for ritual and as a medium for narrative. It highlights the religious aspects of exchange and the travel of ideas and narratives with material in a time before writing was widespread. Because of the latter fact, the research is done through a multi-disciplinary approach, utilizing botany, archaeology and ethnology.Show less
Over the past few centuries, multiple historiographical traditions have clashed over the study of Kerala history. Epistemological groups proposed here include archetypal historians who created...Show moreOver the past few centuries, multiple historiographical traditions have clashed over the study of Kerala history. Epistemological groups proposed here include archetypal historians who created original written histories with mythological elements, positivist historians who reject the mythological nature of the local histories, and post-structuralist historians who try to reconcile the useful historical data to be found in positivist and archetypal works. What has been lacking in this field has been a comparative study to explore the similarities and differences between these epistemologies, which this modest project seeks to present in the context of the historiographical 'journey' of Kerala's Cheraman Perumal legend. Concluding that there is a need for further post-structuralist study of the Cheraman Perumal, this project seeks to act as a call to action as an outsider to the field, to show why historians specializing in Kerala's history should be exploring the varied historiographical epistemologies to fill in the gaps in Kerala's history through previously ignored sources, specifically those of the Cheraman Perumal story.Show less
