This thesis looks at the role and usage of colonial archival documents in the knowledge production of the eighteenth-century Dutch East India Company (VOC), through a case study of the Overgekomen...Show moreThis thesis looks at the role and usage of colonial archival documents in the knowledge production of the eighteenth-century Dutch East India Company (VOC), through a case study of the Overgekomen Brieven en Papieren (OBP) of the regional establishment of Malabar. By looking at documentary practices regarding the OBP, conceptualised as an early modern colonial archive, this research traces its epistemic potential through several stages: creation and selection on the Malabar Coast, dispersion through the information network of the company and dissection by the Haags Besogne. The findings presented here show that the epistemic potential of the OBP was eroded in every stage and only partially actualised by company officials in the Dutch Republic. In line with recent studies on early modern colonial archives, this thesis raises scepticism towards the equation of knowledge and empire through colonial archives, but offers new arguments and explanations for doing so.Show less
Navigating the early Cold War during the 1950s was no easy task for states and international organisations, given the changing dynamics and intrigues of Cold War geopolitics and the onset of...Show moreNavigating the early Cold War during the 1950s was no easy task for states and international organisations, given the changing dynamics and intrigues of Cold War geopolitics and the onset of decolonisation across Asia and Africa. In this period, a number of national, regional and international political organisations emerged across the “Third World” which sought to establish their own movements and support based on their own ideology. The Asian Socialist Conference, 1953-1960, was one such organisation which came into existence in this period and attempted to navigate the early Cold War. Significant limitations faced organisations like the ASC as they addressed the “great problems”, relating to European colonialism and the Cold War, facing the world. In a broader context, the limitations the ASC faced explain the difficulties “Third World” Afro-Asian networks in navigating the Cold War. Through a more Asian-centric approach, the purpose of this analysis will therefore be to analyse and explain the limitations the ASC faced in its endeavour to resolve the great world problems of the 1950s and how those limitations show the difficulties “Third World” Afro-Asian networks had in navigating early Cold War.Show less
