This research aims to explain why specific statues in the Netherlands have become the focal point of discussions regarding societal problems. Although these memories are always present in the...Show moreThis research aims to explain why specific statues in the Netherlands have become the focal point of discussions regarding societal problems. Although these memories are always present in the public space, they only periodically provoke the existing Dutch historical narrative. The Jan Pieterszoon Coen statue and the Nederland-Indië monument are used as devices around which debates about social injustice are held. By analysing this function, this thesis makes an argument for keeping these colonial statues in place. The author contends that, in Dutch cultural remembrance, statues and monuments of colonial history reveal pasts that do not match the main historical narrative by applying and reformulating some fundamental concepts of the book Emerging Memories written by Paul Bijl. These statues and monuments continue to emerge and submerge while retaining their provocative presence. In two-fold these sites of remembrance aggravate communities whilst there is also room for new monuments. There is an ambiguity wherein the symbolism of memorial heritage is pursued by two groups, one for its celebration of colonial and national heroes and the other for the remembrance of colonial victims and their descendants. Without these colonial heritage sites, provocative memories are lost, and communities are not pushed to change the existing narrative.Show less
