This research considers the manners in which the social value of two photographs can be understood in relation to their placement as part of an album in 1905 and part of the Nederlands Nationaal...Show moreThis research considers the manners in which the social value of two photographs can be understood in relation to their placement as part of an album in 1905 and part of the Nederlands Nationaal Archief in 2021. Through a varied conceptual framework, visual analysis of the photographs, historical research, and archival research, different uses, presentations and spheres of circulation are shown to have influence on the way these photographs are valued. The study concludes with a critical reflection of these photographs as objects of historical study and leaves an open ended conclusion for the dispute and addition of further research.Show less
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
