The last decade has witnessed an unprecedented rise in interest in colonial history across the world and efforts by grassroots organisations to address the enduring legacies of colonialism. One of the most visible aspects of this shift has been the Rhodes Must Fall movement, which began in South Africa in 2015 and critiqued the continued celebration of colonial era officials who participated in the violent oppression of colonial subjects and enslaved people. Supporters of this movement, like the #BlackLivesMatter movement initiated two years earlier, argue that allowing such commemoration not only implied an endorsement of the past, but also acceptance of the continuing operation of a racial hierarchy according to which some lives matter more than others.
These global movements have been accompanied by new research into histories of colonialism and slavery and new questioning by museum experts, artists, and public intellectuals as to how institutions as well as nation states can more critically engage with the colonial past and slavery as their legacies. One way to characterise these efforts is decolonial memory work.
As the contributions to this edition demonstrate, decolonial memory work in Indonesia and the Netherlands takes many forms. They include interventions within former colonial museums, the establishment of new museums and the production of new films, novels, and photographic projects, as well as new research. In some cases, this work has prompted new forms of commemoration and even apologies for colonial injustices.
Decolonising memory
Written by Kate McGregor and Ana Dragojlovic
‘Our Colonial Inheritance’ at the Wereldmuseum
Written by Susie Protschky
Some Dutch museums are taking more critical approaches to colonial history
Beyond decolonisation
Written by Sadiah Boonstra
The National Museum of Indonesia is perpetuating colonial narratives and needs to actively engage with younger generations
Colonial industrial heritage and memory
Written by Katharine McGregor
A UNESCO-listed colonial mining town in West Sumatra raises complex questions about framing Indonesia’s industrial heritage
Colonial nostalgia in an Indonesian night market
Written by Grace Leksana
Despite more critical attention being paid to Indonesia’s colonial past there is also evidence of nostalgia
Dutch memory of slavery
Written by Nancy Jouwe
There is increasing public recognition of slavery in Dutch history but silences remain
Working with colonial objects in the Rijksmuseum
Written by Timoteus Anggawan Kusno
When an artist applies a critical lens to museum collections, colonial objects are framed in new ways
A history of the Banda Islands
Photographer Muhammad Fadli and journalist Fatris MF are co-created an innovative documentary project reflecting on the 400th anniversary of the VOC-led Banda Massacres. Katherine McGregor spoke to Fadli about the project and its decolonial dimensions.
Decolonising Dutch cultural memory
Written by Pamela Pattynama
The njai and the babu have been iconic figures of nostalgia in Dutch cultural memory but a recently published novel challenges such remembrance
Review: Decolonising heteropatriarchal silencing
Written by Ana Dragojlovic and Astrid Kerchman
A documentary draws new attention to intergenerational grief and decolonial healing