How Generations Matter

BMGN and the Problem of Writing Histories of Colonialism

Author(s)

  • Agus Suwignyo Gadjah Mada University
  • Alicia Schrikker Universiteit Leiden
  • Susan Legêne VU Amsterdam

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.51769/bmgn-lchr.9942

Abstract

Generations matter in historiography, and this is certainly the case when it concerns the enduring process of decolonisation. This forum contribution discusses how different generations published about colonialism, imperialism and decolonisation in BMGN – Low Countries Historical Review since 1970. It raises questions about contrasts and continuities in research practices between the older generation of historians with first-hand experience with colonialism, and subsequent generations. Writing the history of colonialism intersects with debates about decolonisation, including what we characterise as de-imperialisation, namely decentring Europe, in history writing. Examining the content of BMGN allows us to trace this development, even though the subject of colonialism, imperialism and decolonisation did not feature prominently in BMGN over the past five decades. However, in terms of historiography, the articles do show significant trends, such as changes in source criticism, in the international scope of the historical debate, and in conceptual approaches. We observe how a growing interest in the colonial past beyond the discipline of history as such has influenced perceptions among historians of colonial violence, in its physical, socio-cultural and epistemic forms. Despite its lapses, the increasing number of articles on colonialism and decolonisation published in BMGN since 2006 show that for the current generation of historians, colonialism and decolonisation have become an integral part of history writing in the Netherlands and Belgium.

In de historiografie spelen generaties een rol, en dit is zeker het geval inzake het langdurige proces van dekolonisatie. In deze forumbijdrage bespreken wij de artikelen die opeenvolgende generaties sinds 1970 over kolonialisme, imperialisme en dekolonisatie in BMGN – Low Countries Historical Review publiceerden. Deze bijdrage gaat over verschillen en continuïteiten in de onderzoekspraktijken tussen de oudere generatie historici die het kolonialisme zelf nog meemaakten, en de daaropvolgende generaties. De geschiedschrijving van het koloniale verleden is verweven met debatten over dekolonisatie; dat houdt ook het idee van ‘deimperialisatie’ in, oftewel het bevorderen van een geschiedschrijving waarin Europa niet in het centrum staat. Door de inhoud van de BMGN onder de loep te nemen kunnen we deze ontwikkelingen enigszins volgen, ook al figureerde de thematiek van kolonialisme, imperialisme en dekolonisatie bepaald niet prominent in de BMGN van de voorbije vijf decennia. Qua historiografie laten de artikelen echter wel degelijk veelzeggende trends zien, zoals veranderingen op het vlak van bronnenkritiek, van de internationale reikwijdte van het debat en met betrekking tot de gekozen conceptuele benaderingen. We zien bijvoorbeeld dat een toenemende belangstelling voor het koloniale verleden, ook buiten de geschiedwetenschap zelf, de perceptie heeft beïnvloed van historici ten aanzien van koloniaal geweld – zowel in diens fysieke, socio-culturele als in zijn kennistheoretische vorm. Ondanks allerlei lacunes, laat het groeiende aantal publicaties in de BMGN sinds 2006 over kolonialisme en dekolonisatie zien dat deze thematiek voor de huidige generatie historici een integraal onderdeel is geworden van de geschiedschrijving in Nederland en België.

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Author Biographies

  • Agus Suwignyo, Gadjah Mada University

    Agus Suwignyo is associate professor at the History Department of Gadjah Mada University in Yogyakarta, Indonesia. He received his PhD from Leiden University in 2012. His research focuses on the social history of Indonesia and Southeast Asia dealing with education, social transformation and the state. His publications include ‘Indonesian National History Textbooks after the New Order: What’s New under the Sun?’, Bijdragen tot de taal-, land- en volkenkunde/Journal of the Humanities and Social Sciences of Southeast Asia 170:1 (2014) 113-131. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1163/22134379-17001008; ‘Gotong royong and social citizenship in Indonesia 1940s-1990s’, Journal of Southeast Asian Studies 50:3 (2019) 387-408. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0022463419000407; Pendidikan, Kekuasaan dan Kolonialisme (Yogyakarta 2019); and as an editor: Pengetahuan Budaya dalam Khazanah Wabah (Yogyakarta 2020). E-mail: suwignyo_agus@ugm.ac.id.

  • Alicia Schrikker, Universiteit Leiden

    Alicia Schrikker is senior lecturer in colonial and global history at Leiden University and chair of the Vereniging KITLV. She is an expert in the history of colonial societies with a focus on Sri Lanka and Indonesia. Alicia obtained her PhD in 2006 with a thesis on Dutch and British colonialism in Sri Lanka during the age of revolutions. She currently leads two NWO funded projects on everyday colonialism in the Indian Ocean. Her recent publications deal with socio-legal history, slavery, historic disaster and Dutch colonial culture in the Indian Ocean. Together with Nira Wickramasinghe she recently edited the volume Being a Slave: Histories and Legacies of European Slavery in the Indian Ocean (Leiden 2020), DOI: https://doi.org/10.24415/9789087283445. Alicia was editor and editor-in-chief of the journal Itinerario between 2006 and 2016 and has been editor with BMGN – Low Countries Historical Review since 2016. E-mail: a.f.schrikker@hum.leidenuniv.nl.

  • Susan Legêne, VU Amsterdam

    Susan Legêne is professor of political history at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (VUA), and dean of the faculty of Humanities. Her research focuses on culture and power, and the impact of imperialism on state formation and citizenship. While a staff member of the Royal Tropical Institute in Amsterdam, she obtained her PhD in 1998 with a thesis on nineteenth-century colonialism, the formation of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, and the emergence of imperial culture in Europe. Together with Wayne Modest she is leading the international program Pressing Matter – Ownership, value and the question of colonial heritage in museums (2021-2025) funded by the National Science Agenda of the Netherlands. E-mail: s.legene@vu.nl.

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Published

2021-07-05

How to Cite

Suwignyo, A., Schrikker, A., & Legêne, S. (2021). How Generations Matter: BMGN and the Problem of Writing Histories of Colonialism. BMGN - Low Countries Historical Review, 136(2), 68-85. https://doi.org/10.51769/bmgn-lchr.9942