RECALL/RECALIBRATE
Europeans enjoying a meal in a restaurant, with an Indonesian waiter in the background. Date somewhere between 1930 and 1950, location unknown. Leiden University Libraries, KITLV 826902.
‘The idea was that, by financially supporting those with European ancestry, and teaching them practical skills such as carpentry, Indo-Europeans could be turned into a useful middle class. In order to become ‘fully Dutch’, they were forced to abandon their maternal indigenous culture, language, and religion, and embrace Dutch colonial (Christian) culture instead.’ Marjolein van Pagee
Dangerous Competitors: The ‘Dutch Ethical Policy’ (1901) and the Establishment of Craft Schools in East Java
Marjolein van Pagee
‘Kartini’s feminism is an example of what is called colonial or imperialist feminism, an ideology that uses feminist rhetoric to justify European imperialism.’ Saut Situmorang
Saut Situmorang
‘Yes, but...’
Occupation as requirement for ‘development’
Rosa te Velde
[By the turn of the century, the Dutch] ‘aimed at acquiring de facto political control of the entire Indonesian archipelago and the development of both country and people under Dutch leadership and after western example’. Elsbeth Locher-Scholten, 1981
Ethical Imperialism & Crafts Education in the ‘Dutch East Indies’ after 1900
Rosa te Velde
‘[...] a dominant way in which the Dutch think of themselves, as being a small, but just, ethical nation; color-blind, thus free of racism; as being inherently on the moral and ethical high ground, thus a guiding light to other folks and nations.’ Gloria Wekker, 2016
Boh Doma (collar button) from Aceh, donated by Van Daalen, 1904.
Collectie Wereldmuseum, RV-1429-116.
Dewi Sartika’s Craft(wo)manship: Navigating Colonial Emancipation
by Raistiwar Pratama
Politics of ‘Ethical’ Reform through ‘Native Arts and Crafts’
Rosa te Velde
‘The ‘technical artistic’ study by Jasper ‘renders legible’ a field of crafts supposedly in need of saving and development. Through organising exhibitions, firmly nudging and promoting the use of ‘old’ motifs, or encouraging artisans through awarding honorary diplomas, his research becomes a self-fulfilling success story.’ Rosa te Velde
J.E. Jasper, and Mas Pirngadi, De Inlandsche Kunstnijverheid in Nederlandsch IndiÎ, Deel 4. De Goud-, en Zilversmeedkunst, 1927, p. 196.
Marjolein van Asdonck
Raistiwar Pratama
Saut Situmorang
Marjolein van Pagee
Rosa te Velde
READERS
Fitria Jelyta
Lisa Baumgarten
Mark Oomen
EDITING/PROOFREADING
Harriet Foyster
Iris Pissaride
Marjolein van Pagee
IMAGE RESEARCH
Rosa te Velde
GRAPHIC DESIGN
Zuzana Kostelanská
This project is published under CC BY-NC-ND license, which enables reusers to copy and distribute the material in any medium or format in unadapted form only, for noncommercial purposes only, and only so long as attribution is given to the creator.
Some of the texts were published before by the Wereldmuseum (02 ‘Yes, but...’; 03 A Firm Nudge & 06 A Rejuvenation Cure?).
Questions/corrections/suggestions? Contact us at
recallrecalibrate (at) gmail.com
This project was funded by Het Stimuleringsfonds voor de Creatieve Industrie.