Project Aims

Submerged Histories is the first interdisciplinary project to investigate why, over the last 15 years, artists, independent historians, descendants of veterans of the independence war and communities connected to colonial histories have begun to demand recognition of the enduring legacies of colonialism in the Netherlands and Indonesia.

Both in the Netherlands and Indonesia, citizens of varying backgrounds are paying increasing attention to what we call the 'submerged histories' of Dutch colonialism. These are histories that are not immediately visible nor recognisable in nationalist representations of the past. This rapidly emerging Dutch and Indonesian collaborative memory activism challenges the muted and underdeveloped critiques of colonial history in both countries by paying attention to what has been submerged or displaced.

Submerged Histories examines how and why new forms of remembrance and recognition of the colonial past have emerged in both societies and considers their significance for societies dealing with the legacies of colonialism. We ask how Indonesian and Dutch citizens are mobilizing memory and what forms of violence or prejudice citizens demand recognition of and why. In these cases, who is blamed for the violence and where is responsibility laid? Furthermore, we ask how activism between Indonesia and the Netherlands is enacted and who is driving such activism.

The project aims to:

• Determine who and what drives memory activism related to colonial histories.

• Ascertain the forms of violence and prejudice activists are demanding recognition of and from whom.

• Deepen our critical understanding of how the demands made by memory activists for historical revision are leading to structural changes in history curricula, museum representations and heritage practices.

• Expand knowledge about how collaborative memory activism is shaping global social movements and influencing contemporary geopolitics.

This study offers the first examination of collaborative memory activism between citizens of a former colony and former coloniser. In recent years, there has been growing scholarly interest in colonial heritage in Indonesia, the reparation of colonial collections and colonial memory work carried out within specific diasporas communities connected to colonial history in The Netherlands. Yet collaborative memory activism occurring between Dutch and Indonesian citizens has not yet been identified nor analysed.

Submerged Histories therefore investigates how, why and to what ends a range of people in both countries are challenging erasures of colonial histories.