ABSTRACT
Institutions across the globe are increasingly questioned on how their foundations are rooted in colonialism and how they aim to ‘decolonize’. The Future of the Dutch Colonial Past provides an overview of critical scholarly reflections on the history of Dutch slavery and colonization, as well as how this translates into critical cultural practices. It also explores possible futures: What can heritage institutions learn from (international) best practices regarding the ‘decolonization’ of museums? And what role can contemporary artistic practices take in these processes? Through a variety of essays, interventions, interviews, and a roundtable conversation, scholars and cultural practitioners address these complex questions.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
part 1|51 pages
Curatorial Practices
chapter |14 pages
Whose Heritage, Whose Canoe? Curating Beyond the ‘Savage Slot’ in the Bijlmer, Amsterdam
part 2|80 pages
Artistic and Theoretical Practices
chapter |16 pages
Shape-shifting: Contemporary Art and the Revisioning of the Amsterdam Colonial Past
chapter |14 pages
Feeling the Traces of the Dutch Colonial Past: Dance as an Affective Methodology in Farida Nabibaks's Radiant Shadow
part 3|56 pages
Activism Inside/Outside Institutions
chapter |8 pages
Becoming Nothing Again: Urgent Activism, Disengaged Theory and the Possibilities of Reversal
part 4|68 pages
Repair and Redress
chapter |14 pages
Repatriation as Means of Repair and Redress? Dutch-Indonesian Repatriation Debates, 1949–present
part 5|19 pages
Concluding remarks
