ABSTRACT
This highly personal column recounts the history of the selfdecolonization of the archive of the Indisch Wetenschappelijk Instituut (IWI) as the formal start of a self-decolonized historiographic project. Academic filing methods led to the separation of the personal belongings stored in the archive from the fragmented, oral “tellings” (vertelsels)— everyday memories and anecdotes—of the Indisch community. The items were thereby stripped of their contextual meaning and colonial narratives were reinforced. Recognizing this, the IWI shifted to digitalization, reuniting objects with their stories and centering Indisch voices. In more recent years, the archive has been transformed into a living testament to shared history, challenging colonial historiography and affirming the right of Indisch people to narrate their own past.
