Dutch Photo-Collections of Curaçao 1900-2010: Rediscovery, Kingdom Reconfirmation and Alienation
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‘What was going on there?’ Dutch photo-collections of Curaçao 1900-2010: Rediscovery, Kingdom reconfirmation and alienation Ma-thesis by Madeleine Brozek Student number: 474400 Erasmus University Rotterdam Study: Global History and International Relations Faculty: Erasmus school of History, Culture and Communication Supervisor: Prof. A. van Stipriaan Luïscius Second Reader: Prof. H. Dibbits Inhoud Introduction ............................................................................................................................................. 4 Terminology ......................................................................................................................................... 7 Chapter 1: Historical context ................................................................................................................... 8 Curaçao under WIC.............................................................................................................................. 8 Kingdom, abolition and mission ........................................................................................................ 12 Industrialization, Dutchification and autonomy 1900-2010 ................................................................. 15 Period 1: 1900 until 1920 .................................................................................................................. 15 Period 2: 1920-1954 .......................................................................................................................... 16 Period 3: 1954-1969 .......................................................................................................................... 18 Period 4: 1969-2010 .......................................................................................................................... 19 Chapter 2: Theory and Methodology .................................................................................................... 22 Representation, discourse, imagination ........................................................................................... 24 The social location: Genres and speakers ......................................................................................... 26 Discourse, framing and photography ................................................................................................ 28 Frame analysis in photography ......................................................................................................... 30 Methodology ..................................................................................................................................... 31 Chapter 3: The institutional context ..................................................................................................... 34 The National Museum of World Cultures (NMVW) .......................................................................... 38 Atlas van Stolk (AS) ............................................................................................................................ 40 Rijksmuseum (RM) ............................................................................................................................ 41 The Brothers of Tilburg (CFT) ............................................................................................................ 42 The Dutch Museum of Photography (DFM) ...................................................................................... 43 Chapter 4: The imperial period and ethical policy, 1900-1920 ............................................................. 44 Dutch visitors and local photographers ............................................................................................ 45 Imperial gaze? ................................................................................................................................... 49 The Catholic perspective ................................................................................................................... 53 What was going on there? The possible and the unseen ................................................................. 57 Chapter 5: Industrialization, ‘rediscovery’ and recolonisation: 1920-1954 .......................................... 60 Geographers, photographers, officials and missionaries .................................................................. 62 1920-1940 ......................................................................................................................................... 67 1940-1954 ......................................................................................................................................... 78 The Catholic perspective ................................................................................................................... 84 What was going on there? The possible and the unseen ................................................................. 86 Chapter 6: Reconfiguring colonialism and reconfirming Kingdom: 1954-1969 .................................... 88 KLM, Shell, Boy Lawson and Van der Poll .......................................................................................... 91 Expanding iconic complex ................................................................................................................. 92 The National Archive: Royal visits and black servitude ................................................................... 103 2 The 1960s and the touristic frame .................................................................................................. 106 The Catholic perspective ................................................................................................................. 108 What was going on there? The possible and the unseen ............................................................... 109 Chapter 7: Decolonisation, continuation or alienation: 1969-2010.................................................... 111 Upside-down decolonisation 1969-1975 ........................................................................................ 114 The 1980s and 1990s ....................................................................................................................... 120 2000-2010 ....................................................................................................................................... 124 What was going on there? The possible and the unseen ............................................................... 127 Conclusion ........................................................................................................................................... 129 The Dutch iconic complex ............................................................................................................... 129 The unseen ...................................................................................................................................... 131 Reflections and recommendations for further research ................................................................ 133 References ........................................................................................................................................... 135 Quotes: ............................................................................................................................................ 138 Links: ................................................................................................................................................ 138 Appendix photographs .................................................................................................................... 140 Chapter 4 ......................................................................................................................................... 140 Chapter 5 ......................................................................................................................................... 141 Chapter 6 ......................................................................................................................................... 143 Chapter 7 ......................................................................................................................................... 144 3 Introduction ‘White racism at Curaçao turned into black racism. The Dutch had set the example for this.’1 This thesis presents an analysis of the photograph collections of Curaçao which are digitally available in several Dutch archives. Curaçao was a Dutch colony for more than three hundred years along with the Caribbean islands of St Maarten, Saba, St Eustatius, Aruba and Bonaire, and since its autonomy in 1954 Curaçao still belongs to the Kingdom of the Netherlands. History strongly binds Curaçao to the Netherlands but a large portion of the Dutch population remains uninformed of this element of Dutch history.2 Scholars have recently reconstructed many aspects of the Dutch-Curaçaoan history, but it still is obscure and silence in the minds of many Dutch citizens. A Dutch politician once said: “Whatever once happened in Curaçao can never be of great importance”.3 The problem is that, apart from some facts about succession of governors, population numbers and trade figures, little is known about ‘what was going on’ in Curaçao.4 Therefore, this thesis endeavours to set up a sociohistorical account of Dutch-Curaçaoan history from the visual perspective of Dutch individuals and institutions involved with Curaçao between