Collective Memory and the Dutch East Indies : Unremembering Decolonization

Paul M. Doolan

ISBN 10: 1041177135 / ISBN 13: 9781041177135

Published by Taylor & Francis Ltd Jan 2026, 2026

About this Item

Neuware - Collective Memory and the Dutch East Indies: Unremembering Decolonization examines the afterlife of decolonization in the collective memory of the Netherlands. It offers a new perspective on the cultural history of representing the decolonization of the Dutch East Indies, and maps out how a contested collective memory was shaped. Taking a transdisciplinary approach and applying several theoretical frames from literary studies, sociology, cultural anthropology and film theory, the author reveals how mediated memories contributed to a process of what he calls unremembering. He analyses in detail a broad variety of sources, including novels, films, documentaries, radio interviews, memoirs and historical studies, to reveal how five decades of representing and remembering decolonization fed into an unremembering by which some key notions were silenced or ignored. The author concludes that historians, or the historical guild, bear much responsibility for the unremembering of decolonization in Dutch collective memory.

Seller Inventory # 9781041177135

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Collective Memory and the Dutch East Indies : Unremembering Decolonization
• Publisher: Taylor & Francis Ltd Jan 2026
• Publication Date: 2026
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1041177135
• ISBN 13: 9781041177135
• Binding: Taschenbuch
• Condition: Neu
• Dimensions: 234W x 156H x 18D millimeters 234 millimeters width by 156 millimeters height by 18 millimeters depth
• Weight: 473 grams

About this title

Synopsis

Collective Memory and the Dutch East Indies: Unremembering Decolonization examines the afterlife of decolonization in the collective memory of the Netherlands. It offers a new perspective on the cultural history of representing the decolonization of the Dutch East Indies, and maps out how a contested collective memory was shaped. Taking a transdisciplinary approach and applying several theoretical frames from literary studies, sociology, cultural anthropology and film theory, the author reveals how mediated memories contributed to a process of what he calls unremembering. He analyses in detail a broad variety of sources, including novels, films, documentaries, radio interviews, memoirs and historical studies, to reveal how five decades of representing and remembering decolonization fed into an unremembering by which some key notions were silenced or ignored. The author concludes that historians, or the historical guild, bear much responsibility for the unremembering of decolonization in Dutch collective memory.

About the Author

Paul Doolan was born and raised in the Republic of Ireland. He has spent over 30 years teaching history in the Netherlands, Japan and Switzerland. He studied history at the University of Groningen, the Netherlands, and completed his PhD at the University of Konstanz, Germany.