Gert Oostindie

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Gert Oostindie
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Oostindie (2022)
Born
Gert Jan Oostindie

(1955-07-04) 4 July 1955 (age 68)
Occupation(s)historian, professor

Gert Jan Oostindie (born 4 July 1955) is a Dutch historian and professor who specialises in Dutch colonial history and the Dutch Caribbean. He was Director of the Royal Netherlands Institute of Southeast Asian and Caribbean Studies (KITLV) from 2000 until 2021. From 1993 until 2006, he was professor Anthropology at the University of Utrecht. From 2006 until 2015, he was professor Caribbean History at Leiden University.

Contents

Biography

Oostindie was born on 4 July 1955 in Ridderkerk, Netherlands. His surname is a variant of Oosteinde or "east end", as in Oosteinde, Groningen. [1]

He studied history and social sciences at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, and graduated in 1982. In 1989, he obtained a doctorate at Utrecht University [2] for his thesis about the plantations Roosenburg and Mon Bijou in Suriname. [3]

In 1983, Oostindie started working for the Royal Netherlands Institute of Southeast Asian and Caribbean Studies (KITLV). In 2000, he became Director of the institute. [2] The institute was hit hard by subsidy cuts in 2013, and was forced to merge with the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences who intended to move the institute from Leiden to Amsterdam. Oostindie managed to keep the institute in Leiden, but had to dismiss half the staff. [4] In December 2021, he retired as Director and was awarded officer in the Order of Orange-Nassau. [5] [6]

Oostindie was appointed professor Anthropology with a specialisation on the Caribbean at the University of Utrecht on 1993 and served until 2006. [7] [8] From 2006 until 2015, he was professor Caribbean History at Leiden University. [9]

Oostindie is a prolific writer on the history of the Dutch Caribbean and Suriname [7] who specialises in the colonial history and slavery past of the Netherlands. [5] He tried to increase the understanding of the Dutch Caribbean which was often overshadowed by the Dutch East Indies (Indonesia) and Suriname. [10] As of 2015, he was the author of more than 25 books and more than 150 scientific articles. [7] Oostindie frequently appears in the mass media as an expert on colonial history and slavery. [11] [12]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">KITLV/Royal Netherlands Institute of Southeast Asian and Caribbean Studies</span> Research institute in Leiden

The KITLV/Royal Netherlands Institute of Southeast Asian and Caribbean Studies at Leiden was founded in 1851. Its objective is the advancement of the study of the anthropology, linguistics, social sciences, and history of Southeast Asia, the Pacific Area, and the Caribbean. Special emphasis is laid on the former Dutch colonies of the Dutch East Indies, Suriname, and the Dutch West Indies. Its unique collection of books, manuscripts, prints and photographs attracts visiting scholars from all over the world. On July 1, 2014, the management of the collection was taken over by Leiden University Libraries.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Leiden University Library</span> Academic library based in Leiden, the Netherlands

Leiden University Libraries is a library founded in 1575 in Leiden, Netherlands. It is regarded as a significant place in the development of European culture: it is a part of a small number of cultural centres that gave direction to the development and spread of knowledge during the Enlightenment. This was due particularly to the simultaneous presence of a unique collection of exceptional sources and scholars. Holdings include approximately 5,200,000 volumes, 1,000,000 e-books, 70,000 e-journals, 2,000 current paper journals, 60,000 Oriental and Western manuscripts, 500,000 letters, 100,000 maps, 100,000 prints, 12,000 drawings and 300,000 photographs. The library manages the largest collections worldwide on Indonesia and the Caribbean. Furthermore, Leiden University Libraries is the only heritage organization in The Netherlands with five registrations of documents in UNESCO's Memory of the World Register.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Surinamese people</span>

Surinamese people are people who identify with the country of Suriname. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Surinamese, several of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their being Surinamese.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Curaçao and Dependencies</span> 1815–1954 Dutch colony in the Caribbean

The Colony of Curaçao and Dependencies was a Dutch colony in the Caribbean Sea from 1634 until 1828 and from 1845 until 1954. Between 1936 and 1948, the area was officially known as the Territory of Curaçao, and after 1948 as the Netherlands Antilles. With the proclamation of the Charter for the Kingdom of the Netherlands on 15 December 1954, the Netherlands Antilles attained equal status with the Netherlands proper and Suriname in the new Kingdom of the Netherlands.

Javanese Surinamese are an ethnic group of Javanese descent in Suriname. They have been present since the late 19th century, when their first members were selected as indentured laborers by the Dutch colonizers from the former Dutch East Indies.

Surinamese people in the Netherlands are people in the Netherlands who come from a Surinamese background. From 1667 to 1975, Suriname was a colony of the Netherlands.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bernard Arps</span> Professor of Indonesian and Javanese language and culture

Bernard Arps, Professor of Indonesian and Javanese Language and Culture at Leiden University, Netherlands, was born in 1961 in Leiden.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Graman Quassi</span>

Graman Quassi was a Surinamese physician, botanist and planter. Born in the Guinea region of West Africa, Quassi was taken to the Dutch colony of Surinam via the Atlantic slave trade, where he was initially enslaved on a sugar plantation before managing to emancipate himself. Assisting the Dutch colonial authorities in suppressing the activities of local maroons, he managed to rise to the top of the colony's small community of free people of color and eventually became a plantation owner himself. He gave his name to the plant genus Quassia.

Andries Teeuw, better known as A. Teeuw in scholarly circles and Hans Teeuw to his friends, was a Dutch critic of Indonesian literature.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Suriname (Kingdom of the Netherlands)</span> Constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, 1954–1975

Suriname was a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands between 1954 and 1975. The country had full autonomy, except in areas of defence and foreign policy, and participated on a basis of equality with the Netherlands Antilles and the Netherlands itself in the Kingdom of the Netherlands. The country became fully independent as the Republic of Suriname on 25 November 1975.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Surinam (Dutch colony)</span> Dutch plantation colony in the Guianas

Surinam, also unofficially known as Dutch Guiana, was a Dutch plantation colony in the Guianas, bordered by the equally Dutch colony of Berbice to the west, and the French colony of Cayenne to the east. It later bordered British Guiana from 1831 to 1966.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1969 Curaçao uprising</span> Series of riots and protests

The 1969 Curaçao uprising was a series of riots on the Caribbean island of Curaçao, then part of the Netherlands Antilles, a semi-independent country in the Kingdom of the Netherlands. The uprising took place mainly on May 30, but continued into the night of May 31 – June 1, 1969. The riots arose from a strike by workers in the oil industry. A protest rally during the strike turned violent, leading to widespread looting and destruction of buildings and vehicles in the central business district of Curaçao's capital, Willemstad.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Curaçao Slave Revolt of 1795</span>

The Curaçao Slave Revolt of 1795 was a slave revolt in the Dutch colony of Curaçao, led by the enslaved man Tula. It resulted in a month-long conflict on the island between escapees and the colonial government. Tula was aware of the Haitian Revolution that had resulted in freedom for the enslaved in Haiti. He argued that, since the European Netherlands was now under French occupation as a sister republic, the slaves on Curaçao should get their freedom as well.

Hendrik Ulbo Eric"Bonno"Thoden van Velzen was a Dutch anthropologist, Surinamist and Africanist.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gloria Wekker</span>

Gloria Daisy Wekker is an Afro-Surinamese Dutch emeritus professor and writer who has focused on gender studies and sexuality in the Afro-Caribbean region and diaspora. She was the winner of the Ruth Benedict Prize from the American Anthropological Association in 2007.

Jeanne Henriquez is an Afro-Curaçaoan educator, historian and activist. She published articles and made videos to explore the history and impact of colonialism on her Curaçao community. After teaching for over two decades, Henriquez became the director of the Center for the Protection of Women. She worked to alleviate domestic violence and provide educational and employment training for low-income women. She has worked with the Museum Tula to develop materials to reclaim the history of Afro-Curaçaoans and the African diaspora throughout the Caribbean. She was awarded the Cross of Merit from the Government of Curaçao for her activism for women and the Afro-Curaçaoan communities.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Simon Sanches</span> Dutch navy nurse and laboratory technician

Simon Everhardus Hendrik Sanches was a Dutch navy nurse and laboratory technician who planned to commit a coup d'état in Suriname on the night of 7 to 8 November 1947. The coup was betrayed, and he was sentenced to seven months imprisonment and was later pardoned.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jo Einaar</span> Surinamese teacher and diplomat

Johan Friedrich Egbert "Jo" Einaar was a Surinamese teacher and diplomat. He was an anthropology professor at Howard University in Washington DC, Dutch Consul General in New York City, and served as Minister Plenipotentiary of Suriname from 18 November 1965 until 1 July 1968.

Johann Rudolf Lauffer was a Swiss-born Curaçaoan soldier, colonial administrator and businessman. He became Director of Curaçao and Dependencies after a military coup d'état on 1 December 1796 and served until 13 January 1803.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Piet Emmer</span> Dutch Historian, Emeritus Professor

Pieter Cornelis (Piet) Emmer is a Dutch Emeritus Professor of Colonial History at Leiden University, specialising in the European Expansion, and related themes of slavery and immigration.

References

  1. den Blijker, Jeroen (11 August 2023). "'Wie Raymond Westerling op het schild hijst, verdoezelt oorlogsmisdaden'". Trouw. Retrieved 20 October 2023.
  2. 1 2 "Surinamistiekprijs 2010 voor Gert Oostindie". Werkgroep Caraibische Letteren (in Dutch). 6 November 2010. Retrieved 24 January 2022.
  3. "Beurscrisis luidde verval van Surinaamse plantages". de Volkskrant (in Dutch). 6 January 1990. Retrieved 24 January 2022.
  4. "KITLV blijft toch in Leiden". Mare Online (in Dutch). 24 October 2013. Retrieved 24 January 2022.
  5. 1 2 "Prof. Gert Oostindie koninklijk onderscheiden bij afscheid". Dossier Koninkrijksrelaties (in Dutch). 20 December 2021. Retrieved 24 January 2022.
  6. Roitman, Jessica Vance; Veenendaal, Wouter (2023). "Politically correct consensus is not for me: An interview with Gert Oostindie". Itinerario. doi:10.1017/S0165115322000316. hdl: 1871.1/349d00e1-649f-491b-9c18-c00af9182fc4 . ISSN   0165-1153.
  7. 1 2 3 Roosanne Goudbeek (9 February 2012). "Zwarte stem zelden in archieven aanwezig". Zeeuws Archief (in Dutch). Retrieved 24 January 2022.
  8. Jos de Roo (18 January 1994). "Gebieden met moederland zijn er beter aan toe". Amigoe (in Dutch). Retrieved 24 January 2022.
  9. "Oostindie, Prof. dr. Gert". KITLV (in Dutch). Retrieved 24 January 2022.
  10. Guido van Hengel (August 2006). "Caribische geschiedenis in de lift" . Historisch Nieuwsblad (in Dutch). Retrieved 24 January 2022.
  11. "Gert Oostindie". TV Blik (in Dutch). Retrieved 24 January 2022.
  12. "Gert Oostindie". University of Leiden. Retrieved 24 January 2022.