Shifting the historical narrative of the Banda Islands From colonial violence to local resilience

peer reviewedHistory is a representation of the past based on (written) knowledge which has been passed on from one generation to the next, with a preference given to written sources from a Eurocentric tradition. However, written sources about (former) colonial territories are a product of the colonial system in which they were produced. Acknowledging the biases in these archives, therefore, opens the way for acceptance of other forms of knowledge which were previously deemed "not objective"in Eurocentric historical disciplines. This paper presents several examples from the Banda Islands in Maluku province in Indonesia to attest that, by placing contemporary perceptions of the past and local reiterations of history on an equal pedestal as colonial documentation, we can work towards a more decolonial practice of writing histories. In the case of the Banda Islands, this means a shift from a colonial Eurocentric perspective of its history towards a narration of the past which honours the Bandanese heroes, religion, and resilience

Virtual meeting ground for colonial (re)Interpretation of the Banda Islands, Indonesia

This paper presents a conceptual project aimed to create a digital archive pertaining to the colonial past of the Banda Islands. This archive not only offers a bottom-up opportunity to gather archival material through crowdsourcing but could also be connected to an interactive virtual map that connects this information real-time.  As crowdsourcing would be a main tool, this archive has the potential to function as a platform where both the former colonizer and colonized can reflect on the past, moreover, it will provide scholars a source of information to revisit the history of the Banda Islands. </p

Was ist Public History?

Die Beschaftigung der Menschen mit der Vergangenheit kann viele Formen annehmen, von Ausstellungen bis zu Videospielen. Historiker der ,,Public History" entwickeln Methoden, um Geschichte zuganglicher und partizipativer zu machen

Logbook ArtistESCH: Lallange May 2022

Brochure explaining the participatory process of creating an urban art fresco in the neighborhood Lallange in the city Esch-sur-Alzette. The artwork was created by Portuguese artist Mariana Duarte Santos in May 2022 based on the input of the neighborhoods' residents