European colonial expansion led to Dutch notions of civilised society, or the Dutch's community's flexible and relatively charitable attitudes toward 'others', being scattered (as in the Greek word 'diaspeirein') to the four corners of the earth. In some cases, the exportation of Dutch cultural values to places overseas, like North America, endowed 'Dutchness' with subtle new meanings. But in colonial Indonesia, Dutch political customs and traditions were transformed in the process of migrating to exotic locales. In this book, Frances Gouda examines the ways in which the Netherlands portrayed its unique colonial style to the outside world. Why were citizens of a small and politically insignificant European nation able to represent as natural and normal their dominance over ancient civilizations on islands such as Java and Bali? How did Dutch colonial residents explain the cultural differences between themselves and the supposedly 'primitive' peoples of the Indonesian archipelago? In trying to understand the 'gendering' practices of colonial governance in the Netherlands East Indies, Gouda also explores the interactions of Dutch and Indonesian women with European men. FRANCES GOUDA earned a Ph.D. in history from the University of Washington in Seattle in 1980. She is currently professor of history and gender studies in the Political Science Department of the University of Amsterdam.

Innocence Abroad explores the encounter between the Netherlands and the New World in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.

In The Religious Cultures of Dutch Jewry an international group of scholars examines aspects of religious belief and practice of pre-emancipation Sephardim and Ashkenazim in Amsterdam, Curaçao and Surinam, ceremonial dimensions, artistic representations of religious life, and religious life after the Shoa. The origins of Dutch Jewry trace back to diverse locations and ancestries: Marranos from Spain and Portugal and Ashkenazi refugees from Germany, Poland and Lithuania. In the new setting and with the passing of time and developments in Dutch society at large, the religious life of Dutch Jews took on new forms. Dutch Jewish society was thus a microcosm of essential changes in Jewish history.

This pioneering history of the Dutch Empire provides a new comprehensive overview of Dutch colonial expansion from a comparative and global perspective. It also offers a fascinating window into the early modern societies of Asia, Africa and the Americas through their interactions.

"The Netherlands is home to one million citizens with roots in the former colonies Indonesia, Suriname and the Antilles. Entitlement to Dutch citizenship, pre-migration acculturation in Dutch language and culture as well as a strong rhetorical argument ('We are here because you were there') were strong assets of the first generation. This 'postcolonial bonus' indeed facilitated their integration. In the process, the initial distance to mainstream Dutch culture diminished. Postwar Dutch society went through serious transformations. Its once lily white population now includes two million non-Western migrants and the past decade witnessed heated debates about multiculturalism. The most important debates about the postcolonial migrant communities centeracknowledgmentgement and the inclusion of colonialism and its legacies in the national memorial culture. This resulted in state-sponsored gestures, ranging from financial compensation to monuments. The ensemble of such gestures reflect a guilt-ridden and inconsistent attempt to 'do justice' to the colonial past and to Dutch citizens with colonial roots. Postcolonial Netherlands is the first scholarly monograph to address these themes in an internationally comparative framework. Upon its publication in the Netherlands (2010) the book elicited much praise, but also serious objections to some of the author's theses, such as his prediction about the diminishing relevance of postcolonial roots"--Publisher's description.

What are the most salient and sparking facts about the Netherlands? This updated edition of 'Discovering the Dutch' tackles the heart of the question of Dutch identity through a number of essential themes that span the culture, history and society of the Netherlands. Running the gamut from the Randstad to the Dutch Golden Age, from William of Orange to Anne Frank, this volume uses a series of vignettes written by academic experts in their fields to address historical and contemporary topics such as immigration, tolerance, and the struggle against water, as well as issues of culture - painting, literature, architecture, and design among them. All chapters are written by academic experts in their fields who have extensive experience in explaining the many features of "Dutchness" to a foreign audience. Each chapter comes to life in vignettes that illustrate characteristic historical figures or essential aspects in Dutch culture and society from William of Orange and Anne Frank to Dutch cheese and the inevitable coffeeshop.

In the 1980s, sensational stories about an 'emerging new middle class' popped up simultaneously in the streets of Jakarta and at conferences of hopeful Indonesia watchers. Businesspeople and professionals had profited from President Suharto's rapid economic success, and were allegedly eager to not only to show off their new wealth, but to boost democratization processes as well. They and their families were the vanguard of a category of Jakartans who regarded themselves boldly as the ‘normal, modern, educated middle class’ of Indonesia—against the background of a profound and state-induced depoliticization. Apart from fostering a new consumer culture, the new middle class was at the root of the expansion of the conurbation Jabotabek, housing hundreds of thousands of newly arrived middle-class members. Meanwhile, a new and huge gap between rich and poor became conspicuously visible in Jakarta. During the 1990s, the increasing political instability of the New Order government and the Asian monetary crisis led to the dramatic resignation of President Suharto in May 1998. In this study, based on extensive anthropological fieldwork throughout the 1990s, this new middle class is examined as a socio-cultural phenomenon. Despite a global orientation and a taste for democracy, its members seemed to have internalized the New Order along with some lingering late-colonial notions as their guidelines for life. How ‘new’ was the new middle class anyway? Lifestyle and material culture practices in the suburb of Bintaro Raya—in public space as well as in the intimacy of living rooms—illustrate the everyday ambiguity of people who appear to be trapped in their imagined middle-classness: they were ‘lost in mall’.

Emerging at the turn of the seventeenth century, the Dutch Republic rose to become a powerhouse of economic growth, artistic creativity, military innovation, religious tolerance and intellectual development. This is the first textbook to present this period of early modern Dutch history in a global context. It makes an active use of illustrations, objects, personal stories and anecdotes to present a lively overview of Dutch global history that is solidly grounded in sources and literature. Focusing on themes that resonate with contemporary concerns, such as overseas exploration, war, slavery, migration, identity and racism, this volume charts the multiple ways in which the Dutch were connected with the outside world. It serves as an engaging and accessible introduction to Dutch history as well as a case study in early modern global expansion.

Argues that Dutch Brazil is integral to Atlantic history and made an impact well beyond the colonial and national narratives in the Netherlands and Brazil.