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Racial Slurs and Whispers in Situated Testimonies of Dutch Imperial Fiction

Racial Slurs and Whispers in Situated Testimonies of Dutch Imperial Fiction Storytelling brings into vivid focus the emotions and affects that different classes and races of people experienced in the imperial Dutch Indies island worlds. The storyteller explored in this article is Maria Dermoût (1888–1962), a mixed-race Dutch woman (Indo) who was born and raised on Java in the Dutch East Indies and who spent more than thirty years there. This article argues that Dermoût is a key writer for understanding affective economies, because she devotes significant time and effort in her fiction to fleshing out Native characters, something that few writers of her time did. The novella Toetie, one of Dermoût’s last works, uncovers Indies and Dutch attitudes toward race and color, moving her work from the genre of Indies Letters, or Dutch colonial literature, to that of postcolonial critique, with an exploration of forms of servitude, affect, and the social relations of her time. http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png positions Duke University Press

Racial Slurs and Whispers in Situated Testimonies of Dutch Imperial Fiction

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Copyright
Copyright 2021 by Duke University Press
ISSN
1067-9847
eISSN
1527-8271
DOI
10.1215/10679847-8722784
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

Storytelling brings into vivid focus the emotions and affects that different classes and races of people experienced in the imperial Dutch Indies island worlds. The storyteller explored in this article is Maria Dermoût (1888–1962), a mixed-race Dutch woman (Indo) who was born and raised on Java in the Dutch East Indies and who spent more than thirty years there. This article argues that Dermoût is a key writer for understanding affective economies, because she devotes significant time and effort in her fiction to fleshing out Native characters, something that few writers of her time did. The novella Toetie, one of Dermoût’s last works, uncovers Indies and Dutch attitudes toward race and color, moving her work from the genre of Indies Letters, or Dutch colonial literature, to that of postcolonial critique, with an exploration of forms of servitude, affect, and the social relations of her time.

Journal

positions – Duke University Press

Published: Feb 1, 2021

References

  • Hart van mij: Brieven en teksten van Maria Dermoût” (“Heart of Mine: Letters and Texts from Maria Dermoût”)
    de Bruyn Ouboter-Kist, Maria
  • Glossary: Affect, Emotion, Mood (Stimmung), Structure of Feeling
    Flatley, Jonathan
  • Tienduizend dingen zijn onvervuld gebleven: Het allergeheimste dagboek van Maria Dermoût” (“Ten Thousand Things Have Remained Unfulfilled: The Most Secret Diary of Maria Dermoût”)
    Freriks, Kester
  • Nyai Dasima
    Gelman Taylor, Jean Sears, Laurie J.
  • Interracial Contacts and Mixed Race in Dutch Cinema
    Pattynama, Pamela
  • Colonial Photographs as Postcolonial Social Actors: The IWI Collection
    Pattynama, Pamela Bloklund, Sara; Pelupessy, Asmara
  • Mimetic Subjects: Engendering Race at the Edge of Empire
    Rafael, Vicente
  • Affect/Emotion: Orientation Matters. A Conversation between Sigrid Schmitz and Sara Ahmed
    Schmitz, Sigrid; Ahmed, Sara
  • Castings for the Colonial: Memory Work in ‘New Order’ Java
    Stoler, Ann; Strassler, Karen
  • The Politics of Recognition
    Taylor, Charles Gutmann, Amy
  • Hart van mij: Brieven en teksten van Maria Dermoût” (“Heart of Mine: Letters and Texts from Maria Dermoût”)
    de Bruyn Ouboter-Kist, Maria
  • Glossary: Affect, Emotion, Mood (Stimmung), Structure of Feeling
    Flatley, Jonathan
  • Tienduizend dingen zijn onvervuld gebleven: Het allergeheimste dagboek van Maria Dermoût” (“Ten Thousand Things Have Remained Unfulfilled: The Most Secret Diary of Maria Dermoût”)
    Freriks, Kester
  • Nyai Dasima
    Gelman Taylor, Jean Sears, Laurie J.
  • Interracial Contacts and Mixed Race in Dutch Cinema
    Pattynama, Pamela
  • Colonial Photographs as Postcolonial Social Actors: The IWI Collection
    Pattynama, Pamela Bloklund, Sara; Pelupessy, Asmara
  • Mimetic Subjects: Engendering Race at the Edge of Empire
    Rafael, Vicente
  • Affect/Emotion: Orientation Matters. A Conversation between Sigrid Schmitz and Sara Ahmed
    Schmitz, Sigrid; Ahmed, Sara
  • Castings for the Colonial: Memory Work in ‘New Order’ Java
    Stoler, Ann; Strassler, Karen
  • The Politics of Recognition
    Taylor, Charles Gutmann, Amy