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Description of  Postcolonial Memory in the Netherlands: Meaningful Voices, Meaningful Silences (Heritage and Memory Studies)

9463726179 pdf This book is about postcolonial memory in the Netherlands. This term refers to conflicts in contemporary society about how the colonial past should be remembered. The question is often: who has the right or ability to tell their stories and who do not? In other words: who has a voice, and who is silenced? As such, these conflicts represent a wider tendency in cultural theory and activism to use voice as a metaphor for empowerment and silence as voices negative counterpart, signifying powerlessness. And yet, there are voices that do not liberate us from, but rather subject us to power. Meanwhile, silence can be powerful: it can protect, disrupt and reconfigure. Throughout this book, it will become clear how voice and silence function not as each others opposites, but as each others continuation, and that postcolonial memory is articulated through the interplay of meaningful voices and meaningful silences. Read more