A History of 20th-Century Suriname
This research project aims to provide a thorough study of the 20th-century history of Suriname, departing from a theoretical framework based on the twin concepts of ethnicity and class and linking these ideas to theories on the more recent phenomena of transnationalism and state failure after decolonisation. The project consists of two thematic studies, with a socio-economic and a cultural focus respectively, and a synthesis which for the 20th century will replace the first classic in the country’s historiography, R.A.J. van Lier’s Samenleving in een grensgebied.
The first step is to conduct the necessary empirical research to allow for the writing of a successor and update to Van Lier’s work. The second goal is to provide a theoretical contribution to the re-emerging theories of plural societies and multiculturalism from a empirical and comparative perspective. Two thorough empirical studies will serve to fill in the many blanks in our present understanding of the 20th-century history of Suriname.
The first thematic study ‘Demography, ethnicity, and socio-economic structure in 20th-century Suriname’ focusses on demography, ethnicity, and socio-economic structure, with class and gender as the two major dimensions to be taken into account. The hypothesis is that socio-economic emancipatory developments have increased ethnic differences as well as differences within each ethnic group. The second, related hypothesis is that the weakened state increasingly has lost its power to redistribute wealth and thus the ability to formulate policies to address socio-economic inequalities.
The second thematic study ‘Culture, creolisation and external orientations in 20th-century Suriname’ deals with cultural continuities and transformations, creolisation as either a homogenising or divisive force and external orientations and influences, again with class and ethnicity as major dimensions. The hypothesis is that creolisation in Suriname is a process of contention rather than a process of inclusion, thus strengthening ethnic diversity, and this development is intensified by cultural globalisation, transnationalism, and the diminishing role of the state as mediating actor. The focus will be on the tension between the strengthening of ethnic identities based on culture and the opposite phenomenon of an unfolding integration and ethnic and cultural homogenisation and the wish to create a culturally unified, truly Surinamese nation. The role of the state as well as of transnational communities and the cultural influences of the former metropole and the countries of origin are of paramount importance here.
The synthesis will integrate the thematic studies into a broader discussion of demographic transformations, socio-economic developments, and cultural and political change in 20th-century Suriname. In discussing the changing interfaces of ethnicity and class, the synthesis will also describe the changing impact of the colonial and post-colonial state as mediator in a multi-ethnic society. The comparative approach underlying the synthesis will include a thorough Caribbean perspective.
Project members
Dr. Rosemarijn Hoefte (project leader)
Dr. Anouk de Koning (researcher 2005-2009)
Dr. Hebe Verrest (researcher 2007-2009)
There are currently no publications listed for this project.
