Collecting Cultural Heritage in Indonesia: Ethics, Science and Politics

De Nieuwe Kerk (Eggertzaal), Amsterdam
23 to 25 March 2006

An international conference on the occasion of the exhibition "Indonesia: The Discovery of the Past" in De Nieuwe Kerk, Amsterdam

Convenor: Dr Pieter ter Keurs (RMV)
Organizer: Josine Stremmelaar, M.A. (IIAS)

The history of collecting has become an important part of anthropological discourse. Inquiry into its scientific, cultural, ethical and political aspects have shown that collections and museums are - and have always been - dynamic entities existing within changing societies. The act of collecting is a statement by the collector, and can tell us something about the values and norms that prevailed at the time. It can also tell us something about the way the collector saw, judged, and constructed the ‘other' culture, with all its political implications.

The exhibition at De Nieuwe Kerk results from a cooperative project between the National Museum of Indonesia (NMI) in Jakarta and the National Museum of Ethnology (NME) in Leiden. One of the project's aims is to examine how the collections of the Bataviaasch Genootschap (now at the NMI and the NME) were formed and then divided between the Dutch East Indies and the Netherlands. The conference will focus on collecting cultural heritage in Indonesia in the second half of the 19th century and the first decade of the 20th century, a crucial period in the history of colonial collecting.

Conference discussion points:
How were cultural artefacts collected in the Dutch East Indies during the second half of the 19th century and the first half of the 20th century? What reasons for collecting can be distinguished? How were scientists involved, and how did scientific paradigms influence the types of collections? How important was politics, in the broadest sense? How did local populations relate to collectors and what impact did this have on the collections?

Featured speakers:
Professor Anthony Shelton (Director, Museum of Anthropology at the University of British Colombia), Professor Reimar Schefold (Leiden University), Professor Susan Legene (KIT, Royal Tropical Institute, the Netherlands), Dr. Margaret Wiener (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, USA), Dr Brian Durrans (British Museum) Dr Ruth Barnes (Ashmolean Museum), Drs. Pauline Lunsingh Scheurleer (Rijksmuseum Amsterdam), Drs. Harm Stevens (Legermuseum Delft), Drs. Hari Budiarti (NMI), Dr. Pieter ter Keurs (NME).

Entrance fee: € 25,- includes refreshments, lunch, and a ticket to the exhibition.

Information & registration
International Institute for Asian Studies
Josine Stremmelaar
+31-71-5272227
+31-71-5274162
iias@let.leidenuniv.nl