Cultural Trauma? Trans- Atlantic Slavery in Perspective Samenvatting Stephen Small, Ph.D.

NiNsee Bizonderer Leerstoel, Universiteit van Amsterdam Associate Professor, University of California, Berkeley Zondag 30 juni 2013, Stadsarchief (de Bazel) Vijzelstraat 32, Amsterdam
Introduction To the Chair of todays proceedings, distinguished visitors, guests, panelists, colleagues and friends present today I thank you for your attendance and participation. Normally I would say that its a pleasure to be here. But to me it seems somehow inappropriate to say that Its a pleasure, because the topics of cultural trauma, slavery and racism and their legacies have had such profound and consequential effects on Dutch society and life; they have had such profound effects on the lives of people in so many other nations; and they have had such profound effects on my life, personally and professionally. So instead of saying Im pleased I prefer to say: Im inspired by the work that has been presented here today; Im motivated by the courage and enthusiasm so manifestly present; and Im reassured by the small but significant progress clearly evident in Dutch society since I first began systematic research here in 2006. These are small steps in the history of the nation, but I believe that they are profoundly significant and irreversible.

We should thank NiNsee for having the courage to directly confront the issue of cultural trauma. We should offer our thanks for the tireless efforts of our colleague Patty Gomez and her colleagues in organizing this tremendously well thought out symposium; I know that they have worked hard for the entire year to

make this happen. I think it is a resounding success. And I would like to personally and professionally thank our colleague and my friend Dr. Philomena Essed who in chairing todays event has displayed great equanimity, graciousness and stamina. And now the unenviable task of summarizing issues and presenting reflections on todays presentations falls upon me. In my opinion the presentations and the presenters have covered a wide array of issues and have offered highly relevant, deeply engaging and substantively compelling interpretations. I hope that I can do them justice in the short time that I have available. We are here today because it is 150th anniversary of legal abolition of slavery in the Kingdom of the Netherlands; we are here today because we are concerned with issues of personal and cultural identity as well as personal trauma and cultural trauma. Not just as these phenomena have been manifested in the past, but more importantly as they are manifested in the present period, here and now amongst the many descendants of slavery. We have come here today to examine the predominant stories about slavery told in Dutch universities, in Dutch schools and in the Dutch media. We have come here today because we recognize that slavery was brutal, violent and exploitative - according to the United Nations it was a crime against humanity. I am here today to suggest that any discussion of cultural trauma should engage with its concomitant phenomenon of cultural resistance. I am here today to insist that while we consider the cultural trauma of Black people, we should also confront the cultural trauma of white people and slavery so often revealed in ignorance, or misinformation or denial; as well as in embarrassment, shame and guilt. I am here today to say that any attempt to deal with cultural trauma must draw on collective activities, Black and multi-cultural organizations and on lessons from other communities and other nations. For those of us in the Black community who are the main targets of cultural trauma associated with racism and legacies of slavery, we recognize that Black struggles for freedom and equality have always drawn on Africa and the diaspora, for inspiration, motivation and

collective solidarity. And I am here today to remind the Dutch nation and the world that the history of slavery and its legacies is also irrepressibly and irreversibly a history of resistance, resilience and a continuing quest for dignity and humanity.

We have come here today because Black Dutch residents and their supporters have always challenged Dutch racism and the legacies of slavery; because Black Dutch residents and their supporters mobilized to demand recognition of slavery and its legacies in education and public life; because Black Dutch residents and their supporters mobilized to demand a monument to slavery, which now exists in Oosterpark; because Dutch Black residents and their supporters mobilized to demand a research institute such as Ninsee now struggling for its very survival. We are here today because Black Dutch people and supporters have always recognized that despite some of the unique of the Dutch national context, there is a lot to be gained by drawing on the experiences of scholars, activists and artists form other nations in general and from the African diaspora in general.

And I am here today, because the former director of Ninsee, Dr. Glen Willemsen, and his co-author of The Dutch Atlantic, Dr. Kwame Nimako, invited me to lecture at NiNsee in 2006; and then supported my appointment to the Bizonderer leerstoel voor slavernijverleden en erfinis, (Extraordinary chair for study of Dutch slavery and its legacies at the University of Amsterdam).

The nature and extent of Dutch Slavery

For those of us tackling slavery and its legacies in the Netherlands so long after slavery legally ended, we sometimes loose sight of the hard facts of Dutch racism, slavery and the slave trade. So let me remind you of some of them. The Dutch slave trade and slavery lasted hundreds of years; it involved thousands of voyages across the Atlantic middle passage; it involved the employment of tens of thousands of sailors and solders; it resulted in the kidnapping and

enslavement of hundreds of thousands of Africans over multiple generations (ore than 554,000 were kidnapped form Africa, of whom more than 79,000 were killed in the middle passage); it produced economic activity including production, distribution and consumption - in the Kingdom of the Netherlands worth hundreds of millions of guilders. And when Dutch slavery was legally abolished in 1863, the owners of enslaved people received 300 guilders per person in so-called compensation (it was 200 guilders per person in Curacao). Money that today would be worth hundreds of millions of Euros. The more than 40,000 enslaved people who were legally freed in 1863 received nothing. Nor did the Dutch act alone. They were involved in an international network of economic, political and social activities that linked British, French, Spanish, Portuguese and Danish slavery across the Americas; and that connected the continents of Europe, Africa, the Americas and Asia forever. And the legacies of Dutch racism, slavery and the slave trade are manifest in key areas of economic, political and social life across the Netherlands today. This is evident in national identity, religion, language, literature, music, food and family formation. One key legacy of slavery is denial, silence and distortion by the descendants of those responsible for Dutch slavery. But another legacy of slavery is the resistance, active agency, commemoration and the demand for the truth by the descendants of those who were the victims of Dutch slavery. Key issues in todays presentations It would be foolish of me to try to summarize todays papers. I found them to be rich in content, varied in perspective and drawing on a range of academic disciplines. They were delivered with passion and conviction but also, appropriately, with a sense of irony and of humor the tension that surrounds these issues frequently needs to be dissipated. But it is my responsibility to say at least a few words about each of the presents. Professor Essed introduced the symposium, raised all the relevant issues and drew on her extensive theoretical and research experience to set the scene. Prof. Ron Eyerman covered many of

the key components of the Sociology of cultural trauma, and asked the key question: why is slavery not part of the Dutch national debate at the present time? Professor Phoenix provided a wide-ranging intervention on issues of the history of the legacy and tactics for dealing with the legacy; including items specific to international migration and transnational families.

Professor Raboteau delighted us with the best of reggae music, while also insisting on its efficacy as analysis, and its strength for cultural resistance; Prof Helberg, addressed key psychological and psychiatric dimensions of cultural trauma, and also confronted the Sociological issue of white supremacy; Dr. Segev drew upon his detailed insights into the experiences of Israel, and the Jewish diaspora, and reminded us of that the historical trajectories of collective memory are not always unbroken; he also demonstrated that there are many comparisons from which we can learn. Mr. Mark Pontes presentation exemplified the indispensability of primary records in establishing the truth, while also revealing that these are not pleasant issues, but must still be confronted. I commend his particular courage in confronting these issues so forthrightly. And Professor Abram de Swan displayed his encyclopedic knowledge in characterizing the harsh realities of Dutch slavery, the harsh realities of racial inequality today and their many implications. He reminded us that economic and political success is fleeting, with so few Black people in Dutch media, on Dutch television, or in Dutch public life.

If I have offended any of the presenters or have misrepresented their presentations in such a succinct way, then I waste no time in apologizing profoundly and immediately. I beg your pardon! I did the best I could in the short time that I had. My apology by the way, which is immediate and sincere, is more than can be said for the lack of apologies of the nations so profoundly involved in slavery and the slave trade! I do apologize also, that I am unable to comment on the panel discussion that has just taken place in the last hour. But I know it

was wide ranging, uncompromising, and penetrating. I thank the panelists for their varied contributions.

Some relevant issues I would now like to raise some reflections on the broader issues raised by todays presentations. These are issues that I believe all of us need to consider as we move forward in addressing Dutch slavery, racism and their legacies.

1. The need for multi-disciplinary approaches. We have heard from perspectives in sociology, history, psychology, psychiatry and cultural studies. Each of these disciplines has important contributions to make in addressing the multiple questions that concern us.

2. The role of music as analysis and uplift, and by implication, the significance of creative arts like painting, art, sculpture, performance, and literature. The science of academic disciplines is not the only method of understanding Dutch slavery and its legacies. Creative arts provide insights into many issues missing from the historical record. And they can do so in ways that are less rigid, less constrained by convention, and in ways that are more imaginative. So many of these approaches to these issues have been evident this week across the Netherlands.

3 The need for comparisons; that is, comparisons of Black people across nations, for example comparing Suriname and the Dutch Caribbean with Jamaica, Brazil and the United States; and comparing the Netherlands with England, France and Spain. And also comparisons of Black people with other national, racial or ethnic groups. In my own department of African American Studies at the University of California at Berkeley, where comparison of the African diaspora is the foundation of our teaching and research, we continue to have discussions about our debt to scholars of the Jewish diaspora.

4 The need to examine Black cultural trauma in the context of Black cultural resistance; and also to consider what we might tentatively call white cultural trauma. If the history of Dutch slavery and the slave trade is a history of brutality, violence and exploitation whose legacies often result in cultural trauma for some Black people, it is also a history of resistance and resilience at every point. Black people resisted violence in Africa; they resisted brutality on the ships across the Atlantic; and they resisted exploitation at all stages in the enslavement experience. This is evident in every day resistance, in frequent escape, in rebellions and in maroon communities. And if the legacy of Dutch slavery is one of cultural trauma for the descendants of the enslaved, it also produces cultural trauma for white Dutch people. The dimensions of this trauma are sometimes evident in the shame, embarrassment and guilt often expressed by white Dutch people over slavery and its legacies.

There are two topics which were mentioned today but which were not developed in any detail. I think we need to pay more attention to both of them. The first is gender, and the experiences of women. The Dutch slave trade and slavery (like the systems of the British, the Spanish, the Portuguese and the French) were based systematically on gender. Ideologies and ideas about the mental and physical abilities of African men and women, about the appropriate work for Black men and women (in the fields, in the home) directly shaped who was kidnapped by the Dutch from Africa, and what kind of work they did, on sugar and coffee plantations in Suriname, in the extraction of salt on the shores of Aruba and Bonaire, or in the port and homes of Willemstad, Curacao. Dutch attitudes about African women directly shaped the nature and extent of sexual exploitation. And gender also shaped the responses and resistance of the enslaved (and of Maroons) including different methods for embracing and transforming religion, tactics of everyday sabotage (breaking tools, ruining crops, polluting or poisoning food); as well as the frequency of escape and the growth and formation of maroon communities. We dont know as much about the experiences of women under slavery because whenever research is carried out,

gender and women are typically left to the last. Even at the present time. So my questions are these: what are the differences in cultural trauma experienced by Black women and Black men? Or are they the same? And what of Black children? For me, gender differences are undeniable, and must be addressed.

The second issue concerns representations of slavery in the media, though in this instance I just have time to mention movies. The movie Django Unchained, was released in the Netherlands in January. It caused quite a stir here, just as it did in the United States. There is a lot to criticize in the movie, including its treatment of women. But I think there are many insights and benefits from the movie, especially if we compare it with the Dutch television series on Dutch slavery that aired on television two years ago. That series presented a highly partial, biased and distorted view of Dutch slavery. It highlighted cooperation between whites and Blacks as well as the so-called benefits of slavery. And it downplayed the widespread violence used by the Dutch against Black people, the widespread resistance of Black people to enslavement as well as the irrepressible humanity of the enslaved. Several of the scholars who contributed to that series including Geert Oostindie, Alex van Stipriaan and Aspha Bijna later wrote a public letter in the Dutch newspaper De Volkskrant - distancing themselves from the series. In contrast the representation of slavery in Django Unchained is very different. The movie highlights pervasive brutality, violence and exploitation of Black people by white people under slavery; it highlights the complete and utter disrespect of white people for Black families; and the rape of Black women by white men; it highlights the deep desire for family expressed by Black women and men in bondage; it highlights how brutality and violence produced a deep and abiding hatred among enslaved Blacks for the whites that treated them in these ways (and the movie reveals how enslaved Black men in particular took every opportunity they could to kill the white people that exploited them). Which leads me to ask the question: does Quentin Tarantino have a decolonized mind? Maybe we should ask Sandew Hira, the foremost expert on the colonized mind and strategies for decolonizing the mind in the Dutch context!

Now I realize that a movie is not the truth, and neither is a television series. But the media does provide insights and in my opinion we should draw on these insights but only in critical ways. And while Django Unchained is set in the United States, and while slavery in the United States and the Dutch kingdom colonies of Suriname and the Dutch Antilles revealed many differences, they also revealed fundamental commonalities. Both systems were based primarily on racism as a means of economic exploitation; both systems kidnapped, transported and enslaved people based on racism; both nations used the law and political power to endorse and legitimize these inhuman cruelties; both systems drew extensively on religious interpretations to justify and rationalize their systems; both nations benefitted from tremendous economic activities, as well as substantial profits for many companies, families and individuals; and both nations currently reveal legacies of slavery at the present time that are manifested in racial and ethnic identities, as well as in language, religion and music. All of these phenomena vary greatly in the experiences of men and women. So while it is easy to find many differences between the United States and Netherlands, it is just as easy to find many similarities. It depends what one is looking for.

Some additional questions There are several questions raised by todays presentations that I would like to mention. First, I would like us to be more explicit on the question of exactly what extent of cultural trauma exists among Black people today. Which segments of the Black population suffers cultural trauma? Which sections suffer the most? And why? Which sections suffer no cultural trauma? And why? What influence does gender, class and nationality play in the manifestation of cultural trauma? We cant start everywhere and so we must start somewhere! We must have priorities. These questions, I believe are central to what we might do next.

Second, there is the question of responsibility for intervening in the tackling the cultural trauma of racism and the legacies of Dutch slavery. This was implicit in several presentations, and was explicitly addressed in the panel discussion just now. Is it the responsibility of the Dutch government? Of Dutch scholars? Of Dutch schools? Is it the responsibility of white people? Black People? What about the millions of other people whose national origins are not in the Netherlands or the colonies of Dutch slavery? And what is the role of non-Dutch people like myself? Scholars, students, musicians, novelists, poets, performers, religious organizations? And before you say it is everyones responsibility, I agree but I repeat we cant start everywhere so we must start somewhere. So what are your priorities? Third and finally, there is the question of language and terminology which one member of the audience raised earlier today with regard to the words slave: and enslaved, that is slaf en tot slaf gemaakt. We academics spend a lot of time on language and terminology. But I wont take up much of your time here. I simply say this: Walter Rodney in his book How Europe Underdeveloped Africa asked, when does an African become a slave? Rodney insisted that first he becomes a captive, and he may never become a slave. For example, as I mentioned above, the Dutch are responsible for kidnapping at least 554,000 Africans from Africa. And of this group more than 79,000 were killed before they were ever reached the Americas. They died in the middle-passage of the Atlantic. So should we continue to say that the Dutch took slaves from Africa? Or that they took humans? Do we say slave ships, especially if so many people were never enslaved? Or do we find a better concept? These are questions of conceptual clarity. But they are also questions of the humanity of the individuals kidnapped, transported or enslaved. I leave the decision to you.

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Conclusion

Let me conclude. We must recognize that the issues of cultural trauma raised today the legacies of Dutch racism, slavery and the slave trade - are contentious and consequential issues. We are living history and living the legacy of Dutch slavery right now. And not just here, but also in England, in the United States, and in France, Spain and Portugal. But consider this: the British were slaves under the Romans; many other nations were slaves under the Greeks; serfdom existed throughout Europe, Asia and Africa; as did other forms of unfree labor, including the unfree labor of women. But these forms of unfree labor have been largely resolved. No one today in Britain talks about the legacy of British slaves under Italian occupation. But the slavery of the European slave trade is still relevant. Its consequences nation formation, racial identity, cultural expression, as well as demands for financial reparations are still palpable and potent. In other words we are in still in the midst of politically charged issues. This is why there is so much at stake.

I leave you with this final thought. I believe that the nature and extent of the legacy of slavery and racism in the Netherlands is far greater, far more endemic and far more encompassing than the resources available to Black people to confront or overturn this legacy on our own. So I believe multi-racial, multicultural alliances that draw on international experiences are indispensable. Whether its for scholarship, for cultural reinvigoration, for personal or collective therapy, or for political change. This is a reality. But Black people are not waiting for others to act. There are many Black people in this very room who have been working their whole lives to tackle Dutch racism, and the legacies of slavery. So we continue to fight even though the odds are against us. So I would like to end by quoting Bob Marley: If you are a big tree, then we are a small axe coming to chop you down, coming to chop you down!

Thank you for your time and attention.

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