Utrecht University and Colonial Knowledge Exploration, Exploitation and the Civilising Mission since 1636

• Main Author: van Rinsum, Henk
• Format: eBook
• Language: English
• Published: Amsterdam Amsterdam University Press 21.02.2025
• Subjects: Abolition; colonial history; Dutch East Indies; European Studies; History; history of colonialism; history of knowledge; History of scholarship (principally of social sciences and humanities); history of science; history of the Dutch East Indies; history of universities; Interdisciplinary studies; Political Science; Reference, Information and Interdisciplinary subjects; transmission of knowledge; Western superiority; Colonialism and imperialism; Europe; History of scholarship (principally of social sciences and humanities); History, Art History, and Archaeology; AUP Wetenschappelijk; Western; Science and Technology; Netherlands; colonial history, history of universities, history of knowledge, Dutch East Indies, Abolition, history of science, history of the Dutch East Indies, history of colonialism, transmission of knowledge, Western superiority; Cultural Studies; POLITICAL SCIENCE; Amsterdam University Press; Social and cultural history; Study & Teaching; Colonial Studies; HISTORY; Colonialism & Post-Colonialism
• DOI: 10.5117/9789048567973
• ISBN: 9048567971; 9789048567973

In his book, Henk van Rinsum provides an in-depth description of the colonial past of Utrecht University in the Netherlands since its foundation in 1636. He describes the development of (scientific) knowledge and knowledge transfer about and in the Dutch colonies, especially in the Dutch East Indies. The central theme of his book is the idea of Western superiority – the assumption that we are ‘developed’ and therefore modern, while those in the colonies are ‘not (yet) developed’ and therefore primitive or traditional. This colonial past is also the framework in which Utrecht University became involved in slavery and its abolition. Henk van Rinsum shows how the knowledge acquired in the colony also contributed significantly to the scientific development of the university, especially towards the end of the nineteenth century. Utrecht University and Colonial Knowledge is therefore an important contribution to both colonial and intellectual history.