The conference ‘A New Dutch Imperial History’ aims to integrate colonialism and imperialism into the historiographical debate in the Netherlands. Speakers at the conference will seek fresh connections between the history of the colonies and that of the Dutch metropole, and explore the potential of new approaches in imperial history to the Dutch historical practice. Such issues are not only of interest to a small circle of specialists, but also to the wider community of historians of the Netherlands.

In recent years, the history of empire has especially received fresh attention from historians in Great Britain and France. The central issue in the British ‘New Imperial History’ is the connectedness between the European metropoles and the different parts of their empires. Avoiding European-centred narratives of a dominant metropole and peripheral colonies, historians have looked for a more balanced interpretation of reciprocal influence and developed the concept of one imperial space as an analytical framework. In France, recent research has focused on the cultures of imperialism and explored the moral dimensions of the colonial relationship in past and present.

These developments in neighbouring countries offer important stimuli to the Dutch historical community. With these historiographical trends in mind, the speakers at the conference will investigate ‘new horizons’ of Dutch overseas history by looking at networks, which circulated people, information and cultural values between various parts of the Dutch empire. An analysis of these networks can reveal the connectedness of the Netherlands and its overseas territories, and help identify the vectors of imperial knowledge. It is imperative here to emphasize the reciprocity of the imperial relationships and pay attention to the role of non-Dutch participants in the exchange. By highlighting the movement of people and ideas across the Dutch orbit, cultural influences from the empire to the Netherlands and vice versa can be charted.

Keynote speakers from Great Britain (Alan Lester) and France (Romain Bertrand) will expound the latest developments in the field of the new imperial histories. Other participants will be asked to explore the issue of connectedness, reciprocity, and colonial identities in the Dutch colonial world. They will do so by examining several themes of both Dutch and Dutch colonial history, including migration networks, the circulation of information and knowledge, and the influence of the empire on culture and moral values. Specialists of colonial as well as Dutch metropolitan history are invited to reflect on the prospects of connecting their pasts into an integrated narrative.

Further information will be made available soon.

The conference will take place in the National Library of the Netherlands (KB) in The Hague.