Storying History: ‘How Do I Put…?’,

Have you ever had the feeling that you want to contribute to an important conversation but have been held back by the fear of saying the wrong thing? 

Us too. 

This is why we’ve named this episode of the Storying History series ‘How Do I Put…?’, where we talk about how we can engage in the tricky but necessary conversations surrounding how we represent colonial history. Sophie Moss and Beth Tasker, two students of Dutch Studies at the University of Sheffield, take the first step in opening the conversation by honing in on three examples of Dutch children’s literature and how they each offer very different representations of slavery and colonialism. These are Quaco (Ineke Mok, 2015) Als Slavin Geboren (“Born as a Slave” - Marian Hoefnagel, 2014) and Hoe Mooi Wit Ik Ben (How Beautifully White I Am - Rudolf Verroen, 2016). 

The focus of this podcast, and especially this episode, is not about knowing everything already, but being open to learning. Our discussion is based on what we can learn from each of these texts, and how we can start to bridge the gap between being willing to learn and actively discussing and acquiring knowledge. 

We hope you’ll join us. 

Bibliography:

Admin, ‘Toelichting bij “Hoe Mooi Wit Ik Ben”’, Kinderboeken.nl, 2020 [accessed 20 May 2023]

 

Ekow Eshun. ‘Exploring the Black Atlantic’, Tate, 2021 [accessed 22 May 2023] 

Hartman, Saidiya. ‘Intimate History, Radical Narrative’, The Journal of African American History, 106.1 (2021), 127–35 

Hoefnagel, Marian. Als Slavin Geboren (Uitgeverij Eenvoudig Communiceren: Amsterdam, 2014) 

Mok, Ineke, Quaco: Leven in Slavernij (The Netherlands: Walburg Pers, 2015) 

Mok, Ineke, Quaco: My Life in Slavery trans. By The University of Sheffield (United Kingdom: Uitgeverij L, 2022) 

Verroen, Rudolf. Hoe mooi wit ik ben (The Netherlands: Leopold, 2016) 

Wekker, Gloria. White Innocence: Paradoxes of Colonialism and Race (Durham: Duke University Press, 2016