ICOMOS NL Lezingenavond - The afterlives of former Dutch colonial spaces in Indonesia

Lezing 16 september 2026

The topic of this evening is the afterlives of former Dutch colonial spaces in Indonesia, with specific attention for the Banda islands, and several cities on Java. Joëlla van Donkersgoed (public historian and heritage researcher) and Remco Vermeulen (external PhD candidate at Erasmus University Rotterdam) will share their experiences and views on the topic.

The afterlives of former Dutch colonial spaces in Indonesia

This evening will start with a lecture by Joëlla van Donkersgoed about her recent book ‘Navigating Polyvocal Heritage in a Postcolonial Cultural Landscape: Banda Islands, Indonesia’, which is based on her PhD research and decade-long research and community engagement. Joëlla will take us to the Banda Islands in eastern Indonesia, particularly Banda Neira. In her work, Joëlla argues for a polyvocal approach to the heritages and histories of the islands that goes beyond nature-culture, colonial-colonized, tangible-intangible dichotomies. After this lecture, there will be limited time for some questions from the audience. After the break, Remco Vermeulen will provide a short presentation about his ongoing PhD research ‘Colonial heritage engagement in postcolonial Indonesian cities’, in which he shares his first conclusions derived from an online survey he held in 2023-2024, mainly among Indonesian university students. After, Joëlla and Remco will have a conversation about the afterlives of former Dutch colonial spaces in Indonesia, during which the audience has the opportunity to ask questions.

Programme

18h30 Meal
19h30 Introduction by Remco Vermeulen
19h35 Book presentation ‘Navigating Polyvocal Heritage in a Postcolonial Cultural Landscape: Banda Islands, Indonesia’ by Joëlla van Donkersgoed
20h00 Q&A
20h10 Pause
20h25 Short presentation about PhD research ‘Colonial heritage engagement in postcolonial Indonesian cities’ by Remco Vermeulen
20h40 Conversation between Joëlla and Remco about the afterlives of former Dutch colonial spaces in Indonesia, including questions from the audience.
21h15 End

The lectures

Navigating Polyvocal Heritage in a Postcolonial Cultural Landscape: Banda Islands, Indonesia – Joëlla van Donkersgoed

Navigating Polyvocal Heritage in a Postcolonial Cultural Landscape describes the complex histories and heritage of Indonesia’s Banda Islands through a polyvocal approach that brings together oral traditions, colonial records, archaeology, and community perspectives. Using Fort Nassau as a case study, the book examines how diverse voices shape cultural landscapes and offers new insights into Bandanese resilience, the challenges of heritage management, and more inclusive approaches to conservation in postcolonial contexts.

Colonial heritage engagement in postcolonial Indonesian cities – Remco Vermeulen

In different cities throughout Indonesia, people are frequently making use of revitalized former Dutch colonial urban spaces, whether individual buildings or vast public spaces. These developments may seem remarkable bearing in mind the colonial history of these urban spaces, and also compared to the recent attention for and debates in the Netherlands on its colonial legacy, which majorly concerns Indonesia - its main former colony. The main question addressed in this PhD research is: how do people use revitalized Dutch colonial urban spaces in Indonesian cities, and what is their prior knowledge about, and perception of, these spaces? This presentation focuses on the first part of this research, namely the first conclusions derived from an online survey held in 2023-2024 through an online blogging platform in Indonesia, mainly among university students, with questions on their use, prior knowledge and perception of Dutch colonial spaces in Indonesia.

About the speakers

Joëlla van Donkersgoed

Joëlla van Donkersgoed is a heritage scholar and public historian, currently a visiting scholar in the Public History program at Queen’s University Belfast and treasurer of the International Federation for Public History (IFPH). She holds a PhD in Cultural Heritage and Preservation Studies from Rutgers University (2020). Her research on the cultural landscape of the Banda Islands was published in Navigating Polyvocal Heritage in a Postcolonial Cultural Landscape (Routledge, 2026).

Her work centers local communities and diverse voices through participatory and decolonial approaches to heritage and public history. Adopting a polyvocal perspective, she explores the intertwined histories and heritages of the Banda Islands beyond conventional dichotomies such as nature and culture, colonizer and colonized, and tangible and intangible heritage.

Joëlla van Donkersgoed

Remco Vermeulen

Remco Vermeulen is an external PhD candidate at the Erasmus School of Social and Behavioural Sciences. His research focuses on colonial heritage engagement, particularly by young people, in postcolonial Indonesian cities. His teaching also includes colonial and postcolonial urbanism, particularly in Indonesia, cultural diplomacy between Indonesia and the Netherlands, and gentrification in relation to heritage. For his PhD research, he is a visiting researcher at KITLV/Royal Netherlands Institute of Southeast Asian and Caribbean Studies. Remco combines his parttime PhD research with his position as senior advisor for international cooperation on collection management at the Cultural Heritage Agency of the Netherlands, facilitating on knowledge exchange and capacity building programmes in the context of the International Heritage Cooperation programme which is part of the International Cultural Policy of the Netherlands, as well as for the Colonial Collections, and as the contact person at his organisation for colonial collections.

Remco Vermeulen

Praktische Informatie

Kosten
De lezing kost €5 per persoon (gratis voor ICOMOS leden).
Koffie, thee en water zijn inclusief, overige drankjes tegen betaling.

Maaltijd
Om 18u30 kunt u mee eten. Behalve anders gecommuniceerd betreft dit een Indonesische rijsttafel.
De kosten zijn 15 euro per persoon. Koffie, thee en water zijn inclusief, overige drankjes tegen betaling.

Let op: aanmeldingen of afmeldingen voor de maaltijd uiterlijk 48 uur voor aanvang.

Locatie
Amstelkerk (Amstelveld 10, Amsterdam)

Aanmelding