Decolonisation at university: ‘There was a feeling that something new and positive was happening’
Beurzen image: Nehir Aksel
Much research into the colonial past of scientific institutions stops as soon as a colony gains independence. In two new projects, university lecturer Anne-Isabelle Richard focuses on the decolonisation period. How did universities deal with the changed reality?
Richard has previously received grants for collaboration between African and European universities and for research into how countries position themselves in a changing world order. ‘Actually, I am now going to do similar research into the past,’ she says.
Everyone in the lecture halls
She has received an NWO XS grant to look at two NUFFIC projects from the 1960s. 'People probably know that organisation from the accreditation of foreign students' diplomas, but it was founded in 1949 in the context of (post-)colonial development aid,' she says. 'Since then, there have been all kinds of programmes.'
Richard focuses on two of them. At the end of the 1950s, the ‘Europe and the Netherlands’ lecture series was launched, for which all foreign students at a Dutch university could register and to which students from the Global South in particular were invited. For Dutch students interested in the subject, the ‘Problematiek der Ontwikkelingslanden’ series (The question of Developing Countries) was offered at three locations in the country. ‘The word “problematiek” has negative connotations today, but at the time it was much less so,' says Richard. 'For years, universities had been training people to work in the colonies. On the one hand, there were people who found it difficult to let go of that colonial image, but at the same time there was a feeling that decolonisation was bringing about something new and positive in the world, something that every Dutch person would want to know about. You can also see that in the literature used for those courses: it's really state-of-the-art.'
According to Richard, initiatives such as the NUFFIC courses were important for the shift that the Netherlands made in international terms after the Second World War. ‘If you think about the current position of the Netherlands in the world, it has a lot to do with the way in which colonial knowledge has been adapted and continued under new circumstances. Under the term “development cooperation”, the Dutch vision has spread throughout the world.’
Collaboration with Birmingham
In addition to her NWO grant, Richard is also entering into a collaboration with the University of Birmingham. Together with Berny Sèbe, she has received a grant from the Leiden Birmingham Global Fund to map out the similarities and differences between the decolonisation processes at the two institutions. ‘Birmingham has a large community with an Indian or Pakistani background, while there are also many Quakers, who have left their mark on the city with their ideas about peace. This is different in Leiden, where students from Indonesia, Suriname and the Caribbean studied, but where the communities from these countries are less prominent in the city,’ she explains. ‘We are curious to find out what effect this environment has had on the development of the university. In two workshops, we want to take a closer look at the interaction between cities, students, curricula and disciplines.’