‘Interaction between politics, science and colonial impact often overlooked’
NWO grant image: Nehir Aksel
How did science relate to politics and colonialism in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries? Assistant Professor Lauren Lauret has been awarded an NWO XS grant to map the colonial and political activities of nineteenth-century scientists.
‘A while ago, I was working on an application to conduct research into the colonial past of the KNAW,’ says Lauret. ‘At around the same time, I was working on a piece about a former Dutch politician who became governor of Bombay in British service. In that capacity, he put science into practice on location, but once he was repatriated, he also took control of the entire scientific landscape in London. That's when it dawned on me: if you really want to know what the colonial connections with science are, you have to look not only at the institutions, but also at the individual scientists and their networks.'
After Lauret narrowly missed out on the grant for the KNAW research, she decided to include this focus on individual scientists, who in the nineteenth century worked at one institute and then another, in a new proposal for an NWO XS grant. Lauret: ‘It is very generous of my colleagues to have encouraged me to do something with those elements of the previous application after all.’
Interaction
In concrete terms, this means that Lauret will be searching in Great Britain, the Netherlands and France for scientists for whom there is a clear interaction between political power, scientific knowledge and colonial impact. ‘There is still a notion that science is innocent,’ she explains. ‘In reality, scientific knowledge is often used to depoliticise political decisions. Invoking science makes it seem as if a choice is necessary, that there is no alternative. In reality, the way it is presented is a political choice in itself.’
Scientists also regularly played a role in politics, where they acted as advisers. ‘Take civil engineer IJzerman, for example. All kinds of historical artefacts were unearthed during the construction of the railways he had built for the extraction of raw materials in the subjugated Dutch East Indies. All kinds of scientific insights about the Dutch East Indies are based on those finds. It is now recognised that there is a relationship between that knowledge and colonial violence, but IJzerman also became a member of the Dutch House of Representatives. I think it is important to show that he was able to convert his position into political power.’
Wetenschappers speelden bovendien regelmatig zelf een rol in de politiek die ze adviseerden. ‘We kennen bijvoorbeeld civiel ingenieur IJzerman. Bij de spoorwegen die hij liet aanleggen ten behoeve van de grondstoffenwinning in het onderworpen Nederlands-Indië werden allerlei historische voorwerpen opgegraven. Op die vondsten zijn allerlei wetenschappelijke inzichten over Nederlands-Indië gebaseerd. Daarvan wordt inmiddels onderkend dat er een relatie is tussen de kennis en koloniaal geweld, maar IJzerman is ook Tweede Kamerlid geworden. Ik vind het belangrijk om te laten zien dat hij zijn positie heeft kunnen omzetten in politieke macht.’
Pilot
It is difficult to estimate how many ‘Iron Men’ Lauret will find. The project has been explicitly set up as a pilot. ‘It is an initial inventory of scientists-politicians with a clear colonial connection,’ she explains. ‘Ideally, this will prove to be a line of research that can be developed further into a new major application.’