Scientists who travelled to the Dutch East Indies to study its cultures or the natural world usually portrayed themselves as lone, heroic explorers. However, scientific work in the colonies was not possible without support from local experts, guides, interpreters, or specimen preparators, whose contributions were downplayed consistently in the scientists’ publications. This project makes visible the hidden labour of these contributors to colonial scientific knowledge in the Dutch East Indies, 1890–1962. This will make it possible to rewrite the history of colonial science as a collective epistemic project involving many non-western actors.

The project team will create a (Nodegoat) database including names and information on all the local contributors in colonial science we can find in popular scientific works, archives and photography from the Dutch East Indies. With the information in this database, we can analyse what this disparate group of contributors has in common: What were their tasks? Which skills were valued? We can also single out individuals or groups that merit further study, for example because they can be found across publications, such as the Dayak clans from Borneo who were recruited for several Dutch expeditions because of their ‘jungle and river expertise’. Finally, we want to start answering questions about the extent to which these non-western actors co-produced scientific knowledge.

Read the Who Did All The Work Blog on Medium: https://medium.com/@whodidallthework/list/reading-list

• 2 February 2024: Who did all the work? The hidden labour of colonial science 

TBA

• colonial history
• history of science
• indigenous peoples
• indonesia