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On 10 and 11 December 2025, the international conference ‘Becoming Local? Forgotten Lineages of Displaced Communities Across the Indian Ocean World, 1650-1850’ will be held at Leiden University. Organisers are Dries Lyna and Pouwel van Schooten in cooperation with Sanayi Marcelline (all three Posthumus affiliates within the research network Routes and Roots in Colonial and Global History) and Nira Wickramasinghe (Radboud University).

‘Becoming Local?’ pioneers the notion of forgetting to analyze centuries-long processes of self- and community-making in the Indian Ocean world. This two-day conference traces the paths through which generations of displaced individuals and their descendants under colonial regimes gradually or abruptly changed their relationship to their home country, (un)willingly erased or even forgot their past, and became local subjects. It seeks to move away from a conceptual approach that unproblematically projects colonial social categories of the more recent past – Cape Coloured, Malay, Burgher, Kaffir, Moor, Orang Borgo or Mardijkers – back in time, and opts for studying the everyday making of forms of belonging over two centuries. With an explicit intergenerational approach the conference aims to track down the revolving doors of individual/family/community forgetting, writing contiguous microhistories to reinvent the historiography of empires and global connections.

Keynote lectures will be delivered by Professor Sue Peabody (Washington State University): ”Little’ Stories in ‘Big’ Histories. Families, Mobility, and Identity in the Indian Ocean’ and Professor Jennifer L. Gaynor (University at Buffalo, State University of New York): ‘Remembering and Forgetting in Two Worlds. Writing Histories of Forced Displacement and Submerged Genealogy’.

The keynote lectures are open to the general public. Those wanting to attend the whole conference should contact de organisers via e-mail.

This conference forms part of the larger project Forgotten Lineages. Afterlives of Dutch Slavery in the Indian Ocean World, funded by the Dutch Research Council (NWO).

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On 27-29 August 2026, the 2026 edition of the Historians’ Days [in Dutch: Historicidagen] will be jointly organised by the Royal Netherlands Historical Society (KNHG) and Leiden University in the city of Leiden.

The Historians’ Days 2026 revolve around the theme of ‘Future of history’, and actively promote diversity within participants, audience, program, stories, methods and presentations.

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On 23 October 2025, Posthumus alumnus Alexander van der Meer successfully defended the thesis ‘Colonial Calvinism: Colonial Ideologies of Dutch Clergymen in Batavia, ca. 1700-1850’ at Leiden University. Supervisors were Dr Alicia Schrikker and Professor Jos Gommans (both Leiden University).

Alexander’s dissertation examines the colonial ideology of Dutch Reformed ministers and missionaries in Batavia between 1700 and 1850, showing how it was forged in the colonial frontier itself—through daily interactions with local Christians, non-Christians, colonial elites, enslaved people, and the powerful presence of Islam. Colonial ideology is understood here as both the ideas of what the colonial church should be and the practices that gave it form.

The study argues that a distinct colonial ecclesial culture emerged: Colonial Calvinism. More than a transplant of European orthodoxy, it was a locally rooted order marked by pragmatism, strategic ambiguity, and unwritten norms. Clergymen upheld a façade of Dutch Reformed orthodoxy and cultural ‘Dutchness’, while in practice accommodating syncretic practices of local Christians and tolerating the deviant behavior of colonial elites. Crucially, through the diaconate and ecclesial discipline this culture became deeply entangled with slavery and with the reproduction of colonial hierarchies of race, class, gender, and rank.

By tracing the endurance of this order across the supposed rupture around 1800—when the VOC gave way to the colonial state and the first missionaries of the Dutch Missionary Society (Nederlandsch Zendeling Genootschap, NZG) arrived—this dissertation highlights the resilience of Colonial Calvinism and the influence of local actors who shaped it. This study contributes to ongoing scholarly and societal debates on the entanglements of religion, slavery, and colonialism, and reveals how the ideological foundations of Dutch empire were shaped not in The Hague or Amsterdam, but in the colonial frontier itself.

The N.W. Posthumus Institute congratulates Alexander with the successful defence!

On 23 October 2025, Posthumus alumnus Philip Post succesfully defended the thesis ‘Constructing Colonial Legitimacy in the Moluccas, 1750-1870’ at Leiden University. Supervisors were Dr Alicia Schrikker and Professor Jos Gommans (both Leiden University).

Philip’s dissertation examines how Dutch colonial officials in Ambon and Ternate justified their authority between 1750 and 1870. At its core lies a paradox: nineteenth-century administrators criticised the Dutch East India Company (VOC) as corrupt and promised enlightened reform, yet in practice they continued to rely on the Company’s laws, routines, and traditions. The shift from Company to colonial state rule was therefore less a break than a reshaping of old patterns under a new story. In the VOC era, governors exercised enormous power. They ruled as administrators, commanders, judges, and protectors of the church, and defended this authority through elaborate narratives. The Company was portrayed not only as a trading enterprise but also as guardian of the spice monopoly, mediator between rival rulers, and defender of the Christian faith. The nineteenth-century colonial state adopted a different tone. Officials distanced themselves from the VOC, denounced its abuses, and spoke the language of civilisation, welfare, and progress. Their rhetoric suggested the birth of a new, more humane age. Yet behind these claims, various forms of continuity can be perceived in practice. In diplomacy, slavery, and land policy, colonial governance remained rooted in VOC traditions—revealing how exploitation could be reframed as reform, a legacy that continues to shape debates about Dutch colonialism today.

The N.W. Posthumus Institute congratulates Philip with this successful defence!

On 21 October 2025, Posthumus alumna Vicky Vanruysseveldt succesfully defended the thesis ‘Onderweg met amusement. Inkomensstrategieën en mobiliteit bij ambulante entertainers in Brabant (1750-1914)’ [transl. ‘On the road with entertainment. Income strategies and mobility among itinerant entertainers in Brabant (1750-1914)’ at Vrije Universiteit Brussel. Supervisor was Professor Anne Winter (Vrije Universiteit Brussel).

The N.W. Posthumus Institute congratulates Vicky with the successful defence!

~ because of scope in Dutch only ~

Historicus en Posthumus PhD Chris Vlam houdt op 30 november 2025 de lezing ‘Voor allen, door allen!’ over de opkomst van de kruisverenigingen in Noord-Holland en Utrecht tussen 1875 en 1945. Chris bespreekt in deze lezing de ontwikkeling van kruisverenigingen in Noord-Holland en Utrecht. Aan de hand van jaarverslagen van provinciale koepelverenigingen analyseert Chris hoe deze organisaties ontstonden, zich organiseerden, en hun impact op de toegang tot gezondheidszorg tussen 1875 en 1945.

Deze lezing vindt plaats in Het Utrechts Archief en in samenwerking met de Beroepsvereniging voor Verpleegkundigen & Verzorgenden Nederland.

Deze lezing is gratis toegankelijk voor geïnteresseerden, vanwege een maximaal aantal plaatsen is reserveren vooraf wel noodzakelijk via de website van Het Utrechts Archief (bereikbaar via onderstaande knop).

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