Copyright The Netherlands - debate

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The National Monument for the Commemmoration of Slavery now stands in Amsterdam. Does the historic awareness of the Surinamese and Antillian community deserve a monument as well? What is the state of history-writing in the West-Indies. Is its source still Dutch? A debate with panel and audience chaired by Henri Vijber, with among others the Surinamese writer Cynthia McLeod and historian Edwin Marshall. The debate will be introduced by Barryl Biekman, chair of the National Platform for the history of Slavery. Dutch spoken.

Information

Date and time Saturday 18 January 2003 from 15:00 to 17:30 hrs
Location Theater aan het Spui

Barryl Biekman

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Bert Paasman

(Hoogeveen, 1939) wrote his PhD thesis in 1984 on the discussion on the slave trade and slavery held in several literary and other texts (ca. 1625-1825). Since 1962 Paasman has been teaching Dutch historical and modern literature at the University of Amsterdam, specialised in the Enlightenment, colonial, post-colonial and migrant literature. He has edited series and magazines in the field of the Enlightenment and East and West Indian literature, particularly Dutch East Indian literature. He was a visiting lecturer at academies and universities in Indonesia, South Africa and Surinam. He is professor emeritus of Colonial and Post Colonial Cultural and Literary History at the University of Amsterdam.
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Ruben Severina

(Curaçao, 1956) For years was the face of the Antillean community in the Netherlands. He came to the country in 1989 to study and wanted to return afterwards. However, he stayed because of his young family and found a new mission: taking care of the interests of Arubans and Antilleans in the Netherlands. With the Splika foundation he dedicated himself to the promotion of Papiamentu, the language that he also teaches. Subsequently he chaired MAAPP (Movimentu Antiano i Arubano pa Partisipashon Politiko), the platform for the social participation of Antilleans and Arubans in the Netherlands. When he resigned on 1 March 2009 he received the MAAPP award Mi ta yuda, a new medal which will be awarded on Severina's birthday to people who have dedicated themselves to the Antillean and Aruban communities. For some time Severina served on the town council for the Dutch Labour Party in the town of Zoetermeer and now chairs HAAB (The Hague Antillean Aruban Board).
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Edwin Marshall

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Gibi Bacilio

(Curaçao, 1950) is a poet and a literary performer. He studied philosophy and theology in Colombia and The Netherlands. In Utrecht he finished his studies at the Academy of Expression, and became a tutor of dramatic expression. He lives on Curaçao, where he is very active in street theatre, especially with the group Grupo di Teatro Foro of which he was the artistic leader during the seventies and eighties. He produced and presented cultural television programs and trained and became an expert in the field of oral literature and written rhythmic poetry. Bacilio writes about the colonial past, the Indians, the slaves and the dominant and confusing position of the Dutch. But there is also tenderness and eroticism in his work. His poems have been published in various collections and magazines. In 2000 his collection of poems Kueru Marká was published.
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Cynthia Mc Leod

(Suriname, 1936) made her writer's debut with Hoe duur was de suiker? (How Costly Was the Sugar?, 1987), the novel that made her the most famous Surinamese writer overnight and was adapted for film in 2013. She was the first to describe the history, the slaving past and the colonization of her country from a Surinamese perspective. As an expert in the field, she lectures about the history of slavery at US and Canadian universities and organizes educational field and city trips. She has written historic novels, including De Vrije Negerin Elisabeth, gevangene van kleur (The Free Negress Elizabeth, Prisoner of Colour, 1992), as well as studies, children's books and children's musicals. Her No kwik in het bos (No Mercury in the Forest, 2017) is a YA novel about a ten-year-old girl and the dangers of mercury in the gold-mining process. McLeod is a daughter of Johan Ferrier, the first president of Suriname.
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