New Perspectives: Rewriting Colonial History

A conversation on a new perspective on colonial rule and its impact on the present day.

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Information

Date and time Saturday 24 January 2026 20:00 tot 21:00 uur
Location Theater aan het Spui - Zaal 1
Price 15,- (up to 30 years or Ooievaarspas)
25,- (Early Bird, up to 26 December, thereafter 35,-)
32,50 (DenHaagPas).

José Eduardo Agualusa offers a new, non-Western perspective on colonial rule and its impact on the present day. They discuss the role that Western domination and resistance to it play in their work and in our current times. The discussion was moderated by Andrew Makkinga. Agualusa read fragments of his work.

In his latest novel, Master of Drums, José Eduardo Agualusa rewrites the colonial history of his country. Angola, which originally consisted of several kingdoms, experienced prolonged colonial rule by the Portuguese. In his novel, Agualusa rewrites the history of the kingdom of Bailundo, in the central highlands where the author himself comes from. That kingdom offered prolonged resistance to the Portuguese but was eventually annexed by Portugal in 1902. In Agualusa's version of history, however, the resistance prevails and Bailundo remains independent, thanks to the use of magical drums and ancestral knowledge of nature. The novel's original title is Mestre dos batuques (2024).

New Perspectives: Rewriting Colonial History was curated for Writers Unlimited Festival by Ilonka Reintjens.

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José Eduardo Agualusa

(Angola, 1960) has published an extensive body of work comprising novels (15 titles), short stories and novellas (7 collections) and numerous journalistic pieces (including for the Brazilian newspaper O Globo). As an important literary voice and a leading author of the Portuguese-speaking world, his at times magical-realist narratives, often rich in historical context, humor and references to Angola, also appeals to many readers outside that world: his work has been translated into at least 25 languages. In A General Theory of Oblivion (2016), a woman with agoraphobia barricades herself in her flat in Luanda. She remains there for thirty years while her country goes through various political stages, from colony to socialist republic and from civil war to peace and capitalism. His latest novel is Mestre dos batuques (2024, Master of Drums). In it, Agualusa rewrites history and describes how drums played an important role in the resistance against the Portuguese colonisers. He also collaborated with Mia Couto on the screenplay for José Miguel Ribeiro's magical realist animated feature film Nayola (2022), which explores this theme.

Watch the trailer of the film Nayola on YouTube
Instagram: @jose_eduardo_agualusa
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Andrew Makkinga

(Uganda, 1982) is since 2024 one of the three resident hosts of Kunststof, Dutch national public network NTR's culture and media programme, which is broadcast Monday to Thursday between 7 and 8 pm on NPO Radio 1. Andrew is no stranger to the Dutch media landscape: at 17, he was discovered as a talented debater in national Dutch debating competition Op weg naar het Lagerhuis (On the way to the Congress). After that, he soon ended up in radio. His interests and network extend from hip-hop, jazz and reggae to various types of classical music, literature, politics, theatre and visual arts. For years, he has been a regular at North Sea Jazz and many other (music) festivals; for his NPO Soul & Jazz-podcast series Makkinga Moves, he conducted countless interviews with artists.
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