Hardnekkig erfgoed. Een analyse van 30 mei 1969 als emerging memory in de Nederlandse postkoloniale literatuur

Abstract

'Hardnekkig erfgoed' gives an analysis of the moments when the 30th of May 1969 appeared in the Dutch literary imagination of Curaçao. On this day, employees went out on strike against the Dutch company Shell at Curaçao, because of the racial inequalities in the company and the entire island. This ‘revolt’ ended tragically: two people got killed by police bullets and half the city of Willemstad burned down. The Dutch military was sent to the island to take action against the violence. Nowadays, it is a date that seems forgotten in Dutch cultural memory, but it has made a fragmented appearance in the postcolonial literature, from the 1969 until the present. Therefore, it can be called an ‘emerging memory.’ This thesis describes the compartmentalized way this date emerged in Dutch cultural memory, and therefore challenged the Dutch national self-image.