The Pedagogical Aspects of Teaching Dutch Colonial Literature
door Cornelia Niekus Moore (Honolulu, Hawaï)

During subsequent Fall Semesters at the University of Hawaii, I taught a course entitled ‘Dutch Colonial Literature’.

 

Reasons for offering this particular section of Dutch literature rather than another are following:

In Hawaii, the interest in Dutch and Dutch Studies is due to the heavy emphasis this university places on Asian Studies. The above course attempts to familiarize the students with a large body of literature that would otherwise remain unknown to them, concerning a geographical area with which they are familiar. As such the course provides a different non-Asian view of an Asian situation. However, the course does not attempt to replace or duplicate any history or sociology course. It is foremost literary and as such provides insight into a literary expression of a historical situation.

 

Availability: The choice of the particular works to be read depends mainly upon their availability in the university library. Translation of all works, including the Max Havelaar, are now out of print. But whatever the choice, one will find that most translated works were popular classics in their time and copies of these works should be extant in many university libraries.

 

Focus: Since so many of these works were read extensively, they did influence the reading public in Holland and abroad. One can also discern a certain trend through the three centuries. The initial indifference toward the Javanese and his culture is slowly replaced by an appreciation if not understanding of the Indonesian society. This trend can be illustrated as well through the art works which deal with the East Indies during these three centuries. One available source is P.H. Pott's Naar wijder horizon (1976). Furthermore, there is the role of the author, his reason for writing about a society most of his readers had never seen, and the way he depicts situations which are strange to him and his reading public. The quality of the resulting works should also be given close attention.

Content: Since the collection of appropriate works is dependent on their availability, it was decided to build the course around those works available in the university library. This created a course very similar to ‘Masterpieces in Dutch Colonial Literature’ in which the discussion of the works was interspersed with lectures about the literary and political scenes in the Netherlands and those situations in Indonesia necessary for a close understanding of the works under discussion. The course could be considerably enlarged if some of the students were capable of reading Dutch. It would be possible for them to report on works not translated, like Augusta de Wit's Orpheus in de Dessa, some of the women authors, Noto Suroto, etc.

 

Student population: In Hawaii most students seem to know a fair amount of Indonesian history. For others a general introduction to Indonesian history will suffice. Most students in my course viewed the colonial endeavors of the Dutch with great suspicion. This created an initially hostile audience. Some of the students had taken Dutch in the previous semesters. For others, it was their first exposure to Dutch literature. Several of the latter group decided to take the Dutch language course in the following semesters.

 

Conclusion: In conclusion one can say that student reaction was very favorable, the course gave the Dutch program further exposure elsewhere in the university. In this time where most disciplines are asked to prove their relevance, this exclusively Asian focus of a European language was very timely in this part of the Pacific.

Genre	Author	Topic of paper due	Additional reading material if accessible	Sample of additional information (possibly in the form of guest lecture)
the chapbook the travel narrative	W.Y. Bontekoe Memorable Description of the East-Indian Voyage	The travel narrative Exotic mission and/or factual informative account	De Graaff, Oost-Indische Spiegel. Any other travel narrative (see Bibliography)	The Far East Indian Co. The Dutch city-merchant.
the didactic informative work	Johan Stavorinus Voyages to the East-Indies	Stavorinus and Batavia: informative? critical? establishment? popular? literature?	Rumphius not very accessible. O.Z. Van Haren: Agon, de Sultan van Bantam	The established F.E.I.C. First pleas for fair treatment of Indian servants and slaves.
the novel non-fiction and fiction	Multatuli, Max Havelaar	Max Havelaar: The Javanese: Means or end? Saidjah and Adinda, a Javanese folktale?	Works by Van der Capellen and van Hoevell not very accessible in English	The establishment of the Colonial Ministerium. kultuurstelsel.
the novel	Louis Couperus (choice of novels)	The Portrayal of the Indischman and his Indisch past	Hidden Force Books of Small Souls Of Old People ... Eastward	The Society in the Hague The upper echelons of colonial management.
the short story	Augusta de Wit Facts and Fancies Island India	The attempt to portray the East Indians, by what literary means? successful?	Orpheus in de Dessa (Dutch) Raden Kartini, Letters of a Javanese princess Other ethici not very accessible in English	The ethici.
	Ed. du Perron ‘The Indonesian Child grows up quickly’.		J. Fabricius Java Ho! Ed. du Perron's Multatuli Biography	The Indisch population Its origin, its customs, its language
the popular novel	Madelon Szekely Lulofs	Lulofs a totok-woman's view	White Money The other World Coolie other women authors not translated
the short story	A. Alberts Beb Vuyk Maria Dermoût H. Friedericy	Allegiance?	See Bibliography for translations. Most works in Dutch easily accessible.