The 15th Symposium of the History and Culture of the Jews in the Netherlands will be devoted to how research and awareness of the Imperial and colonial past changes our perspective on Dutch Jewish History:
Asking Kalmar and Penslar’s question: Were “Jews, as a group, objectively irrelevant to imperialism?”, this conference will focus on the under-studied Dutch empire and its legacy. Ranging from the Antilles to the Indonesian archipelago, this empire brought together Jews of Ashkenazi,s Sephardi and Middle Eastern and North African descent. Beyond the well-covered economic focus of the three main settlement empires of the United Kingdom, France and the Netherlands, the lasting impact of Dutch Jews on European empires and colonies as well as the impact of Empires on the Dutch Jews remains elusive. This conference will bring these histories together by looking for overarching themes such as slavery, race, geopolitics, philanthropy, political and social belonging, inter and intra ethnic relationships, and the contemporary legacies of the colonial encounters. The conference will thus encompass a broad chronology ranging from the 17th century to the present day in order to get at the larger issues surrounding the intersections of Dutch Jews, colonialism, and empire.
THE CONFERENCE CAN BE VISITED, BUT WILL ALSO BE STREAMED LIVE. A LINK WILL BE POSTED ON WWW.MBII.NL.
This symposium is organized by the Menasseh ben Israel Institute Committee for the History and the Culture of the Jews in the Netherlands. The Menasseh ben Israel Institute is an academic collaboration of the Universiteit van Amsterdam, the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam and the Jewish Cultural Quarter of Amsterdam. The organization of the symposium expresses it gratitude to Stichting Collectieve Maror-gelden Nederland and Stichting Levi Lassen for providing financial support.
Venue:
Uilenburger Synagogue, Nieuwe Uilenburgerstraat 91, Amsterdam
Price:
Regular fee: €40
Discounted fee: €25, for students and Friends of the Menasseh ben Israel Institute
Registration:
Tickets need to be ordered in advance by sending an email to mbii@jck.nl upon which you will receive a confirmation and a payment request. Coronaregulations require proof of vaccination, recovery or a negative test.