Local Intermediaries? The Missionising and Governing of Colonial Subjects in South Dutch New Guinea, 1920–42
Date
2016
Authors
Derksen, Maaike
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Abstract
This paper will show that the colonial project in south Dutch New Guinea was a joint
project in which evangelisation, education, ‘civilisation’ and ‘pacification’ were taken up
by the Dutch Catholic mission in close collusion with the colonial government. This
was also a project in which a few Dutch missionaries deployed many goeroes (teachers)
from elsewhere in the Dutch East Indies. These goeroes had an important position
assigned to them by the Catholic mission and colonial government in the development
of the Papuans and the area. This colonial structure utilised by both Dutch colonial
administrators and missionaries has been labelled in the literature as a system of ‘dual
colonialism’. Drawing on records held in missionary and colonial archives, the paper
explores this dual colonial structure by analysing the roles of Catholic goeroes from the
Kei and Tanimbar islands. This is done by taking Felix Driver’s concept of local
intermediaries as the point of departure. While this concept makes visible the key role
of goeroes, it is not without its issues, which will also be explored.
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Keywords
local intermediaries, dual colonialism, Dutch New Guinea, Catholic mission
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Source
The Journal of Pacific History
Type
Journal article