Abstract
This article argues that the extensive rice milling industry that thrived in the Zaan region around 1900 contributed to a Dutch colonial culture, by presenting itself as part of a natural division of labour between colony and metropole that rested on European colonial rule. Processing large amounts of Javanese and Burmese rice, the millers deliberately exploited the colonial origins and exotic associations of this commodity to present themselves and market their product, explicitly relating their factories to the Southeast-Asian production areas in advertisements and anniversaries. In doing so they propagated their role as meaningful places in a transnational trade network that constituted an imperial space.
| Translated title of the contribution | A colonial culture along the Zaan: Rice mills and the imagination of an imperial space, c. 1870-1914 |
|---|---|
| Original language | Dutch |
| Pages (from-to) | 375-397 |
| Number of pages | 23 |
| Journal | Tijdschrift voor Geschiedenis |
| Volume | 132 |
| Issue number | 3 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - Nov 2019 |
Funding
The Rijksmuseum Fellowship Programme is supported by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, Terra Foundation for American Art and the Rijksmuseum Fund (Migelien Gerritzen Fund ★ Dr. Anton C.r. Dreesmann Fund ★ Johan Huizinga Fund ★ Annenberg Foundation) We thank our collaborative partners: The J.s. Lee Memorial Fellowship Programme and Bard Graduate Center
Keywords
- Advertising
- Colonial cultures
- Commodities
- Imperialism
- Industrialisation
