“Good Colonizers”?
Páscoa, 2023 -
Research Project
“Dutch people never learning about the destruction of South American ecosystems for sugar cane and Brazil wood monocultures, or about how these industries contributed to the displacement and enslavement of 350 000 West Africans in the 17th century alone are, simultaneously, examples of a cause and a consequence of the unconstested Image. Indeed, if the Image goes unchallenged, then the Dutch public consciousness still feels a connection to the colonizers of their past.
Excerpt from Páscoa’s essay:The Image as a Technology of Death
“Good Colonizers”? is a research project started by João Pedro Páscoa in September of 2023.
The inspiration for the project comes from a common misconception about Dutch colonization in the Northeastern region of Brazil: That they were “better” colonizers than the Portuguese. Indeed, many Northeastern Brazilians still believe that they would be better off nowadays if the Portuguese had never taken the territory back from the Dutch.
Ironically, the Netherlands has little memory of this colony despite it being one of the most prized territories of the Dutch “Golden Age”. The Dutch populace is generally unaware of the attrocities commited by their national heroes on Brazilian soil.
This project, which started as a collaboration with Rotterdam’s city archive (Rotterdam StadsArchief) is an attempt to work directly with the “Image” of the Netherlands and to shed light on colonial systems of oppression that still impact Brazil today.
To be a cultural worker is to work with the Image beyond the literal sense, in this case, to present this research to a Dutch audience, is to challenge the Image of a “progressive” Netherlands that has surpassed social issues such as racism or warmongering. On the other hand, this project also demistifies the myth of the “good colonizer” and shows that the Dutch were just as bad, if not worse, than the Portuguese. The research becomes the artwork itself.
The inspiration for the project comes from a common misconception about Dutch colonization in the Northeastern region of Brazil: That they were “better” colonizers than the Portuguese. Indeed, many Northeastern Brazilians still believe that they would be better off nowadays if the Portuguese had never taken the territory back from the Dutch.
Ironically, the Netherlands has little memory of this colony despite it being one of the most prized territories of the Dutch “Golden Age”. The Dutch populace is generally unaware of the attrocities commited by their national heroes on Brazilian soil.
This project, which started as a collaboration with Rotterdam’s city archive (Rotterdam StadsArchief) is an attempt to work directly with the “Image” of the Netherlands and to shed light on colonial systems of oppression that still impact Brazil today.
To be a cultural worker is to work with the Image beyond the literal sense, in this case, to present this research to a Dutch audience, is to challenge the Image of a “progressive” Netherlands that has surpassed social issues such as racism or warmongering. On the other hand, this project also demistifies the myth of the “good colonizer” and shows that the Dutch were just as bad, if not worse, than the Portuguese. The research becomes the artwork itself.