Markus Balkenhol
Biographic Data
| ID | 614140 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Markus Balkenhol |
| GIVEN NAMES | Markus |
| FAMILY NAME | Balkenhol |
| SIGNATURE | BALKENHOL M |
| AFFILIATIONS | Meertens Institute; Joan Muyskenweg 25 Amsterdam 1096CJ Netherlands |
| ORCID | 0000-0003-1713-3419 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 12 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 35 |
| WORKS AS AUTHOR | 9 |
| WORKS AS EDITOR | 3 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2011 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2023 |
| H-INDEX | 4 |
Canonizing De Kom
How did Anton de Kom become national heritage? This essay argues that De Kom's successful canonization is owed in significant part to his sacralization. It shows that in De Kom's case, the sacralizing power of heritage has three dimensions: his narrative framing, his image, and his status as ancestor. Highlighting these processes of sacralization allows a critical rereading of how De Kom is inscribed in postcolonial politics of memory in the Neth…
Metahistory as diaspora practice
Challenging dominant historical narratives that gloss over the history of colonialism and slavery, black collectives in the Netherlands are increasingly turning to the history of history writing (metahistory) by black radical thinkers. Counter histories in which transatlantic slavery features central, serve to situate ongoing practices of institutional racism and to articulate claims to citizenship and national memory. Placing different mobilizat…
The Secular Sacred
This book explores how religious emotions and national sentiment become entangled across the world, and the ways in which sacrality and secularity mutually inform, enforce, and spill over into each other, with examples from Barzil, Nigeria, the Netherlands, and beyond.
The Secular Sacred
Atlantic Perspectives
Odd Bedfellows, New Alliances
In this article we want to sketch an example of how new alliances between secular and religious conservative actors and activists takes shape in contemporary Dutch society. To do so we focus on the case of a conservative catholic activist organization, Civitas Christiana, and its activist subsidiary, Cultuur Onder Vuur ‘Culture Under Fire’. This organization has become a vocal player in several nation-wide controversies about cultural heritage, r…
Atlantic Perspectives
Focusing on mobility, religion, and belonging, the volume contributes to transatlantic anthropology and history by bringing together religion, cultural heritage and placemaking in the Atlantic world. The entanglements of these domains are ethnographically scrutinized to perceive the connections and disconnections of specific places which, despite a common history, are today very different in terms of secular regimes and the presence of religion i…
Doing race in Europe
In this introduction to the special section on 'Doing Race in Europe' we take up the notion of race as an 'absent presence' to deal with two related issues. First, we consider the historically contested position of race in the discipline of anthropology. Second, we think through the notion of an 'absent presence' conceptually and methodologically so as to develop a relational approach enabling us to analyse race in practice. We take as a point of…
Silence and the politics of compassion. Commemorating slavery in the Netherlands
Looking at the commemoration of slavery in the Netherlands, this article makes a twofold argument. First, my aim is to complicate the notions of historical silence, 'erasure' and 'secrecy' that have informed many post- and decolonial projects. I show that the violence and brutality of slavery are in some cases even showcased. The result is an often self-congratulatory image of a humanism that is often seen as 'typically' Dutch. At the same time, …
The art of tracing
Working With the Ancestors. The Kabra Mask and the "African Renaissance" in the Afro-Surinamese Winti Religion
Additional informationNotes on contributorsmarkus balkenholMarkus Balkenhol is a social anthropologist working on issues of colonialism, race, citizenship, cultural heritage, and religion. His PhD thesis “Tracing Slavery. An Ethnography of Diaspora, Affect, and Cultural Heritage in Amsterdam” (2014 Balkenhol, M., 2014. Tracing slavery. An ethnography of diaspora, affect, and cultural heritage in Amsterdam. Unpublished PhD thesis. [Google Scholar]…
Emplacing Slavery
In this article, I argue that the commemoration of slavery should be seen as a process of emplacement. It refers to a specific politics of belonging in the Netherlands that is focused on autochthony and that carries strong notions of place. I discuss two strategies of emplacement that both engage in these politics of belonging. One is the search for roots in Africa, through which black Dutch negotiate their place in Netherlands as citizens. The o…
Silence and the politics of compassion. Commemorating slavery in the Netherlands
Looking at the commemoration of slavery in the Netherlands, this article makes a twofold argument. First, my aim is to complicate the notions of historical silence, 'erasure' and 'secrecy' that have informed many post- and decolonial projects. I show that the violence and brutality of slavery are in some cases even showcased. The result is an often self-congratulatory image of a humanism that is often seen as 'typically' Dutch. At the same time, …
Doing race in Europe
In this introduction to the special section on 'Doing Race in Europe' we take up the notion of race as an 'absent presence' to deal with two related issues. First, we consider the historically contested position of race in the discipline of anthropology. Second, we think through the notion of an 'absent presence' conceptually and methodologically so as to develop a relational approach enabling us to analyse race in practice. We take as a point of…
Metahistory as diaspora practice
Challenging dominant historical narratives that gloss over the history of colonialism and slavery, black collectives in the Netherlands are increasingly turning to the history of history writing (metahistory) by black radical thinkers. Counter histories in which transatlantic slavery features central, serve to situate ongoing practices of institutional racism and to articulate claims to citizenship and national memory. Placing different mobilizat…
Emplacing Slavery
In this article, I argue that the commemoration of slavery should be seen as a process of emplacement. It refers to a specific politics of belonging in the Netherlands that is focused on autochthony and that carries strong notions of place. I discuss two strategies of emplacement that both engage in these politics of belonging. One is the search for roots in Africa, through which black Dutch negotiate their place in Netherlands as citizens. The o…
Emplacing Slavery
In this article, I argue that the commemoration of slavery should be seen as a process of emplacement. It refers to a specific politics of belonging in the Netherlands that is focused on autochthony and that carries strong notions of place. I discuss two strategies of emplacement that both engage in these politics of belonging. One is the search for roots in Africa, through which black Dutch negotiate their place in Netherlands as citizens. The o…
The art of tracing
Working With the Ancestors. The Kabra Mask and the "African Renaissance" in the Afro-Surinamese Winti Religion
Additional informationNotes on contributorsmarkus balkenholMarkus Balkenhol is a social anthropologist working on issues of colonialism, race, citizenship, cultural heritage, and religion. His PhD thesis “Tracing Slavery. An Ethnography of Diaspora, Affect, and Cultural Heritage in Amsterdam” (2014 Balkenhol, M., 2014. Tracing slavery. An ethnography of diaspora, affect, and cultural heritage in Amsterdam. Unpublished PhD thesis. [Google Scholar]…
Silence and the politics of compassion. Commemorating slavery in the Netherlands
Looking at the commemoration of slavery in the Netherlands, this article makes a twofold argument. First, my aim is to complicate the notions of historical silence, 'erasure' and 'secrecy' that have informed many post- and decolonial projects. I show that the violence and brutality of slavery are in some cases even showcased. The result is an often self-congratulatory image of a humanism that is often seen as 'typically' Dutch. At the same time, …
Atlantic Perspectives
Odd Bedfellows, New Alliances
In this article we want to sketch an example of how new alliances between secular and religious conservative actors and activists takes shape in contemporary Dutch society. To do so we focus on the case of a conservative catholic activist organization, Civitas Christiana, and its activist subsidiary, Cultuur Onder Vuur ‘Culture Under Fire’. This organization has become a vocal player in several nation-wide controversies about cultural heritage, r…
Atlantic Perspectives
Focusing on mobility, religion, and belonging, the volume contributes to transatlantic anthropology and history by bringing together religion, cultural heritage and placemaking in the Atlantic world. The entanglements of these domains are ethnographically scrutinized to perceive the connections and disconnections of specific places which, despite a common history, are today very different in terms of secular regimes and the presence of religion i…
Doing race in Europe
In this introduction to the special section on 'Doing Race in Europe' we take up the notion of race as an 'absent presence' to deal with two related issues. First, we consider the historically contested position of race in the discipline of anthropology. Second, we think through the notion of an 'absent presence' conceptually and methodologically so as to develop a relational approach enabling us to analyse race in practice. We take as a point of…
The Secular Sacred
This book explores how religious emotions and national sentiment become entangled across the world, and the ways in which sacrality and secularity mutually inform, enforce, and spill over into each other, with examples from Barzil, Nigeria, the Netherlands, and beyond.
The Secular Sacred
Metahistory as diaspora practice
Challenging dominant historical narratives that gloss over the history of colonialism and slavery, black collectives in the Netherlands are increasingly turning to the history of history writing (metahistory) by black radical thinkers. Counter histories in which transatlantic slavery features central, serve to situate ongoing practices of institutional racism and to articulate claims to citizenship and national memory. Placing different mobilizat…
Canonizing De Kom
How did Anton de Kom become national heritage? This essay argues that De Kom's successful canonization is owed in significant part to his sacralization. It shows that in De Kom's case, the sacralizing power of heritage has three dimensions: his narrative framing, his image, and his status as ancestor. Highlighting these processes of sacralization allows a critical rereading of how De Kom is inscribed in postcolonial politics of memory in the Neth…
History (8 works) · Sociology (8 works) · Law (6 works) · Political science (6 works) · Aesthetics (5 works) · Anthropological Studies and Insights (5 works) · Gender Studies (5 works) · Philosophy (5 works) · History (4 works) · Politics (4 works)