Java Man and the Politics of Natural History
An Object Biography
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 2848878 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Caroline Drieënhuizen (0000-0002-5719-2328, Open University of the Netherlands the Netherlands Heerlen), Fenneke Sysling (0000-0001-8097-1568, Leiden University The Netherlands Leiden) |
| Year | 2021 |
| Volume | 177 |
| Issue | 2-3 |
| Pages | 290-311 |
| Publication date | 2021-07-09 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Bijdragen tot de taal- land- en volkenkunde / Journal of the Humanities and Social Sciences of Southeast Asia (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0006-2294 • E-ISSN: 2213-4379 |
| Publisher | Walter de Gruyter GmbH (PUBLISHER • DE) |
| DOI | 10.1163/22134379-bja10012 |
| OpenAlex | W3180661121 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 3 |
| References cited | 35 |
Natural history museums have long escaped postcolonial or decolonial scrutiny; their specimens were and are usually presented as part of the natural world, containing only biological or geological information. However, their collections, like those of other museums, are rooted in colonial practices and thinking. In this article, we sketch a political and decolonial biography of 'Java Man', the fossilized remains of a Homo erectus specimen, housed in Naturalis, the Natural History Museum, in the Netherlands. We describe the context of Dutch colonialism and the role of indigenous knowledge and activity in the discovery of Java Man. We also follow Java Man to the Netherlands, where it became a contested specimen and part of a discussion about repatriation. This article argues that the fossils of Java Man and their meanings are products of 'creolized' knowledge systems produced by Empire and sites of competing national and disciplinary histories and identities
Discipline · Repatriation · Scrutiny · Archaeology and Rock Art Studies · Forensic Anthropology and Bioarchaeology Studies · Geographies of human-animal interactions
Nature's government
The Politics of Heritage in Indonesia
Imperial Eyes
The cultural biography of things
Castes of Mind
Machines as the Measure of Men
The Social Life of Things
Provenience Reassessment of the 1931–1933 Ngandong Homo erectus (Java),Confirmation of the Bone-Bed Origin Reported by the Discoverers
Nurturing Indonesia
Racial Science and Human Diversity in Colonial Indonesia
Colonialism and Its Forms of Knowledge
European Physicians and Botanists, Indigenous Herbal Medicine in the Dutch East Indies, and Colonial Networks of Mediation
A History of Universalism
Renewing the ‘Special Relationship’ and Rethinking the Return of Cultural Property
Fossil Folklore from India
Natural history museums as provocateurs for dialogue and debate
Palaeoanthropological discoveries in Indonesia with special reference to the finds of the last two decades
Historical Evidence of the 1936 Mojokerto Skull Discovery, East Java
Decolonising the Broken Hill Skull
The cultural biography of objects
Warisan dunia Situs Sangiran Persepsi menurut penduduk Sangiran
Mirrors of Time and Agents of Action
Locality in the History of Science
The Science of Empire
On the Writing of Indonesian History
Conserving the past, mobilizing the Indonesian future
Dutch Culture Overseas
Teddy Bear Patriarchy
Africanizing Anthropology
Returning Zinj
Coloniality and Modernity/Rationality
Precolonial Intellectuals and the Production of Colonial Knowledge
| Unique citing works | 3 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0,75 |
| Citation span | 2022 - 2026 (5) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 3 |