Members from the theme group "Comparing the Wars of Decolonization" introduce the research projects they will be carrying out.
About the Seminar
This subproject of the comprehensive program Independence, decolonization, violence and war in Indonesia, 1945-1950 starts from the premise that comparative research into wars of decolonization is essential to further our understanding of the use of violence during the Indonesian struggle for independence. For this project, a team of selected foreign experts will be invited to contribute to achieving this goal. Over the past decade and a half, in the wake of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, counter-insurgency research has flourished. In the process, historians and military theorists have started to re-evaluate the experience and lessons of the wars of decolonization and have launched critical new analyses. The struggles in Malaya (1948-1960) and Algeria (1954-1962) have attracted particular attention, but other conflicts have also been studied frequently. Overall, however, the violent Dutch experience is seriously underrepresented in counter-insurgency studies. Only in recent years the Indonesian case started to feature more regularly in English-language scholarly work.
About NIAS Seminars
NIAS Seminars are aimed to stimulate scientific cross-pollination within the NIAS academic community. Attendance is by invitation only.