Abstract

This book interrogates the Dutch involvement in Atlantic slavery and assesses the historical consequences of this for contemporary European society.

Kwame Nimako and Glenn Willemsen show how the slave trade and slavery intertwined economic, social and cultural elements, including nation-state formation in the Netherlands and across Europe. They explore the mobilisation of European populations in the implementation of policies that facilitated Atlantic slavery and examine how European countries created and expanded laws that perpetuated colonisation.

Addressing key themes such as the incorporation of the formerly enslaved into post-slavery states and contemporary collective efforts to forget and/or remember slavery and its legacy in the Netherlands, this is an essential text for students of European history and postcolonial studies.
'A fundamental addition to a distinguished genealogy of work - from Ottobah Cugoano to Eric Williams and Jean Casimir - a genealogy in which scholarship and experientia Africana meet'
Walter Mignolo, William H Wannamaker Distinguished Professor in Literature and Romance Studies at Duke University
'This erudite history of Dutch slavery, revolts, abolition efforts, and emancipation is told from the underside of Dutch life. ... [It is] a breathtaking portrait of an uncomfortable history, an agonising story to be told and never forgotten'
Lewis R. Gordon, Laura H. Carnell Professor of Philosophy and Jewish Studies and Founding Director of the Institute for the Study of Race and Social Thought and the Center for Afro-Jewish Studies at Temple University