Please join Arnout Van der Meer, assistant professor of history at Colby, in room 100 of the Lovejoy Building at Colby College!
Arnout Van der Meer will host a talk titled “In Search of the Origins of National Identity in Southeast Asia” where he will trace the experiences of Javanese public prosecutor, Soemarsono – whose refusal in 1913 to squat, sit on the floor, or wear ethnic dress in deference to his colonial superior resulted in the successful contestation of cultural hegemony in colonial Indonesia.
By placing Soemarsono’s experiences in the civil service and the nascent nationalist movement in a global context, it will be demonstrated how broad global developments, such as the emergence of the civilizing mission ideology, the rise of Japan, the Chinese Revolution, and Islamic Modernism, intersect with the perspective of individual agents in world history.
