"Colonial Policing In The Dutch East Indies: The Case Of The Ambonese
Gewapende Politie (1893-1946)"
by Martin Thiry, 2011 Library of Congress Florence Tan Moeson Fellow
Date: Friday, September 9, 2011
Time: 1:00-2:00pm
Location: Asian Reading Room Foyer, LJ-150, 1st Floor, Jefferson Building,
Library of Congress
[Metro stop: Capitol South on the Blue/Orange Line.]
Summary:
The role of ethnic minorities in colonial policing is integral to the rise
of the nation-state and an expression of agency on the part of minority
groups in the development of the nation-state. During the late colonial
period an amalgamation of ethnic minorities, referred to collectively as
the Ambonese, were employed as policing agents. In this capacity the
Ambonese have been understood as subject forces and less as actors,
obscuring a fuller history of the Ambonese as colonial police. The ways
in which they served in the years 1873-1945 helped lay foundations for the
Indonesian nation-state. The Dutch were trying to form and keep together
the colonial state; with the help of the Ambonese they served to cohere
Indonesia.
The introduction of armed police units, fortified in ever greater numbers
by the Ambonese (personnel from Ambon, greater Maluku, Manado, and Timor),
allowed the start of the pacification of the archipelago, particularly in
the Outer Islands where the Dutch had so far exercised no more than
nominal control. Ambonese would serve prominently in the Marechausse and
later in the much more robust gewapende politie, critically in their own
home areas.
About the presenter:
Martin Thiry graduated from Harvard in 2000 and joined the New Orleans
Police Department where he was a patrolman and a robbery detective. He
will complete his PhD in History at the University of Hawaii at Manoa and
the East-West Center in Spring 2012.
Contact:
Anchi Hoh, Ph.D., Tel: 202-707-5673, E-mail:
adia@loc.gov
Request ADA accommodation five business days in advance.
Contact 202-707-6862 or ADA@
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