{"id":115421,"date":"2020-07-02T15:32:21","date_gmt":"2020-07-02T13:32:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/en\/?p=115421"},"modified":"2025-12-19T11:24:59","modified_gmt":"2025-12-19T10:24:59","slug":"historian-maria-grever-destroying-statues-is-no-medicine-against-racism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/en\/2020\/07\/02\/historian-maria-grever-destroying-statues-is-no-medicine-against-racism\/","title":{"rendered":"Historian Maria Grever: \u2018Destroying statues is no medicine against racism\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

Emeritus Professor of Historic Culture Maria Grever finds the global developments relating to the destruction of controversial statues interesting from a scientific perspective. \u201cIt\u2019s a reflex of people who want to show that they do not agree with how the past is portrayed, particularly the colonial past,\u201d she explained. \u201cIt\u2019s an expression of frustration about long-standing discrimination and a denial of the history of suppression of large groups of people.\u201d She has just published a new book, Onontkoombaar verleden<\/em> (Inescapable Past), about how we deal with the past, including people\u2019s need for rituals and monuments.<\/p>\n

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Maria Grever in Erasmus TV<\/span><\/p><\/figcaption><\/figure>

According to Grever the phenomenon is not new. \u201cPeople have been demonstrating their opposition to statues of controversial figures since as far back as the 18th century,\u201d explained Grever. The monument of J. B. van Heutsz, a Governor-General of the Dutch East Indies, famous for his ruthless military campaigns during the Aceh War, is an example of this. \u201cWhen his statue was unveiled by Queen Wilhelmina in 1935, there were already people fiercely protesting against it,\u201d she continued.<\/p>\n

Place it in context<\/h2>

According to Grever, we need to place the erection of statues in the correct historical context. \u201cTake the statues of military leaders from the American Civil War in the city of Richmond in the United States, for instance. These statues have been erected there since 1890 specifically to demonstrate white superiority. The southern States may have lost the war and slavery was formally abolished, but these statues still emphasised the superiority of white Americans. The context was different for the statues of Columbus.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to Grever, we also need to ensure that we don\u2019t destroy everything. \u201cLet\u2019s be careful about this. Destroying statues is no medicine against racism,\u201d she said. \u201cWe need these traces of the past, even if these are hard to stomach.\u201d She gave an example of perpetrators\u2019 heritage in the Netherlands, such as the Muur van Mussert (Wall of Mussert, red.), which is the subject of much debate. \u201cSome people wanted to completely remove all traces of Nazi occupation, out of fear of neo-Nazi pilgrimages. But if they had done this, we would now no longer have any tangible evidence of what happened during the occupation.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\t

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\n\t\t\u2018We need traces of the past, even if these are hard to stomach\u2019\n\t<\/blockquote>\n\n\t<\/figure>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n

According to Grever, images and monuments must be retained in some way. \u201cBut there needs to be a good educational explanation alongside these. For instance, we could place statues of controversial figures in a museum and make an exhibition about them, placing the statues in a historical context. Which role did this person play in history, why did people admire him at the time and why are there protests against him today?\u201d Personally, Grever thinks it is often better to erect a more abstract monument instead of a statue. \u201cThese are more ambiguous and evoke fewer negative emotions.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tangible culture is important\u00a0<\/h2>

In her new book, Grever describes how monuments act as an attraction: they are tangible and visible. \u201cLike rituals, monuments can form anchor points for the remembrance of certain events in the past.\u201d<\/p>\n

She also writes about the difference between remembrance and memory. The first concerns the dynamic process of remembering. \u201cSo what we remember now about Van Heutsz is, for instance, different from what people remembered during the colonial period.\u201d Memory, on the other hand, is the provisional outcome of collective remembrance. This collective memory is usually recorded in history education, traditions and monuments. But these also change in meaning over the course of time.<\/p>\n

No advocate of the canon<\/h2>

Canons are also examples of how we form collective memory. The objective of the Dutch canon in 2006 was \u2018to promote social cohesion and to define Dutch identity more clearly\u2019. She is not an advocate of a top-down canon. \u201cThe canon is often too limited in terms of topics and perspectives. I also have difficulty with government interference in this,\u201d explained Grever. \u201cThe new canon is indeed an improvement. It\u2019s really good that more regions are involved as the whole thing was too Holland-centric. It is also good that Anton de Kom and Marga Klomp\u00e9 are included. But politicians must exercise restraint in defining the curriculum. They should not put their stamp on what the past should be.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\t

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\n\t\t\u2018Politicians should not put their stamp on what the past should be\u2019\n\t<\/blockquote>\n\n\t<\/figure>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n

The objective of history education is actually that you learn historical thinking, continued Grever. \u201cPupils read and compare sources and texts, place these in a historical context and argue and discuss these. It then becomes clear that the past is often viewed from various perspectives. You don\u2019t learn that with a canon.\u201d<\/p>\n

She also finds it strange that history education is not compulsory for all grades in secondary education in the Netherlands. \u201cOver 65 percent of Dutch school pupils do not study history once they turn fifteen. How can you expect them to have any knowledge of Dutch history?\u201d Her argument is therefore clear: \u201cMake history lessons compulsory in the senior years in secondary education.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\t

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Lees meer<\/h2>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t