Anton de Kom, historiographe. La construction d’un passé national pour les esclaves du Surinam

Anton de Kom (1898-1945) was a slave descendant and the author of a History of Surinam, through which he intended to trigger the decolonization of minds, thus giving to the creole population of Surinam what B. Ashcroft has called “a sense of self”. Following on from J. Derrida’s Archive Fever, this...

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Main Author: Kim Andringa
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: TELEMME - UMR 6570 2014-09-01
Series:Amnis
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Online Access:https://journals.openedition.org/amnis/2198
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author Kim Andringa
author_facet Kim Andringa
author_sort Kim Andringa
collection DOAJ
description Anton de Kom (1898-1945) was a slave descendant and the author of a History of Surinam, through which he intended to trigger the decolonization of minds, thus giving to the creole population of Surinam what B. Ashcroft has called “a sense of self”. Following on from J. Derrida’s Archive Fever, this article considers the archive as a whole of “utterances belonging to the same sociohistorical positioning” (D. Mainguereau), “inseparable from a memory and from institutions that confer to them their authority, and at the same time gain their legitimacy through them”. It looks into the methods used by Anton de Kom to reclaim the colonial archive, how he distorts its discourse through a subversive use of citations, and brings about what Geert Oostindie has called an “ideological overthrow” of colonial literature. Two historical sources in particular serve this aim: Geschiedenis van Suriname (1861) by Julien Wolbers, an abolitionist minister, and the famous Narrative of a Five Years Expedition against the Revolted Negroes of Surinam (1796) by John Gabriel Stedman, Scottish adventurer. Our analysis of the main rewriting approaches (identicalness, omission, addition, paraphrase) brings out how De Kom discredits the colonial authorities and rehabilitates the coloured populations, by willingly creating a postcolonial archive and identity.
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spelling doaj-art-71b3a73b54904aceb7c782875d79bc652025-01-09T16:31:56ZengTELEMME - UMR 6570Amnis1764-71932014-09-011310.4000/amnis.2198Anton de Kom, historiographe. La construction d’un passé national pour les esclaves du SurinamKim AndringaAnton de Kom (1898-1945) was a slave descendant and the author of a History of Surinam, through which he intended to trigger the decolonization of minds, thus giving to the creole population of Surinam what B. Ashcroft has called “a sense of self”. Following on from J. Derrida’s Archive Fever, this article considers the archive as a whole of “utterances belonging to the same sociohistorical positioning” (D. Mainguereau), “inseparable from a memory and from institutions that confer to them their authority, and at the same time gain their legitimacy through them”. It looks into the methods used by Anton de Kom to reclaim the colonial archive, how he distorts its discourse through a subversive use of citations, and brings about what Geert Oostindie has called an “ideological overthrow” of colonial literature. Two historical sources in particular serve this aim: Geschiedenis van Suriname (1861) by Julien Wolbers, an abolitionist minister, and the famous Narrative of a Five Years Expedition against the Revolted Negroes of Surinam (1796) by John Gabriel Stedman, Scottish adventurer. Our analysis of the main rewriting approaches (identicalness, omission, addition, paraphrase) brings out how De Kom discredits the colonial authorities and rehabilitates the coloured populations, by willingly creating a postcolonial archive and identity.https://journals.openedition.org/amnis/2198PostcolonialAnton de KomSurinamDecolonization
spellingShingle Kim Andringa
Anton de Kom, historiographe. La construction d’un passé national pour les esclaves du Surinam
Amnis
Postcolonial
Anton de Kom
Surinam
Decolonization
title Anton de Kom, historiographe. La construction d’un passé national pour les esclaves du Surinam
title_full Anton de Kom, historiographe. La construction d’un passé national pour les esclaves du Surinam
title_fullStr Anton de Kom, historiographe. La construction d’un passé national pour les esclaves du Surinam
title_full_unstemmed Anton de Kom, historiographe. La construction d’un passé national pour les esclaves du Surinam
title_short Anton de Kom, historiographe. La construction d’un passé national pour les esclaves du Surinam
title_sort anton de kom historiographe la construction d un passe national pour les esclaves du surinam
topic Postcolonial
Anton de Kom
Surinam
Decolonization
url https://journals.openedition.org/amnis/2198
work_keys_str_mv AT kimandringa antondekomhistoriographelaconstructiondunpassenationalpourlesesclavesdusurinam