Het terloopse toerisme van de Indiëganger

The casual tourism of travellers to the Dutch East Indies. An essay in quotations and illustrations

This essay analyses contemporary creators of literature and images according to what they encountered on the sea voyage between Europe and Asia. The sea voyage and the tourism the passengers engaged in along the way constituted a colonial apprenticeship, an introduction to the colony. Even seemingly innocent tourist trips turn into an initiation into colonialism. In both images and quotations, the perspective of the colonial elite predominates, as is evident when the texts and images are placed side by side. Once one has had an eye for this hidden colonial propaganda that is supposed to legitimise white supremacy in words and images, this white colonial perspective – the colonial gaze – becomes inevitable. In contemporary texts and pictures the world is seen through imperial eyes.