Abstract
People of mixed racial ancestry can be found wherever interracial contacts occur, for example between colonizer and colonized. This research project explores literary representations of people of mixed racial ancestry from the Dutch East Indies, known as "Indo-Europeans". Indo-Europeans form a racial and cultural 'go-between" group that had a complex position in both Dutch colonial and postcolonial society. During the colonial era, they formed a racially defined group across all strata of colonial society. They were not restricted to a particular class: they were found in the colonial elite as well as the slums. In the 19th century reports of the discrimination of Indo-Europeans increased and they became perceived as a social problem. The colonial daily press even spoke of an "Indo-problem". After the decolonization of the Dutch East Indies, Indo-Europeans also had a complex position in postcolonial Dutch society. Indo-Europeans (they were now repatriated citizens, many of whom had never been to the "homeland" before) had to redefine their identity in a foreign and often racist Dutch society. They and the Indo-European generations that followed allegedly faced constant prejudice and discrimination. Discrimination stems from ideologies which are knowingly and unknowingly produced/reproduced by representing specific groups as inferior to others. Literature is an important carrier and disseminator of such imagery. This research will focus on the representation and underlying ideologies regarding Indo-Europeans in colonial and postcolonial literature of the Dutch East Indies (1800-present).