Bekendmaking nieuwe lichting NIAS–NIOD–KITLV fellows voor 2025–2026
24 april 2025
Het fellowship stelt onderzoekers – waaronder erfgoedprofessionals, historici, archeologen, sociale wetenschappers, kunstenaars, journalisten en cultureel activisten – uit voormalig gekoloniseerde landen in staat om toegang te krijgen tot en onderzoek te doen naar objecten – ongeacht of deze gedefinieerd zijn als cultureel, historisch, kunst of anderszins – die zich momenteel in Nederland bevinden. We kijken ernaar uit Panggah Ardiyansyah, Ganga Dissanayaka en Leandro Matthews Cascon in september te verwelkomen.
In september starten de laatste drie fellows onder het NIAS-NIOD-KITLV fellowship Moving Objects, Mobilising Culture in the Context of (De)colonisation. Dit fellowship maakt het mogelijk voor onderzoekers en erfgoedprofessionals uit voormalige gekoloniseerde landen om vijf maanden onderzoek te doen naar ‘koloniale collecties’: objecten en collecties uit die landen die in een context van kolonialisme in Nederland terecht zijn gekomen. Het NIOD organiseert deze activiteit als partner van het Consortium Koloniale Collecties.
Hieronder vind je meer informatie over de fellows en hun onderzoek (alleen beschikbaar in het Engels).
Panggah Ardiyansyah – Evocative Fragments: Archaeological Knowledge Production for Sendang Duwur and Its Dispersed Objects
Panggah Ardiyansyah’s research investigates the production of knowledge surrounding Sendang Duwur, a 16th-century Islamic complex in East Java, Indonesia. His project contributes to emerging scholarship on heritage politics, especially in relation to identity formation, inclusion/exclusion, and restitution frameworks. He will trace the networks of historical figures involved in the circulation of Sendang Duwur manuscripts, reconstruct the interventions by the Dutch East Indies’ Archaeological Service at the site in the early 20th century, and map the movements of manuscripts and artefacts associated with it.
Panggah Ardiyansyah would have started his project in February 2025, but the start date has been rescheduled to September 2025
Ganga Dissanayaka – Tracing Object Biographies: Unveiling the Historical, Political, and Artistic Legacies of Sri Lankan Caskets and Jewellery in Dutch Collections
This research project explores how Sri Lankan artefacts – particularly caskets, jewellery, and statues – held in Dutch museums reflect complex narratives of cultural mobility, colonial entanglement, and historical memory. Centred on the methodology of ‘object biography’, the research treats artefacts as dynamic entities with evolving meanings. By tracing their journeys from creation and use in Sri Lanka to their current institutional contexts, Dissanayaka analyses how their stories intertwine with political, religious, artistic, and social histories. The project also addresses urgent questions around provenance, museum ethics, restitution, and postcolonial identity.
Leandro Matthews Cascon – Cultivating Objects
Cascon’s research, Cultivating Objects, explores the connections between Indigenous cassava agriculture in Suriname and related material culture preserved in Dutch colonial museum collections. Focusing on items such as graters, sieves, and fermentation vessels, the study highlights how traditional ecological knowledge is embedded in these tools.
Primarily based on objects in the Wereldmuseum, the project reveals sustainable Indigenous practices that contrast sharply with colonial models of resource extraction. It also considers broader themes such as food security, climate change, and cultural resilience, advocating for greater recognition of biocultural heritage and Indigenous land rights.
By working closely with museum collections, ethnographic sources, and Indigenous collaborators, Cascon’s research challenges dominant institutional narratives and foregrounds material traditions that have persisted despite colonial disruption. The project ultimately aims to offer new perspectives on sustainability and decolonisation.