KITLV/Royal Netherlands Institute of Southeast Asian and Caribbean Studies

Latest news

Thai delegatie

Delegation | KITLV welcomes Silpakorn University from Thailand

31-05-2025

On 27 May 2025 KITLV welcomed a delegation from the Silpakorn University, Thailand. The visit marked a significant step towards exploring KITLV's research engagement in Southeast Asia. Discussions during the meeting centered on potential collaborations concerning critical issues in the region.

Kartini

World heritage status for letters from Kartini in KITLV collection

15-04-2025

UNESCO has recognized a large collection of handwritten letters and the archive of Raden Ajeng Kartini (1879-1904) as documentary world heritage. Kartini, an Indonesian women's rights advocate, opposed gender inequality in feudal Javanese society, including forced marriages, polygamy and lack of education for women.

Events

19 June

SEA seminar | An algorithmic visuality of Muslim women images | Nurul Huda Rashid

27 June

Algemene Ledenvergadering Vereniging KITLV | Annual Meeting Members Association

10 July

UUKS seminar | Rituals and rice cultivation (Indonesia) | I Kadek Surya Jayadi

Latest calls

Activities fund 

The Members Association / Vereniging KITLV invites its members to actively contribute to realizing the goals of the Association.

Collection & publication fund

The Members Association / Vereniging KITLV invites its members to contribute to maintaining and expanding its collection. 

.

Who we are & what we do

The KITLV is a research institute dedicated to the study of societal challenges, focusing on the histories and afterlives of colonialism in the Caribbean, Southeast Asia, and the Netherlands. Our aim is to produce quality research that furthers justice and envisions alternative futures beyond dominant perspectives.

Our research is informed by intimate familiarity with the cultures, histories, and languages of the places we study. Combining history, anthropology, archaeology, political science, linguistics, and the arts, our interdisciplinary perspective is critical and sensitive to marginalised voices. 

Read more

Research Lines

Project

From nomadic nets to fixed shores: Navigating resource access and traditional ecological knowledge in post-sedentary Sea Nomads

The islands and coastlines of Southeast Asia are home to Sea Nomads, including Moken/Moklen, Orang Laut, and Sama-Bajau, each with their own distinct yet related cultural identities, languages, and histories. For centuries, these groups have maintained a close relationship with the ocean, often living nomadic or semi-nomadic lives where their houseboat served as both homes and the primary means of sustenance. 

Project

Trajectories of TASTE: An analytical framework of culinary change after migration

The TASTE Project, funded by the European Research Council and running from June 2024 to the summer of 2029, examines shifting food preferences and culinary change. Centered on three Indonesian diasporas, the project explores how people have adapted their culinary traditions to new environments in the past and continue to reshape them today. In doing so, we scrutinize how cultural, historical, social, economic, and environmental factors operate, intersect, and occasionally conflict in these transformations.

Our work