KITLV researcher Jessica Vance Roitman is just back from two weeks working in the National Archives of Curacao. She reflects on the art of history, working with archival material, and the glimpses she’s caught of the social history of the Dutch Windward...

Communist Cuba is changing at an unprecedented pace. But nothing is what it seems in Cuba. Gert Oostindie reports after making a television documentary on the eve of president Obama’s visit. Classic Cadillacs and other old timers are ...

Brandpunt - Reporter, KRO/NCRV, 22 March 2016: last week Gert Oostindie and Aart Zeeman visited Cuba, reporting on the state of affairs in Cuba on the eve of Obama's historic visit. Click here to watch the short documentary ...

On 23 March 2016 the Research Center for Material Culture and KITLV invite you to the lecture ‘Uncovering the secrets of sound and rhythm in the context of the ethnic Moluccan music of Indonesia’ delivered by dr. Christian Tamaela, ethnomusicologist and theologist...

Over the past decades, Gert Oostindie has cooperated in making several television documentaries on Cuba. He just returned from Havana after reporting on the state of affairs in Cuba on the eve of Obama's historic visit. Below is a more elaborate...

Indonesians have forgotten the genocidal violence of 1965. Or have they? In this town in Central Java, locals and officials recently gathered for a remarkable commemorative service to the 1965 dead. Gerry van Klinken investigates. "Every time I visit Indonesia...

On the 13th of March, historian Cees Fasseur passed away in a Leiden hospital at the age of 77. We lost an important historian and a friend.As a colonial historian, Fasseur carried out ground-breaking research on the Cultivation System in nineteenth century...

What’s not to love about a big Indonesian wedding? Food, socialization, and the chance to pull on your best kebaya. But, writes Jacqueline Hicks, for Indonesia’s political and economic elites, they are much more than that....

(Also in Dutch) We are looking for participants for a study on what motivates individuals to protect the cultural heritage, and / or the natural environment on the BES islands. This research is part of the 'Confronting...