How did political reforms and intensive migrations affect historically grounded identities and political practices on the Dutch Caribbean islands of Bonaire, St. Eustatius, St. Maarten, and Saba? This project seeks to answer this question by integrating multiple disciplines to analyze governance and identity in small-scale polities, with a particular focus on non-sovereignty, migration, and (sustainable) development.
After the dismantlement of the Netherlands Antilles, the six islands remain locked in the postcolonial imbroglio resulting from their rejection of full sovereignty. Against the advantages inherent in the asymmetrical link to the metropolis, there are constraints to the insular populations’ autonomy and identities. The constitutional reforms may have deepened the ambivalence of Antillean citizens and politicians towards the Netherlands, while high levels of immigration raise other questions about insular belonging. The ‘Confronting Caribbean Challenges‘ project will analyze the intersection of (recent) political reforms, often intensive migrations, and current practices of governance on four of these islands.
The focus is on the least-studied islands of the former Netherlands Antilles, but the approach is comparative. This project utilizes a three-tiered multi-disciplinary framework linking the past (historical development of hybrid identities), the present (governance, migration and citizenship issues), and the future (sustainable tourism capitalizing on natural and historical heritage). The three sub-projects will combine an historical perspective, contemporary empirical data and fresh insights into the literature on governance and identity in small-scale polities, emphasizing the variables of non-sovereignty and high-intensity migration. The project will feed into ongoing debates about governance, insular identities, and local agency.
Photo: A glimpse through the portal of Confronting Caribbean Challenges: past, present and future (Lower Town, St. Eustatius)
Our project team:
Gert Oostindie (project director)
Jessica Vance Roitman (researcher)
Wouter Veenendaal (researcher)
Malcom Ferdinand (researcher)
Stacey Mac Donald (researcher)
Sanne Rotmeijer (researcher)
For questions or information please contact Sanne Rotmeijer: [email protected]
Would you like to receive the Confronting Caribbean Challenges Newsletter? Please send an email to: [email protected]
Confronting Caribbean Challenges project in the media:
17 April 2019 | Clingendael Spectator, ‘De Venezolaanse gevaren voor Aruba, Bonaire en Curaçao’, Gert Oostindie.
20 July 2018 | NOS Met het Oog op Morgen (Sanne Rotmeijer): Gesprek over betekenis van ‘Nederlands’-Franse grens op St. Maarten
26 February 2018 | BNR Nieuwsradio (Sanne Rotmeijer): Interview over journalistiek en verkiezingen St. Maarten (luister vanaf 23:30)
19 March 2018 | BioNews (Stacey Mac Donald): ‘Mas Piska pa Boneiru: Less talk more action’
8 February 2018 | De Volkskrant (Sanne Rotmeijer): ‘Werk samen en maak het hele Koninkrijk gelijkwaardig‘
27 December 2017 | Èxtra (Stacey Mac Donald): ‘Base na koperativa di piskadó t’ei’
14 September 2017 | Volkskrant (Sanne Rotmeijer): ‘Gelijkwaardig Koninkrijk moet het doel zijn van wederopbouw Sint Maarten’
2 September 2017 | VPRO-gids #35 (Gert Oostindie): ‘Een oorlog die we niet hadden moeten voeren’
21 August 2017 | NOS Radio 1 (Gert Oostindie): ‘Dit is de Dag’ over beeld Pieter Stuyvesant
17 August 2017 | Nederlands Dagblad (Gert Oostindie): ‘Kolonialisme ís onderdeel van ons verleden’
3 August 2017 | Antilliaanse Dagblad (Gert Oostindie): ‘Doe er iets goeds mee’
24 July 2017 | NRC Handelsblad (Gert Oostindie): ‘NRC checkt: “De helft van alle Surinamers woont in Nederland”
20 July 2017 | PhD Prize Interdisciplinary Research for Malcom Ferdinand
6 July 2017 | Volkskrant (Wouter Veenendaal): ‘Sint Eustatius moet samenwerken in de Caribische regio – niet met de voormalig kolonisator’
29 June 2017 | Debate: ‘Voorbij de Nederlandse Antillen’ (Beyond the Netherlands Antilles)
2 June 2017 | AD 2 juni 2017 Antilliaans Dagblad: ‘Relatie Koninkrijk status quo’
27 April 2017 | NOS Nieuwsuur (Gert Oostindie): ‘Verkiezingen Curacao’
19 July 2016 | Saba News: ‘Stacey Mac Donald seeks participants for scientific research on cultural heritage‘
20 April 2016 | Radiostatia PJB-50 92.3 FM (Stacey Mac Donald): Radio interview during the Shedding Light a Government Information Service Program on St. Eustatius
25 July 2015 | The Bonaire Reporter (Stacey Mac Donald): ‘Protecting the nature and cultural heritage on Bonaire (p. 15)’
25 June 2015 | Saba News: ‘Dutch Researcher visits Saba for psychological programme‘
13 May 2015 | Daily Herald: ‘Social, cultural history study of the Windward Islands starts’
8 April 2015 | Antilliaans Dagblad: ‘Onderzoek van KITLV naar eilanden’
3 April 2015 | NTR Caribisch Netwerk: ‘Groot onderzoek naar Caribische Rijksdelen‘
2 April 2015 | Dichtbij Nederland: ‘Interview with KITLV researchers about project on the Caribbean‘
24 March 2015 | Antilliaans Dagblad (Wouter Veenendaal): ‘Groeiende onvrede met nieuwe status’
23 October 2014 | NPO Radio 1 Vandaag (Gert Oostindie): ‘Curacao wil van Nederlandse invloed af’
23 October 2014 | Volkskrant: ‘Gouverneur tussen twee vuren’
20 October 2014 | Antilliaans Dagblad (Gert Oostindie): ‘Toezicht Nederland sterker’ + ‘Politieke Legitimiteit‘
October 2014 | Idee (Gert Oostindie): ‘Decentralisatie overzee‘
23 September 2014 | Antilliaans Dagblad (Wouter Veenendaal): ‘Het democratisch tekort in ons Koninkrijk, een oplosbaar probleem‘ (pp 8)
Het eindrapport van het CCC-opinieonderzoek is gereed, en vanaf nu via onderstaande link in te zien. Vanwege copyright is het bij gebruik van de cijfers van belang de volgende verwijzing naar het eindrapport toe te voegen:
“Veenendaal, W. (2016). Eindrapport CCC-Opinieonderzoek. Leiden: KITLV.”
Eindrapport CCC-Opinieonderzoek
Weerstand tegen Nederlands en buitenlanders op de eilanden:
Weerstand tegen Nederlanders en buitenlanders op de eilanden
Political Status Preferences on Aruba and Curaçao:
Aruba – Curaçao Status
First Results of our Opinion Survey on Bonaire, Saba, and St. Eustatius!
Presentation CCC-Survey BES
First Results of Our Opinion Survey on Bonaire: see Bonaire Status!
Also published on NTR Caribisch Netwerk.
Between 14 September and 31 October 2015, the Royal Netherlands Institute of Southeast Asian and Caribbean Studies (KITLV) carried out a large opinion survey on all six Dutch Caribbean islands. This was an independent, academic survey, sponsored financially by the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO). Dr. Wouter Veenendaal is the leading researcher of this academic project.
On each island a number of addresses were selected by means of a randomly drawn sample, and between 14 September and 31 October 2015, each of these addresses was visited by a local interviewer. The residents of these addresses were interviewed by means of a paper questionnaire, which addressed the following topics: 1) the relationship between the islands and Holland, 2) local politics on the island, and 3) media consumption. Interviews were conducted in Dutch, English, Papiamentu or Spanish.
The most important reason for this research, is the fact that only very few academic and comparative opinion surveys have been carried out on the islands: the most recent comprehensive opinion survey was conducted in 1998. Because five years have now passed since the momentous constitutional reforms of 2010, it is extremely important to know the opinions of the populations of the islands about the Kingdom and about the changed relationship with the other islands and Holland. In addition, it will be interesting to draw comparisons between the different islands, and to see if any differences can be observed between the islands that in 2010 have become autonomous countries, and those that became public bodies of Holland instead.
Related researchers
Methodological Advisory Council
Related publications
An overview of blogs written by researchers of the CCC project:
The Privilege to Inform and Be Informed in Post-Irma St. Maarten, Sanne Rotmeijer.
Nature conservation in times of natural disaster, Stacey Mac Donald.
Monuments, Memory, and Melodrama, Jessica Roitman.
Decolonize the Academic Institute: Get rid of it or get it right?, Sanne Rotmeijer.
The Futility of Utility, Jessica Roitman.
Missed opportunities: Why Dutch institutions fail in the Caribbean, by Wouter Veenendaal.
Will Fidel’s mission be completed?, by Gert Oostindie.
Five tips to get people to fill out your survey, by Stacey Mac Donald.
From Brexit to CuraCiao: who takes the country back?, by Sanne Rotmeijer.
The Place of the Vultures: Cuba on the Cusp of Change, by Jessica Roitman.
Once lost, now found, by Jessica Roitman.
Nothing is what it seems in Cuba, by Gert Oostindie.
The Mystery of the Missing Mammary, by Jessica Roitman.
The Island Experience, by Wouter Veenendaal.
To be or not be (called) Dutch…, by Stacey Mac Donald.
What’s wrong with being right?, by Jessica Roitman.
How media reflect and shape who we are, by Sanne Rotmeijer.
Small island, big problems, blog by Gert Oostindie.
