Seeking justice from an ocean-based perspective
The increasing interconnectivity of people around the world has elevated the need to expose historical injustices. In some cases it is difficult to untangle how national identity is laced with faulty narratives, glossing over a history of exploitation and racism. The MaritimeImagination project deployed research and a multidisciplinary approach to better understand how different forces created and perpetuated inequity in the context of Dutch seafaring. This research was undertaken with the support of the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions programme.
The legacy of Hugo Grotius
Much of the legal framework that legitimised trade and colonisation during the Age of Discovery was penned by Dutch jurist Hugo Grotius. His writings, some of which were funded by The United Dutch East India Company, differentiated between land-based sovereignties and the ‘free sea,’ a distinction that still informs international law today. Marie Curie Postdoctoral Research Fellow Mikki Stelder examined Grotius’s work and made direct connections to legacies of enslavement, environmental degradation and Indigenous dispossession around the world. Stelder’s work on the project spanned two continents, connecting researchers based in Canada and the Netherlands. The COVID-19 pandemic impacted Stelder’s plans, leading to a greater focus on Grotius than was originally intended. This proved fortuitous, as it resulted in a peer-reviewed article examining Grotius’s early writings. The article received wide recognition and won the 2022 Amsterdam School for Cultural Analysis Best Article of the Academic Year Award. It is currently being translated into Portuguese for Brazilian audiences. Grotius’s treatise Mare Liberum may have been published over 400 years ago, but its influence is still felt. According to Stelder: “Grotius’s ideas continue to permeate contemporary geopolitics where economic gain and global trade and navigation uphold structures of (neo)colonial, racial and environmental violence.” Based on this understanding, it is imperative that modern societies ask questions about the legal, political and economic structures we need to develop in order to create a just and environmentally sustainable world.
‘Oceans as Archives’
In addition to scholarly articles, Stelder produced book chapters and a book proposal during the course of the project. Stelder explored how the ocean is more than a vehicle for getting from one place to another. One article focused on the figure of the ship and investigated how Dutch maritime imagination continues to shape contemporary imperial nostalgia. Other achievements included presentations in and outside of academia, a personal website and a blog. One of the highlights of the project was the ‘Oceans as Archives’ series developed in collaboration with Renisa Mawani and Kristie Flannery. The first event was held on zoom, the second, which included live cultural events, was held in Amsterdam. Both highlighted non-Eurocentric experiences of ocean environments. Stelder states: “What was so special about ‘Oceans as Archives’ was that it brought together scholars, artists, community organisers and students who would usually not encounter each other. This created valuable cross-genre and interdisciplinary encounters and future collaborations.” The series included participants from all over the world and featured academic panels, poetry, performances and film. MaritimeImagination engaged in the hard work of changing the world. It gathered resources that will help to shift the paradigm of how we view history, natural resources, ourselves and the future.
Keywords
MaritimeImagination, social justice, Dutch maritime history, Hugo Grotius, colonisation, exploitation, indigenous dispossession, ‘Ocean as Archives’
