In 2020, a book from 1934 suddenly stormed the bestseller list: Anton de Kom’s ‘We slaves of Suriname’. It is the first history book about Suriname written by a Surinamer.
The book has been hidden for a long time. Leiden students stole it from the library in the 1960s, and about six decades later the book was included in the Canon of Dutch history.
In this episode we discuss the special life story of this Anton de Kom – a son of enslaved people who himself died in a concentration camp during World War II. We also talk about the formation of history, persistent feelings of inferiority and ‘slave bibles’.
Guests are book editor Jeroen van de Kris and writer and cultural anthropologist Roline Redmond. For ten years she worked on the book ‘The Doorsons: In search of an Afro-American slave family in the Caribbean’.
In this episode she shares special insights about the history of her native Suriname – a culture in which history was not so much written, but told.
This is the third installment in a nine-part series on books that changed the world.
On March 7, Roline Redmond will be the Aletta Jacobs Lecture to hold.
- Presentation:
- Michel Krielaars
- Guests:
- Jeroen van der Kris & Roline Redmond
- Editing and editing:
- Jeanne Gerken
- Photo:
- Berlinda van Dam / ANP