White and Dark Stranger Kings: Kupang in the Early Colonial Era
The article explores the common Southeast Asian epistemological theme of a “stranger king” as an ordering principle in a polity, a principle that was also relevant in a colonial context. The case studied here is the Dutch colonial post in Kupang, West Timor, in the VOC period, 1653-1800. The Dutch fort was surrounded by five princedoms, which stood in the relation of subordinate allies to the VOC. Four of the five groups had migrated to Kupang due to pressure from the Portuguese and their clients, which dominated the rest of Timor. Arenas of interaction were developed, whereby the elites of th... Mehr ...
Verfasser: | |
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Dokumenttyp: | Artikel |
Erscheinungsdatum: | 2013 |
Verlag/Hrsg.: |
Presses Universitaires de Provence
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Schlagwörter: | Timor / Kupang / roi étranger / royauté / début de la période coloniale / VOC (Compagnie des Indes Orientales) / Portugal / Pays-Bas / légitimité / tradition orale / stranger king / kingship / early colonial period / VOC (Dutch East Indies Company) / The Netherlands / legitimacy / oral tradition |
Sprache: | Englisch |
Permalink: | https://search.fid-benelux.de/Record/base-27419122 |
Datenquelle: | BASE; Originalkatalog |
Powered By: | BASE |
Link(s) : | http://moussons.revues.org/1510 |
The article explores the common Southeast Asian epistemological theme of a “stranger king” as an ordering principle in a polity, a principle that was also relevant in a colonial context. The case studied here is the Dutch colonial post in Kupang, West Timor, in the VOC period, 1653-1800. The Dutch fort was surrounded by five princedoms, which stood in the relation of subordinate allies to the VOC. Four of the five groups had migrated to Kupang due to pressure from the Portuguese and their clients, which dominated the rest of Timor. Arenas of interaction were developed, whereby the elites of the five princedoms deliberated with the Dutch authorities on a regular basis. Their attachment to the Dutch colonial apparatus was actually never broken until the twentieth century, in spite of several reasons for discontent. The article argues that the peculiar situation on Timor, where the five allies were under siege from the clients of the Portuguese, underpinned a system in which the colonial masters were seen as legitimate “princes”, ultimate referents of authority whose very strange-ness enabled them to hold the system in place. ; Cet article explore le thème épistémologique, commun en Asie du Sud-Est, de l’« étranger-roi » comme principe d’organisation dans un Etat, un principe également pertinent dans le contexte colonial. Il examine le poste colonial hollandais de Kupang à Timor occidental pendant la période de la VOC (1653-1800). Le fort hollandais était entouré de cinq principautés, subordonnées à la VOC dans leur alliance avec celle-ci. Quatre de ces groupes avaient émigré à Kupang à cause de la pression des Portugais et de leurs alliés, qui contrôlaient le reste de l’île. Des plates-formes d’interaction furent développées, dans lesquelles les élites des cinq principautés discutaient régulièrement avec les autorités hollandaises. Leurs liens avec l’appareil colonial ne furent en fait jamais rompus jusqu’au xxe siècle, malgré diverses raisons de mécontentement. L’article postule que cette situation particulière à ...