Storytelling project Antara Nusa

When Nusantara Amsterdam Foundation was established in 2006, it was decided to work with Zieraad Foundation to record the life stories of visitors to the session afternoons organised by Nusantara Amsterdam Foundation. Within this storytelling project, 11 interviews were conducted. Video and audio recordings of the interviews were made by Ben and Ineke Vink. 10 of the interviews formed the basis for the book Antara Nusa, life stories of elderly people from the East Indies/Indonesia (2018) compiled by Yvette Kopijn (Zieraad foundation) with the cooperation of Hanoch Nahumury, secretary of Nusantara Amsterdam Foundation and Armando Ello, photographer. During the writing process, several follow-up interview sessions were held of which no recordings are available.

The interviews focus on events and experiences in the years 1930 – 2017. They mainly discuss Indonesia, Java, Sumatra, Ambon and New Guinea and the Netherlands.
Themes include colonisation, struggle for independence, Japanese occupation, World War II, Indonesian revolution, migration, RMS, upbringing, childhood, identity, class society, loss, displacement, uprooting, resilience, courage, racism.

Relevant links: Website Nusantara Amsterdam: https://nusantara-amsterdam.nl/
Facebook page Zieraad Foundation: https://www.facebook.com/StichtingZieraad/

Over the years, a lot has been written about settling and processing the end of the Dutch East Indies. The voice of the totoks (white Dutchmen) has been strikingly dominant in this. This book wants to offer the reader an alternative, multi-voiced perspective. It features elderly people of Indonesian, Moluccan, Timorese, Indonesian-Chinese and Surinamese descent.