The flavour of history: Food,family and subjectivity in two Indo-European women's memoirs

This article examines two autobiographies written by women with family connections to the former Netherlands Indies (colonial Indonesia): Schenkhuizen, 1993, Schaapman, 2007. Particular attention is given to the customs surrounding the preparation, consumption and distribution of food within these women's families, practices that illuminate the formation and expression of identities across generations of Indo-European migrants, and between the colonial and post-colonial periods. Studies of colonial identity often essentially focus on how aspirations for group membership are expressed. Such emphasis can exaggerate the stasis and cohesion of colonial cultures at the expense of a more nuanced analysis of the varied, sometimes contradictory range of identities that exist within specific historical contexts. To approach identity and subjectivity as related but not necessarily congruent constructs provides significant insight into how ethnic identities that were formed in a family context altered in response to twentieth century decolonisation. The memoirs examined demonstrate that subjectivities formed with reference to foodways in Indo-European (Indo) families were gendered and raced. The colonial identities that were informed by these subjectivities found new and altered expression in the post-colonial era.     

The Colonial Table: Food,Culture and Dutch Identity in Colonial Indonesia

This article examines some of the ways in which colonial identities were constructed and maintained with reference to food and eating in the Netherlands Indies (colonial Indonesia) during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. It argues that food was an important focus for the cultural performance of Europeanness among colonists with aspirations to European status. Specific notions of class and race informed these social performances, and degrees of competence distinguished between eaters. To eat ‘European’ often meant publicly avoiding Indonesian dishes, even if they were enjoyed privately, and learning to appreciate foods from ‘home’. Class and cultural identity intersected with race at the colonial table.     

Human Rights in the United States: The Unfinished Story of Political Prisoners and Cointelpro

For many years, black nationalists have tried to reopen the investigation into the FBI's COINTELPRO (COunter-INTELligence PROgram), which served to disrupt and destroy the black liberation movement and other progressive movements in the US. On September 14, 2000 in Washington, DC, Congressional Representative Cynthia McKinney (D-Georgia) convened a "brain trust" on this subject as part of the Congressional Black Caucus' Legislative Conference, a yearly series of forums and panel discussions on issues of importance to the communities represented by the Caucus. The title of the McKinney panel was "Human Rights in the United States: The Unfinished Story of Political Prisoners/Victims of COINTELPRO." Six panelists presented information on the history of COINTELPRO and its relevance to the cases of the approximately 100 + political prisoners in US custody at this moment. Some of these prisoners have served 30 or more years; all have exceedingly long sentences. While the US government denies that it holds any political prisoners, the facts of the cases—and the connection of many cases to COINTELPRO operations—indicate otherwise. Several current and past political prisoners, most notably Jalil Muntaqim (Anthony Bottom) and Dr. Mutulu Shakur, along with released political prisoner Herman Ferguson, have consistently urged that the illegalities committed under COINTELPRO be examined further, and that compensation be made to the victims of these acts. The panel presentations excerpted below all point to the necessity of such an examination—and of releasing all of the US-held political prisoners in order to redress the crimes committed against progressive political movements under the aegis of COINTELPRO and other FBI counterintelligence programs. The significance of this issue to the community was illustrated by the tremendous crowd that gathered and participated in the discussion following the panel.