Decolonization, Otherness, and the Neglect of the Dutch Caribbean in Caribbean Studies

Groenewoud, Margo; Kamugisha, Aaron

doi:10.1215/07990537-8912808

Cited by 2 publications

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“…Examples are the 14 overseas territories of the United Kingdom (e.g., Anguilla, Bermuda, St Helena) and the five territories of the United States of America (e.g., American Samoa, Puerto Rico). Also, the Kingdom of the Netherlands – which often remains unnoticed due to geopolitical marginalisation and linguistic barriers (Groenewoud, 2021) – reveals a complex set of relationships between its Caribbean and European parts, affecting climate action. Its different parts are spread across 8000 kilometres, with the islands of Curacao, St Maarten, Aruba, Bonaire, St Eustatius and Saba in the Caribbean region and the European Netherlands in Europe.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Separate but equal in the protection against climate change? The legal framework of climate justice for the Caribbean part of the Kingdom of The Netherlands

Misiedjan

2023

Geographical Journal

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The experiences of overseas territories and how their varying degrees of self‐governance influence climate (in)action are overlooked topics, even though these places are often highly impacted by climate change. Analysing the situation of the Dutch Kingdom demonstrates some of these challenges. The Kingdom consists of the European Netherlands and the Caribbean islands of Aruba, Curacao, St Maarten, Bonaire, St Eustatius and Saba. Out of these, the Caribbean islands are the most vulnerable to climate change, while the European Netherlands has contributed the most to it. This can be seen as climate injustice. Access to mitigation and adaptation mechanisms mentioned in international agreements could be beneficial to these Caribbean islands. However, the international climate change agreements have only entered into force for the European part of the Kingdom and not the Caribbean part due to a territorial limitation. This has several consequences, and this paper highlights two. First, the requirement that greenhouse gas emissions should be reduced does not apply to the islands, which leaves room for unsustainable activities but also overlooks their need for adaptation and compensation for loss and damage. Second, access to climate finance instruments is limited as the Dutch Caribbean islands are seen as part of the Kingdom and therefore do not qualify for international assistance. Within the European Union, funds are available but access to these is not guaranteed, as the experience with recovery after Hurricane Irma demonstrates. These examples show that the issues around climate justice have been insufficiently resolved. There is a need for a long‐term climate strategy within the Kingdom along with complementary funding. Until then, climate litigation could assist in enforcing a duty of care by local governments and the Kingdom to protect inhabitants by using the human rights framework. This would also create a roadmap for other territories in similar circumstances.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Separate but equal in the protection against climate change? The legal framework of climate justice for the Caribbean part of the Kingdom of The Netherlands

Misiedjan

2023

Geographical Journal

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“…Discontent in the Dutch Caribbean, 1825-1954 Dutch historiography, with a few exceptions, has overwhelmingly concentrated on studies of Suriname and, to a lesser extent, Curaçao. The Dutch Leeward islands are generally only mentioned in passing in most volumes (Groenewoud, 2021;Oostindie & Hoefte, 1999). This relative absence of the Dutch Leeward islands is not hugely surprising, considering that for the Dutch colonial empire in the Atlantic, Suriname and Curaçao were the "darlings of empire" (Emmer, 2003, p. 22).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Worlds apart: Island identities and colonial configurations in the Dutch Caribbean

Roitman¹,

Veenendaal²

2022

ISJ

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Analyses of the Caribbean continue to divide the region based on colonial heritage, which is largely a result of the fact that it primarily consists of small islands. In this article, we demonstrate the inaccuracy of such categorizations on the basis of two sets of arguments. Based on historical as well as contemporary evidence from the Dutch Caribbean, we show that different islands that were artificially united into a single jurisdiction by colonial powers commonly experience intense inter-island rivalries and separatist tendencies. In addition, however, we show evidence pointing to frequent contacts and shared regional identities between neighboring islands belonging to different (post)colonial spheres of influence, both in the past and in the present. In sum, therefore, our interdisciplinary analysis – combining insights from history and political science – shows that small islands experience seemingly contradictory tendencies towards both island nationalism and inter-island cooperation, but that cooperation can only work if it is initiated on the terms of islands themselves, and not determined by colonial rulers or metropolitan states.

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Decolonization, Otherness, and the Neglect of the Dutch Caribbean in Caribbean Studies

Cited by 2 publications

References 0 publications

Separate but equal in the protection against climate change? The legal framework of climate justice for the Caribbean part of the Kingdom of The Netherlands

Separate but equal in the protection against climate change? The legal framework of climate justice for the Caribbean part of the Kingdom of The Netherlands

Worlds apart: Island identities and colonial configurations in the Dutch Caribbean

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