Suriname in the Long Twentieth Century

Structural Change and Sectoral Interconnectedness in Two Resource-Abundant Economies

“…Both countries can trace their colonial origins to Dutch and British plantation agriculture and settlements (Hoefte 2014, Clementi 1937. The territories that make up contemporary Guyana and Suriname were settled by Dutch pioneers and British colonists out from Barbados since the early 1700s.…”

“…In twentieth century Suriname, however, there was a greater preference for small-scale farming. The latter succeeded through government intervention in solving the drainage problem (Hoefte 2014). Meanwhile, in twentieth century Guyana, the amalgamated sugar industry was crucial in providing drainage with favorable spillover effects to various small-scale farmers and neighboring villages.…”

“…From 1917, bauxite production thrived in Suriname, becoming the country's leading source of tax revenues. Alcoa, the main bauxite company in Suriname, engineered the Brokopondo push (1964 to1967) into hydroelectricity to fuel an alumina plant and aluminum smelter in Paranam (Hoefte 2014). The initial agreement of the early 1960s allowed Alcoa to own the Afobaka dam as long as it carried out aluminum production in Suriname.…”

“…It should be noted that peasant agriculture is still prevalent in Guyana, but the large-scale sugar industry and large private family rice mills and farms were more a feature of Guyana compared with Suriname. Indeed, various efforts by the colonial government to promote largescale sugar and rice production in Suriname failed, as Surinamese, overall, took to peasant agriculture for various reasons (Hoefte 2014). One factor was the preference of Maroons for peasant crops of ground provision and small animal flocks in the Para and Coronie regions (Ibid, p. 37).…”

The Challenges of Nation-Building and Nation Branding in Multi-Ethnic Suriname

“…The great majority of the population equated nationalism with this unpopular regime that brought the country to the brink of collapse. 50 With the return of democracy and the old ethnic parties, in 1987, Dutch-considered to be ethnically neutralwas reaffirmed as Suriname's official language. Sranan Tongo continued to be viewed as principally part of Afro-Surinamese culture.…”