Commemorating the Banda Islands Genocide – 400 Years Later

Commemorating Banda formed part of the 2021 Oceans as Archives Symposium.

The year 2021 marked the 400 year anniversary of the Dutch conquest of the Banda Islands, the subsequent genocide of the Indigenous population on May 8, 1621 and the advent of plantation slavery and monocropping in the Bandanese archipelago. The genocide of the Indigenous population constitutes the first modern-colonial genocide in Asia.

In honor of (ongoing) Indigenous struggles against imperialist (dis)possession, Commemorating the Banda Islands Genocide - 400 Years Later brought together scholars, cultural bearers and artists who shed light on the significance of this genocide and Bandanese resillience for modern-colonial history.

We also use this opportunity to commemorate the loss of Bandanese lives and celebrate resilience.

The panel drew connections between Indigenous struggles for sovereignty on Banda and struggles for Lenape/Lunape/Lunaapeew sovereignty in Mannahatta (New York) and on Traditional, Ancestral and Unceded xʷməθkwəy̓əm (Musqueam) Territory.  

This online panel and ceremony contributed to a larger series of commemorative events organized by the Banda 2021 Working Group that took place in April and May 2021. The event foregrounded Bandanese, Indonesian and Moluccan/Malukan perspectives and highlighted the global significance of the Dutch conquest of Banda, which served as a precedent for Dutch imperialist expansion in the Americas.

Speakers included: Rudi Fofid, Beatrice Glow, Nancy Jouwe, Wim Manuhutu, and Brent Stonefish.

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