Songs from another land: Decolonizing memories of colonialism and the nutmeg trade

Abstract

The year 2021 marked the 400th anniversary of the Banda massacres, in which the army of the Verenigde Ooostindische Compagnie (The United East India Trading Company) massacred the Bandanese in a brutal campaign designed to secure a monopoly over the global nutmeg trade. While for centuries, the Bandanese remembered the massacre in a range of cultural mediums, the 400th anniversary was marked by a production of a multi-media project entitled The Banda Journal, produced by Muhammad Fadli and Fatris MF and from West Sumatra, Indonesia. The Banda Journal project represents a new form of decolonial memory work that accentuates the connections between place and memory for people from Indonesia’s ‘outer islands’ including people who fled the Banda islands following the massacre. In addition, the project adopts decolonial methods and critically engages with histories of colonialism to move beyond nationalist framings and prompt reflection on the excesses of capitalism and economic exploitation and the resilience of affected communities.