![]() ![]() A country on the northeastern Atlantic coast of South America, its indigenous people (known as the Surinen) were displaced by British settlers. Unfortunately, histories of empire tend to be written and discussed within their respective colonial language-worlds, so it is unsurprising that Suriname, as a Dutch former colony, is relatively unknown in Anglophone postcolonial studies. ![]() “Screw it,” she says, “it’s their history too.”Īs a Dutch-Surinamese writer, Karin has had to confront a slew of questions concerning the place she was born, even from the Dutch themselves. As a less experienced author then, she decided to give in, but now believes that it the responsibility of the Dutch audience to find out about Suriname, as a former Dutch colony. In response, Karin describes how her publisher asked for a prologue to her second book Wanneer Wij Samen Zijn (When We Are Together), in order to introduce Suriname. Ethnic identity is easily reduced to a curious bit of old history trading on the audience’s comfortable ignorance. The category of “migrant identity” seems to imply vague generalisations about transnational travel, exile and liminality. ![]() During the workshop, Karin Amatmoekrim is asked about whether a migrant writer is at the mercy of market forces in the publishing industry. ![]()
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