Residents of South Holland are divided about the attention paid to their province's colonial and slavery past. This is evident from Risbo's research among a representative group of South Holland residents, commissioned by the Province of South Holland. Participants in the survey were asked questions about the current focus on the colonial and slavery past and what role the province should play in this respect. Almost a third of people were critical, and almost a fifth were positive, with about half being neutral.
This study is the third and final part of a triptych of social policy studies commissioned by the Province of South Holland. All studies address the question of how the colonial and slavery past continue to influence contemporary South Holland society.
Research structure
Within this research on the attitudes of the inhabitants of South Holland toward the colonial and slavery past, a literature study was conducted and a vignette study (research with situations) was done. Professor Dr. Alex van Stipriaan was responsible for the literature study. Within this research part, he describes what is known in a general sense about how the colonial past still affects the descendants of enslaved and contract workers. The results of this study were used to create a questionnaire. This questionnaire was sent out in cooperation with Kieskompas, and was completed by 3,175 people from South Holland.
The questionnaire had three parts:
- What people think about the colonial past and cultural diversity.
- What people think about certain situations (vignettes) about the colonial past. Half of the people were given additional explanations about an issue related to the colonial past, and the other half were not.
- What actions the province should take against the influence of the colonial and slavery past.
Explanations and storytelling
The study tested whether providing additional explanations leads to a more positive attitude toward attention to the colonial and slavery past. This has a limited positive effect. People further give little priority to the actions that the province could take. Considering this, they still attribute the most value to actions in which the colonial and slavery past is given attention by collecting and telling stories, for example through libraries.
Presentation and follow-up
On April 15 the researchers involved will present their findings and the province will explain how they will proceed.
Contact
Youri Seidler
Project lead and researcher
- Email address
- youri.seidler@risbo.eur.nl
