Forgotten decolonisation experiences

Comparing the decolonial trajectories of the French and Dutch Caribbean

Samenvatting

This article explores European experiences of decolonisation through examining and comparing the decolonisation trajectories of the French and Dutch Caribbean. These ‘remnants of empire’ are often neglected in scholarship on the history of European decolonisation, but actually present many fruitful opportunities for researching European experiences of decolonisation. While the French and Dutch Caribbean decolonisation experiences are very similar in their broad outlines, they also diametrically oppose one another due to radically different metropolitan approaches, shaped by the many differences of their colonial pasts and decolonial paths. In addition to showing the value of affording the Caribbean more importance in research, this article also calls attention to how government- and policy-focused current research on the topic in question is. It pleads for further research taking into account not only government views and stances, but those of citizens, too.