Erfgoed Herzien: Perspectieven op ‘erfgoed’ vanuit kennis en ervaringen van postkoloniale groepen

[Note: This research was conducted with Dutch communities in Dutch; expert seminars were conducted in English. The full report "Erfgoed Herzien" is published in Dutch. This abstract presents findings for international scholarly audiences.]
Despite international heritage conventions emphasizing inclusivity, postcolonial heritage practices in the Netherlands remain systematically marginalized. This study investigates why, through two interconnected research strands: (1) participatory research with Hindustani-Surinamese, Javanese-Surinamese, and Chinese-Indonesian communities in the Netherlands (n=73 participants across six heritage practices), and (2) expert seminars with diaspora scholars from countries historically connected through colonial migration routes—Indonesia, Singapore, the United States, Guyana, South Africa, Mauritius, and France.
This transnational approach reveals that patterns observed in the Netherlands reflect broader diaspora experiences. Diaspora experts confirmed that postcolonial heritage emerges from colonial power structures while simultaneously resisting them through creative adaptation. Heritage exists performatively—in music, dance, ritual, cooking—not as static objects. Authenticity lies in lived experience, not origin. Even silence—intergenerational transmission of migration trauma—is performative heritage, shifting from survival (first generation) to repetition (second) to rupture (third).
Both local communities and diaspora experts emphasized that hybridity is not dilution but strength; adaptation enables continuity; transnational networks sustain heritage across borders. Yet dominant heritage frameworks—designed for stability, materiality, and formal organization—systematically exclude these living, fluid practices.
The research employs 'experienced heritage research' methodology, integrating insider knowledge with critical analysis. Findings demonstrate fundamental mismatch between how postcolonial heritage functions and what current systems recognize. Genuine inclusion requires not adding voices but transforming frameworks: from conservation to co-creation, from institutional control to shared authority. Three evidence-based recommendations draw on both Dutch experiences and transnational diaspora insights.
Keywords: postcolonial heritage, diaspora knowledge, transnational heritage, living heritage, participatory research, performativity, colonial legacies, Netherlands