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Stefan Reyes MA

PhD candidate

Area(s) of interest: Colonialism & Postcolonialism, Dutch History, Early Modern History, Intellectual History & History of Ideas

Cohort/Start PhD: 2019-2020

Cape of Storms: The habitus, ideological clashes and accommodation among Cape slave crew communities from 1780-1806

Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam.
Promotor(es): Prof. Inger Leemans, dr. Erika Kuijpers
Aanstelling: vanaf 1 september 2019

I aim to investigate Cape Colony slave ships as emotional communities between 1780-1806. This was a revolutionary period of intense ideological diffusion and social upheavals that resonated throughout the Dutch Empire. There was tension between the slave masters, the VOC, and legislation from the Netherlands. I want to investigate how the conflict and accommodation between company interests, individual motives, revolutionary and other competing ideas were embodied in the habitus of the crew. My thesis for this project is: Revolutionary era Cape Colony slave ships were contested spaces between revolutionary, enlightenment, and pro-slavery ideologies.