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Susan Legêne

Susan Legène
Susan Legène

(1955) is a historian and professor of political history at the Vrije Universiteit in Amsterdam. Legêne has published numerous lectures and articles, including on the interface between (colonial) history and museology. In 2010 her publication Spiegelreflex: culturele sporen van de koloniale ervaring (Mirror reflex: cultural traces of the colonial experience) appeared. From 1985, Legêne was attached to the Royal Tropical Institute, since 1997 as Head of Museum Affairs at the Tropenmuseum. In addition, Legêne is a member of the National UNESCO Commission and a member of the Ethical Code Committee for Museums. She is project leader of the Indonesian/Dutch research project Sites, Bodies & Stories (The Dynamics of Heritage Formation in Colonial & Postcolonial Indonesia & the Netherlands), on the relationship between heritage, image processes, citizenship and national identity. She also participates in the research project Agora/The semantics of History, on digital access to heritage collections and historical awareness.

(WN 2020)

Archive available for: Susan Legêne

  • Video
    Winternachten 2020 – Friday Night Unlimited

    Art Deco - liberating the Arts

    How do musicians, (visual) artists and curators deal with decolonization? How does it influence, enrich or hinder their work?

    During the Friday Night Unlimited program, several events will focus on the decolonization of the mind. How free is our mind, what does freedom mean, and are we truly free, or caught in the framework of our culture, society and history? This theme is party based on the essay collection Decolonizing the Mind by the Kenyan writer Ngugi wa Thiong'o, in which he discusses colonized language and how its influence is still notable. Since he believes that language plays a constructive role in culture, history and identity, he argues for "lingustic decolonization".

    In this second event, Simon(e) van Saarloos discusses this subject with actor and writer Akwasi, with poet, visual artist and activist Quinsy Gario and with Susan Legène, Professor of Political History at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam.