Tjitske Lingsma

(Tilburg, 1960) won the Dick Scherpenzeel prize in 2008 with Het Verdriet van Ambon. Een geschiedenis van de Molukken (The sorrow of Ambon. A history of the Moluccas). The jury decided it had seldom seen 'such a sound example of travel journalism giving meaning. In her acceptance speech Lingsma criticised the media, who are less and less interested in foreign journalism. Later her book was published in English. After having graduated in Dutch language and literature and communication studies Lingsma first worked with Inter Press Sevice and NPS radio. In 1999 she left for Asia to report on the referendum in East Timor and the war on the Moluccas for among others Amnesty International, the Dutch daily paper AD, Elsevier and CNN. From 2001 to 2002 she worked as a public relations official on the constituent assembly of East Timor. In addition to working as a freelance journalist for the BBC, VPRO and the Dutch weekly Vrij Nederland, she now studies criminology at the Free University in Amsterdam.
(nov 2010)Archive available for: Tjitske Lingsma
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The Other Colonial History
Belgium had Belgian-Congo; the Netherlands had the Dutch East Indies. Both countries look back at this with shame and nostalgia. David van Reybrouck and Reggie Baay try to set themselves free from the creation of an image by looking for the perspective of the people in the countries who were witnesses of history. Historian Tjitske Lingsma, author of the Sorrow of Ambon, talks with them about their quest for the Other History of the colonies. In Dutch.