Can UvA really use the name Kartini Room? This symposium gives UvA the benefit of the doubt
Still no white smoke for the Kartini Room. During a symposium on the name change of the VOC Room, the main discussion was whether the UvA can live up to the name Kartini Room. Pro-Palestine demonstrators, who arrived unannounced in the middle of the afternoon, certainly did not think so.
At the end of 2024, the name ‘Kartini Room’ received the most votes as a replacement for the ‘VOC Room’ in the Bushuis/Oost-Indisch Huis. Although the name has not yet been officially changed, there has been active discussion about the new name within the university ever since. The discussion about the name is part of a broader objective of the UvA to actively contribute to the process of decolonization. This was also the case during the ‘Kartini Room Symposium’, in which is explored why Kartini – as a pioneer of women’s rights and education in Indonesia (see box) – has been proposed as a possible new name for the VOC Room.
Raden Adjeng Kartini (1879–1904) was a Javanese aristocrat and pioneer in the struggle for women’s rights in the Dutch East Indies. She grew up at a time when girls from her social class were often married off at a young age and had little access to education. Kartini resisted this, taught herself Dutch, and began writing letters to intellectual and feminist Dutch people with her ideas about emancipation, education, and the position of women in Java.
After her early death—presumably in childbirth—her letters were posthumously published under the title Door Duisternis tot Licht (Through Darkness to Light). In Indonesia, her birthday is commemorated annually on April 21 as Hari Kartini, although this celebration is now viewed critically due to the simplification and commercialization of her legacy, as discussed by the guest speakers.
Reflecting on the past
It is time to ‘rethink, redesign, and reimagine’ the VOC room, according to Marieke de Goede, dean of the Faculty of Humanities. Although the history of the building where this symposium is taking place – the former headquarters of the VOC – cannot be changed, the power to question and reinterpret that history does lie in the present, according to De Goede.
During the symposium, it becomes clear that although the name ‘Kartini Room’ emerged as the favorite in the previous vote, it has not yet been officially adopted. Why the name has not yet been formally adopted remains unclear. Historian Lara Nuberg, who also wrote a book about Kartini, moderates the symposium and places Kartini’s legacy in context; as the first Indonesian woman whose letters, rich in feminist reflections, were published in Dutch.
During the symposium, someone from the audience asks whether the hall really deserves Kartini’s name – and whether the university is capable of living up to Kartini’s legacy. A valid question, according to one panel member in the ongoing discussion. The various guest speakers respond thoughtfully with a ‘yes, provided that’. If the new name is officially adopted, the UvA will have to continue to reflect on its colonial past and actively invest in the future of decolonial education. The name should not be a symbolic band-aid, but must be accompanied by structural changes in education, research, use of space, and institutional attitude, according to one of the speakers at the symposium.
Since the Diversity Commission led by Gloria Wekker reported in 2016 that the portrayal of colonial history was out of date, there has been discussion about the VOC Room. The meeting room was built in 1990 and is a reconstruction of the 16th-century VOC’s Directors Room. At the suggestion of Professor of Colonial History Remco Raben, the VOC Room was already given context bidding signs. However, some students felt that the space should be completely stripped of the reconstruction. After sustained criticism, the UvA closed the meeting room in 2022. A year later, the space reopened as a venue for, among other things, panel discussions and exhibitions on the colonial past.
A report by the Dekoloniale Dialogen@Humanities (Decolonial Dialogues@Humanities) program included a recommendation to change the name of the ‘VOC room’.
Shadows on the wall
In addition to the name, the appearance of the VOC room is also a point of concern. The current decorations are intended to replicate the meeting room of the VOC headquarters in the seventeenth century. Large works of art are placed near the fireplace, once a symbol of VOC grandeur. They are so large that they cast shadows on the wall behind them. This shadow is symbolic, representing the dark side of the Netherlands’ colonial past. The artists chosen are from Indonesia—again a reference to the desired decolonization.
And the large cabinet from the colonial era will be symbolically filled with anti-colonial literature. The doors of the monumental cabinet will be converted into benches where people can read the books and discuss the literature. The balustrades between the conference table and the rest of the room will also be removed—a symbolic attempt to break open the past instead of shielding it, as becomes clear during the symposium. After the presentation on how the space will look in the future with the name change, there is loud applause from the audience.
Disruption or addition?
Just as the afternoon symposium break begins, the doors open and pro-Palestine demonstrators unexpectedly enter the hall. The atmosphere in the room shifts noticeably and a tense atmosphere arises among those present during the break. Nevertheless, moderator Nuberg seizes the moment to make room for the protest: after a musical intermezzo, she officially gives the protesters the floor. “I am glad you are here to speak,” she says, “but we have a tight schedule and I would like to ask you to keep to ten minutes.”
The protesters speak out strongly against the term ‘postcolonial’, which they believe suggests that colonialism is a thing of the past, while in their view the UvA is still colonialist – among other things in the form of the ‘Zionist imperialism’ that the UvA allegedly supports. Despite the attempt to be postcolonial by renaming the VOC room, the protesters argue that the university is still actively colonial. The group calls for academic and economic boycotts and urges UvA employees to speak out publicly – or even resign if they do not actively oppose the violence.
The arrival of the pro-Palestine protesters caused the program to run late, forcing the speakers to shorten their contributions after the break. Nevertheless, several speakers saw the intervention not merely as a disruption, but as a valuable addition to the symposium. It is called a symbolic moment – an unexpected intervention that sharply exposed what the symposium was essentially about: that decolonization is not a finished story, but a continuous process in which friction, discomfort, and confrontation are not only inevitable but also necessary.
And now what?
The symposium ended without any clarity about when—or even if—the name ‘Kartini Room’ would be officially adopted. During the closing remarks, someone from the audience asked when the next discussion about the name change would take place. The question seemed to catch the speaker off guard. The audience was assured that a new discussion would take place, although no date had yet been set.
