Nieuwe Instituut
Nieuwe Instituut

Sonneveld House

The Afobaka Dam: A Crime Against Humanity

In a special gathering accompanying the exhibition Soengoe Kondre / Submerged Heritage, we reflect on the moment the Afobaka Dam in Brokopondo (Suriname) was completed 60 years ago, which flooded an area of 1,560 km2 and caused the mass displacement of the Maroon people who had previously lived there. Historians Sally Price and Richard Price will commemorate the moment in a special lecture about the history. There will also be a short dance performance from the theater performance Closed Eyes by Alida Dors (Theater Rotterdam). The lecture will be followed by a discussion with the curator of the exhibition, Vincent van Velsen.

1 February 2024 18:30 - 20:00

The Afobaka Dam: A Crime Against Humanity at the Nieuwe Instituut. 2 February 2024.

The power dam, which resulted in the flooding of 43 villages, was built to supply electricity to a single aluminium smelter, Suralco, to process the bauxite it mined. Sally Price and Richard Price argue that the construction of the dam and the resulting reservoir, and the continued mistreatment and forced migration of the Saramaka and Ndyuka people who lived in the area, constitute a crime.

Language: English | Location: Nieuwe Instituut | Tickets: € 10,-/5,-/0,-

Tickets

Sally Price and Richard Price.

Richard Price

Richard Price is an anthropologist and historian who has written extensively on Afro-descendant history and culture throughout the hemisphere, but particularly in Suriname. His award-winning books, translated into several languages, include First-Time, Alabi’s World, The Convict and the Colonel, Travels with Tooy, Rainforest Warriors and, most recently with Sally Price, Saamaka Dreaming and Maroons in Guyane. His latest book is a memoir: Inside/Outside: Adventures in Caribbean History and Anthropology.

Sally Price

Sally Price has written extensively on aspects of African diaspora cultures, from Harlem and the American South to the Amazonian rainforest, particularly in Suriname. But she is best known for two critical studies of the place of ‘primitive art’ in the ‘Western’ imagination: Primitive Art in Civilized Places (published in eight languages, including Dutch), and Paris Primitive: Jacques Chirac’s Museum on the Quai Branly. She is an elected member of the Koninklijke Nederlandse Akademie van Wetenschappen in the Netherlands and a Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres in France.

Closed Eyes (Theater Rotterdam)

A young man descends to the place where the call is audible to him: in the depths of the Surinamese Brokopondo reservoir, where his ancestors once lived. With poetic dance, film images, stirring live music and powerful spoken word by Alida Dors, seven dancers and three musicians immerse you in a magical parallel universe. Closed Eyes is an invitation to be guided by your dreams, in a world between past and present and future. For inspiration, Alida Dors went to Suriname with a crew. They filmed above Ganzee, the village of her ancestors, which disappeared under the water of the reservoir. "My ancestors dreamed for their grandchildren. I wanted to go back to the place where they dreamed those dreams. Where they lived."

Please note: this theatre performance is in Dutch.

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