NNI Scholars' Seminar
The New Netherland Institute hosts a zoom seminar where academics, public historians, and graduate students meet to discuss a piece of chapter or article length pre-circulated work on New Netherland and the Dutch Atlantic World. Moderated by NNI’s director, Dr. Deborah Hamer, the seminar meets four times per semester on Wednesdays from noon to 1:30 (EST). This time was selected to enable the participation of both American and European scholars.
At the seminar, participants discuss pre-circulated scholarly work of chapter or article length that is in progress. Attendees are expected to have read the work in advance of the seminar. Presenters offer a brief introduction to their papers, and the remainder of the time will be devoted to discussion. Scholars of all ranks, included graduate students, and public historians are warmly invited to attend and contribute to the discussions. As these papers are works in progress, please do not cite them outside of the seminar without first requesting the permission of the author.
Email NNI.Seminar@gmail.com to join the listserv. Papers and zoom links are circulated to the email list a week in advance of the seminar session. If you have a PhD or are a PhD candidate and you would like to present a paper related to New Netherland or the Dutch Atlantic World, please email NNI.Seminar@gmail.com with your CV and an abstract of the paper that you would like to present.
2023-2024
October 18, 2023: Hilde Neus, University of Suriname
Seventy Women of Color Against the Civil Guards, Suriname, 1778
November 15, 2023: Lou Roper, SUNY New Paltz
Poachers Turned Gamekeepers: The Guinea Company and How the English Empire Became a Matter of "State"
December 13, 2023: BJ Lillis, Princeton University
The Settler-Colonial Manor: Indigenous Landscapes and Enslaved Labor in the Creation of New York's Manors
January 17, 2024: Elizabeth Hines, University of Chicago
Anglo-Dutch Imperial Experiments
February 21, 2024: Esther Baakman, Radboud University
March 20, 2024: Stephanie Porras, Tulane University, and Aaron Hyman, Johns Hopkins University
April 16*, 2024: Simon Middleton, College of William & Mary
*please note that this meeting will be on Tuesday rather than our usual Wednesday.
The New Netherland Institute Seminar began in Fall 2021. Presenters and paper titles from past seminars:
Spring 2023
January 18: Joris van den Tol, Radboud University
A Network against the (first) Act of Navigation in the Anglo-Dutch Atlantic
February 22: Mark Meuwese, University of Winnipeg
The Indigenous peoples of Guyana and the Restructuring of the South Atlantic, 1645-1700
April 19: Jared Hardesty, Western Washington University
Two Sisters and a Suriname Plantation: Fairfield Estate, the Dutch Atlantic, and Rethinking New England Slavery
Fall 2022
September 14: Maeve Kane, University at Albany
The Capacious Sacrament of Necessity: Community Formation in Early American Godparentage Networks
October 19: Danny Noorlander, SUNY Oneonta
The Elephant and the Finch: A Musical History of the Early Slave Trade
November 16: Christopher Ebert, Brooklyn College, and Thiago Krause, Universidade
Federal do Estado do Rio de Janeiro
After the Fall (of Recife): Preserving and Recreating Dutch-Brazilian Ties in the South Atlantic, c. 1655-1730
December 14: Ayasha Guerin, University of British Columbia
Beavers and Boundaries: The Colonization of Manhattan
Spring 2022
February 16: Andrea Mosterman, University of New Orleans
Neither Enslaved nor Free: Conditional Manumissions and the Struggle for Freedom of New Netherland’s African Community
March 16: Melissa Morris University of Wyoming
Tobacco and Colonization in the mid-seventeenth century: New Netherland and beyond
April 20: Michael Oberg (SUNY Geneseo)
On Turtles Back and Ancestors
May 18: Timo McGregor MacMillan Center, Yale University
Protective Politics: Violence, Property, and Community in the Dutch Empire
Fall 2021
September 15: Evan Haefeli, Texas A&M University
Forging Peace despite the Covenant Chain: The Delaware Indian Scare of 1694
October 13: Erin Kramer, Trinity University
Brother Corlaer’s New House: Reorienting Mohawk-Dutch Spaces (1660-1686)
November 17: Mark Thompson, University of Groningen
Mattahorn's Dilemma
December 15: Wim Klooster, Clark University
A Petition to Keep New Netherland: Amsterdam’s Fear of English Ascendancy
Education
Books for Young Adults
Several books that paint a portrait of New Netherland for young adults
About the New Netherland Institute
For over three decades, NNI has helped cast light on America's Dutch roots. In 2010, it partnered with the New York State Office of Cultural Education to establish the New Netherland Research Center, with matching funds from the State of the Netherlands. NNI is registered as a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. Contributions are tax-deductible to the extent permitted by law. More
The New Netherland Research Center
Housed in the New York State Library, the NNRC offers students, educators, scholars and researchers a vast collection of early documents and reference works on America's Dutch era. More
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By supporting NNI you help increase awareness of the 17th century Dutch colony of New Netherland and its legacy in America.