Subversive Seas
Anticolonial Networks across the Twentieth-Century Dutch Empire

This revealing portrait of the Dutch Empire repositions our understanding of modern empires from the terrestrial to the oceanic. It highlights the importance of shipping, port cities, and maritime culture to the political struggles of the 1920s and 30s. Port cities such as Jeddah, Shanghai, and Batavia were hotbeds for the spread of nationalism, communism, pan-Islamism, and pan-Asianism, and became important centers of opposition to Dutch imperialism through the circulation of passengers, laborers, and religious pilgrims. In response to growing maritime threats, the Dutch government and shipping companies attempted to secure oceanic spaces and maintain hegemony abroad through a web of control. Techniques included maritime policing networks, close collaboration with British and French surveillance entities ashore, and maintaining segregation on ships, which was meant to 'teach' those on board their position within imperial hierarchies. This innovative study exposes how anti-colonialism was shaped not only within the terrestrial confines of metropole and colony, but across the transoceanic spaces in between.

Reviews & endorsements

'Alexanderson demonstrates that we cannot understand imperialism by simply focusing on the terrestrial claims of colonial powers. Rather, she reveals the myriad ways maritime networks, including actual ships themselves, helped define colonial structures and also provided unique, cosmopolitan spaces of connection for colonial subjects. Subversive Seas makes crucial contributions to Southeast Asian history, maritime history, and transnational/world history.' Heather Streets-Salter, Northeastern University, Massachusetts

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Product details

• Date Published: April 2019
• format: Hardback
• isbn: 9781108472029
• length: 312 pages

• dimensions: 235 x 159 x 20 mm
• weight: 0.65kg
• contains: 16 b/w illus. 1 map
• availability: In stock