On 27 January 2027, Posthumus alumnus Hanna te Velde will defend the PhD thesis ‘Women and the Making of the Dutch Colonial World. Everyday Strategies, Agency and Differences in Work, Family and Finance, c. 1700-1800’ at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. Supervisors are Professor Ulbe Bosma (IISH and VU Amsterdam) and Dr Matthias van Rossum (IISH and Radboud University).

In her PhD project ‘Colonial Girl Power’, funded by the Professor van Winter Fonds, Hanna studied the socio-economic position of women in the early modern Dutch empire. By using court cases from the newly digitized archives of the VOC and WIC, she will study the many, various ways in which women tried to improve their position – unfree as well as free women, with European and non-European backgrounds. The project focusses on four case studies in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries: Batavia, Cochin, Paramaribo and Willemstad.

Those who wish to attend the defence in person, please RSVP by 15 January, using this form.  Please note that the defence ceremony will be in the Auditorium at the VU Amsterdam, De Boelelaan 1105. It will also be possible to watch the defence online via livestream.

The N.W. Posthumus Institute staff wishes Hanna a successful defence!.