Colonial historiography reproduced administrative maps that erased mixed-ethnic encampments

Evidence

The fact that there is no trace of these encampments in the colonial his- toriography of Sumatra’s East Coast—or in more recent histories—merits reflection. Colonial historiography arguably followed the administrative maps that demarcated Aceh from Deli and that distinguished what was feared to be a belligerent “Islamic stronghold” from a region of intensive capitalist venture. But these distinctions made for purpose of governance were not maintained in practice. In working from this sharply differenti- ated administrative and cognitive map, Valck found certain kinds of rela- tions among these groups at once logically inconsistent and inadmissible as he sought to piece together the events leading up to and subsequent to the Luhmann family murders. — Ann Laura Stoler, Along the Archival Grain_ Epistemic…, 1096

Categorization

Category: Causal Relationships

• XREF: Directly instantiates the reader’s stated focus on epistemic anxieties — map/framework imposing what is admissible as knowledge.
• QUESTION: Worth chasing: what contemporary historiography of Sumatra’s East Coast says about these encampments, and whether any subsequent histories recovered them.

Related

• Administrative maps shaped which colonial events historians recorded (similarity 0.90)

Broader Connections

• Colonial historiography inherited administrative map distinctions its practice violated #corroborates (0.70)
• Jungle encampments held a multiethnic underclass defying neat colonial ethnic categories #corroborates (0.65)
• Poor mixed-race Europeans were erased from both colonial and postcolonial Indonesian historiography #corroborates (0.60)
• Colonial ethnic categories broke down under acts both personal and political #qualifies (0.50)