Many native people knew of assaults in advance though few participated

Evidence

Valck represents the Gayos as avengers, not thieves. Specific Europeans are targeted for assault, while others are informed in advance that they will go unharmed: “Mr Thompson [of the Ayer Ham estate] later told me repeat- edly that an inlander not belonging on his estate had told him that same day that he had nothing to fear since nobody had anything against him.” Here again, Valck insists that the attacks were strategically directed and planned. He makes no comment, however, on a more unsettling implica- tion: that many more people from Sumatra’s subject populations knew in advance about the assaults than those who actively participated in them. — Ann Laura Stoler, Along the Archival Grain_ Epistemic…, 1192

Categorization

Category: Factual Claims

• QUESTION: What does it mean that native communities had anticipatory knowledge but Valck never asked how — suggesting communal sanction or leakage Valck’s frame excluded?

Related

• Wider native knowledge of planned attacks suggests communal tolerance of anti-planter violence. (similarity 0.90)
• Wide native foreknowledge of attacks exceeded the circle of actual participants (similarity 0.86)