Some colonial observers condemned imitation-Europeans and instead urged preserving native cultural roots.
Evidence
If people want the native (den Inlander) in general to share in Western civilization, then one should guard against fostering imitation-Europeans [imitatie], hybrids with no inner strength, useless in the Netherlands as in the East-Indies itself… . What the Indies needs is not a generation of imitation-Europeans, but of developed natives who along with a broad knowledge of the old Indies civilization and culture have learned as much as possible from Western culture, who would appreciate its benefits without losing contact with their own people. — Ann Laura Stoler, Along the Archival Grain_ Epistemic…, 660
Categorization
Category: Factual Claims
- XREF: Direct resonance with the ‘mimic men’ problematic in postcolonial theory (Fanon, Bhabha) — colonized subjects marked as defective copies of Europeans.
- SEED: This colonial quotation is a striking primary source for the perennial ‘hybridity vs. authenticity’ debate in postcolonial studies — could anchor an essay.