•  
  •  
 

Abstract

This article presents the postcolonial analysis of the travel account and guidebook of Marius Buys (1837-1906), a Dutch clergyman. He not only devoted himself as a priest but also travelled in several parts of the Dutch East Indies, such as Java, Sumatra, and Sulawesi in the years 1878-1885. After returning to the Netherlands due to illness in 1885, he returned to the Indies in 1886 and was assigned to Kalimantan, Sumatra, and Java. In May 1887 he posted in Bandung West Java (the Preanger regencies), where he remained until his return to the Netherlands in 1890. As a result of his serving in the Preanger regencies (1878-1890), Marius Buys published Batavia, Buitenzorg en de Preanger. Gids voor Bezoekers en Toeristen (1891), the travel guidebook for travellers and tourists. His experiences in Preanger were also recorded in his travel account In het hart der Preanger (1900). The clergyman’s perspective as a tourist and traveller for the indigenous peoples and colony in his travel text and guide book are analysed by using the concepts of Esme Cleall (2012) about European missionaries thinking in British empire in Asia and Africa in the nineteenth century.

References

Algemeen Handelsblad. 1906. “M. Buys”, 5 June.

Aritonang, Jan Sihar and Karel Steenbrink (eds). 2008. A history of Christianity in Indonesia. Leiden / Boston, MA: Brill.

Artaria, D. Myrtati. 2017. “Tooth filing in Surabayan Javanese and Balinese: a change in tradition”, in: Scott E. Burnet and Joel D. Irish (eds), A world view of bioculturally modified teeth, pp. 182-192. Florida, FL: University Press of Florida.

Bamualim, Chaider S. 2015. Negotiating Islamisation and resistance: a study of religions, politics, and social change in West Java from early 20th century to the present. PhD thesis, Universiteit Leiden.

Bataviaasch Nieuwsblad. 1887. Advertentie. 1 June.

Bataviaasch Nieuwsblad. 1935. “50 Jaren Bataviaasch Nieuwsblad, 1885-1935”.

Bel, Jacquline. 2015. “De eeuwige natuur op Java; Aanstekelijke reisverhalen van Franz Wilhelm Junghuhn”, in: Rick Honings and Peter van Zonneveld (eds), Een tint van het Indische Oosten: Reizen in Insulinde 1800–1950, pp. 71-84. Hilversum: Verloren.

Berge, Tom van den. 1998. Karel Frederik Holle; Theplanter in Indie 1829-1896. Amsterdam: Bert Bakker.

Boorstin, Daniel J. 1992. The image; A guide to pseudo-events in America. New York, NY: Vintage Books.

Brugmans, Izaak Johannes. 1938. Geschiedenis van het onderwijs in Nederlandsch-Indië. Groningen-Batava: J.B. Wolters.

Buys, Marius. 1886. Twee jaren op Sumatra’s Westkust. Amsterdam: A. Akkeringa.

Buys, Marius. 1891. Batavia, Buitenzorg en de Preanger; Gids voor bezoekers en toeristen. Batavia: G. Kolff.

Buys, Marius. 1892. Twee maanden op Borneo’s westkust. Leiden: S.C. van Doesbrugh.

Buys, Marius. 1900. In het hart der Preanger. Leiden: S.C. van Doesbrugh.

Carey, Peter. 2008. The power of prophecy; Prins Dipanegara and the end of an old order in Java, 1785-1855. Leiden: KITLV Press.

Cleall, Esme. 2012. Missionary discourse of difference; Negotiating Otherness in the British Empire, 1840-1900. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.

Cribb, Robert. 1995. “International tourism in Java, 1900-1930”, South East Asia Research 3(2): 193-204.

Dagblad van Zuidholland en ‘s Gravenhage. 1868. Kerk- en Schoolnieuws, 18 October.

De Amsterdammer. 1883. Kerk. “Hervormde Kerk”, 18 January.

De Locomotief. 1887. Benoemingen. “Civiel Department”, 20 May.

Dijk, Kees van. 1997. “Sarong, jubbah, and trousers; Appearance as a means of distriction and discrimination”, in: Henk Schulte Nordholt (ed.), Outward appearances; Dressing state and society in Indonesia, pp. 39-83. Leiden: KITLV Press.

Fussel, Paul. 1980. Abroad; British literary traveling between the wars. Oxford / New York, NY: Oxford University Press.

Gouda, Frances. 1995. Dutch culture overseas; Colonial practice in the Netherlands Indies 1900-1942. Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press.

Haan, Frederik de. 1910. Priangan: de Preanger-Regentschappen onder het Nederlandsche Bestuur tot 1811. Part 1. Batavia: Bataviaasch Genootschap van Kunsten en Wetenschappen.

Het nieuws van den dag. 1890. Ned-Oost Indië, 24 February.

Honings, Rick. 2015. “Een kind in de kolonie; De tienjarige Anna Abrahamsz op Java”, in: Rick Honings and Peter van Zonneveld (eds), Een tint van het Indische Oosten; Reizen in Insulinde 1800-1950, pp. 107-117. Hilversum: Verloren.

Honings, Rick. 2022. “A Preacher’s perspective; Sytze Roorda van Eysinga’s representation of the Dutch East Indies”, Bijdragen tot de Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde 178: 38-66.

Jákl, Jiří. 2021. Alcohol in early Java; Its social and cultural significance. Leiden / Boston, MA: Brill

Java Bode. 1877. Koninklijke Besluiten, 5 September.

Kartodirdjo, Sartono. 1966. The peasants’ revolt in Banten 1888; Its condition, course and sequel. ‘s-Gravenhage: Martinus Nijhoff. [Verhandelingen van het KITLV 50.]

Kielstra, Egbert Broer. 1886. “Ter westkust van Sumatra”, De Gids 50: 268-306.

Kielstra, Egbert Broer. 1906. “Levensbericht van Marius Buys 1 September 1837-2 Juni 1906”, Jaarboek van de Maatschappij der Nederlandse Letterkunde: 180-186.

Koshar, Rudy. 1998. “What ought to be seen: tourists’ guidebook and national identities in modern Germany and Europe”, Journal Contemporary History 33(3): 323-340.

Mulyana, Agus. 2005. Melintasi pegunungan, pedataran, hingga rawa-rawa: pembangunan jalan kereta api di Priangan 1878-1924. PhD thesis, Universitas Indonesia.

Opregte Haarlemsche Courant. 1883. Oost-Indische Berigten, 17 January.

Opregte Haarlemsche Courant. 1887. Nederlandsch Indië, 30 June.

Opregte Haarlemsche Courant, 5 and 6 September 1888.

Pols, Hans. 2018. Nurturing Indonesia; Medicine and decolonisation in the Dutch East Indies. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Pratt, Mary Louise. 1992. Imperial eyes; Travel writing and transculturation. London / New York, NY: Routledge.

Ricklefs, Merle Calvin. 2007. Polarizing Javanese society; Islamic and other visions c.1830-1930. Singapore: NUS Press.

Rojek, Chris. 1993. Ways of escape; Modern transformation in leisure and travel. London: Macmillan.

Staatsblad van Nederlandsch Indië, 6 July 1859, No. 42.

Sumatra Courant. 1884. Officiëele Berichten, 17 May.

Sunjayadi, Achmad. 2019. Pariwisata di Hindia-Belanda (1891-1942). Jakarta: EFEO-Kepustakaan Populer Gramedia.

Termorshuizen, Gerard. 1988. P.A. Daum; Journalist en romancier van tempo doeloe. Amsterdam: Nijgh & Van Ditmar.

Termorshuizen, Gerard. 2001. Journalisten en heethoofden; Een geschiedenis van de Indisch-Nederlandse dagbladpers 1744-1905. Amsterdam / Leiden: Nijgh & Van Ditmar / KITLV uitgeverij.

Tovianen, Mikko Samuli. 2019. Colonial tours; The leisure and anxiety of empire in travel writing from Java, Ceylon, and the straits settlements, 1840–1875. PhD thesis, European University Institute, Florence.

Youngs, Tim (ed.). 2006. Travel writing in the nineteenth century; Filling the blank spaces. London / New York, NY / Delhi: Anthem Press.

Youngs, Tim. 2017. Travellers in Africa; British travelogues, 1850-1900. Manchester: Manchester University Press.

Download

Share

COinS