Abstract

This chapter examines the school curriculum as a channel of imperial propaganda. It centres on what Bernard Porter identified (in his exchange on popular imperialism with John MacKenzie) as the problem of writing propaganda history. A huge amount of imperial propaganda may imply that it must have had some success, or, alternatively, it may indicate that the propaganda was unsuccessful, and that hence so much of it was employed. Here, I argue that the case of Dutch schools and imperial propaganda veers towards the latter option: the narrative of imperial history in textbooks was uninspired, and private initiatives (like the so-called classroom collections, or schoolverzamelingen) had some reach but ultimately became dust catchers in school attics. Thus, imperial propaganda in Dutch schools struck a delicate balance: there was enough of it to install a latent imperial mindset in children, which could later be activated if they opted for an imperial career, but all the same its relative unassuming position within the curriculum meant that ideological notions of hierarchy between metropole and colony were respected.

Keywords: imperial propaganda, maps, school curriculum, Koloniaal Museum, textbooks