PUBLICATIONS

"We Remember, That is our Way of Fighting Back”: Remembrance, Cultural Activism, and Hopeful Futures Among Moluccan Youth in the Netherlands

MSc Thesis | University of Amsterdam | 2025

This thesis examines how Moluccan youth in the Netherlands remember the collective past through hopeful practices of cultural resistance, shaping contemporary youth identities, asserting a Moluccan presence, and imagining alternative futures within Dutch postcolonial society. Through the case studies of third- and fourth-generation Moluccan youth in Amsterdam and Capelle aan den IJssel, this ethnographic study explores how they interact with their ancestral Alifuru heritage and relate to memories of displacement and Moluccan struggles for recognition. This includes the analysis of lived experiences and evoked emotions regarding the perceived erasure of Moluccan histories, fears for the loss of Moluccan neighborhoods and cultural transmission, and their connection to the struggle for independence related to the Republic of the South Moluccas (RMS), as well as colonial injustices. Furthermore, this thesis examines how youth engage with practices of cultural activism rooted in Moluccan cultural heritage to honor their ancestral legacy, establish visibility, and reclaim and reaffirm Moluccan spaces, thereby amplifying Indigenous narratives within the broader Dutch postcolonial landscape.

LATU MAE RISSA: Leader Come to War! An Autoethnography of Colonization and
Post-colonization

BA (Honors) Thesis | Western Michigan University | 2024

Latu Mae Rissa: Leader Come to War! An Autoethnography of Colonialization and Post-colonization is an undergraduate honors thesis that examines the effects and aftermath of Dutch colonialism regarding the Moluccan community through oral history, and unique narratives from four generations in the family Latumaerissa in the Netherlands. The generational narratives capture the indigenous Moluccan experience during the Dutch colonial and postcolonial eras. The findings in this thesis indicate that the Dutch colonial past and the historical events that occurred during and after Dutch decolonization function as significant Moluccan identity markers as they influenced the Moluccan being through intergenerational trauma which is felt and passed down as the ‘pain of the Moluccan’. Nonetheless, the stories in this thesis serve as a living testimony of Moluccan resilience and strength through forced displacement, historical challenges, and oppression.

PUBLIC SCHOLARSHIP

Postcolonial? Exhibition — House of European History, European Parliament

My personal story, “Leah Latumaerissa: A Broken Promise of the Dutch Government,” is featured in the Postcolonial? Exhibition at the House of European History, a co-initiative of the European Parliament.

This collaboration grew out of my undergraduate honors thesis, LATU MAE RISSA: Leader Come to War! (2024), which examined Moluccan identity, (post-)colonial memory, and family history through autoethnographic inquiry.

The contribution explores how Dutch colonialism shaped my family history and the broader Moluccan community in the Netherlands. Featured materials include photographs of my great-grandparents, Costantina and Ekleopas Latumaerissa. In addition to my great-grandfather’s military medals, reflecting his service in the Royal Netherlands East Indies Army (KNIL) and his contributions to the Republic of the South Moluccas.

The exhibition presents eight personal stories through audiovisual materials and related objects, highlighting different perspectives on colonial history, its complexity, and its continuing legacies.

Visit the Postcolonial? Exhibition between: 17 April 2026 – 14 March 2027

House of European History

European Parliament

60 rue Wiertz

B-1047 Brussels, Belgium