Citation

Kloos D. Bijdragen tot de Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde 2014; 170(1): 25-65.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2014)

DOI

10.1163/22134379-17001003

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

This article investigates the ways in which the Dutch colonial state dealt with a phenomenon known as the Atjeh-moorden ('Aceh murders'), the persistent suicide-attacks directed at the lives of Dutch residents, committed by Acehnese hoping to become syahid (martyrs to the Islamic faith). Concentrating on the development of colonial psychiatry, and its influence on colonial discourses and practices, I show how Dutch dealings with the Atjeh-moorden were, simultaneously, part and parcel of the construction of an Acehnese subject, and indicative of the administrative ambivalence found in the approach of the colonial state toward violence and criminality. © David Kloos 2014.

Language: en

Keywords

Islam; Violence; Psychiatry; Colonialism; Aceh