Millions Granted for Traumascapes Research

Across the Netherlands and former Dutch colonies many traumascapes can be found: places marked by persecution, repression, war, slavery or environmental harm. These include concentration camps, colonial-era plantations and even the Groningen gas field. Each of these sites is associated with collective historical trauma.

One aim of the project is to identify traumascapes, some of which have been forgotten, have disappeared or were never recognised as meaningful, Professor of Landscape Archaeology Jan Kolen explains. He is leading the project alongside Hayley Mickleburgh, Assistant Professor of Digital Archaeology at the University of Amsterdam.

Kolen and Mickleburgh believe that researching traumascapes will deepen our understanding of how groups relate to the past. 'There is rarely one collective trauma associated with these places', says Kolen. 'Take Westerbork concentration camp, for example. It is linked with the persecution of Jews, Sinti and Roma. But after the war, the camp was used to house Moluccan families, who had been painted a different picture of what to expect in the Netherlands. You could say they were marginalised. And yet people who lived there have fond memories of the Moluccan community there.'

Environmental damage

The research will explore not only places tied to human memory but also landscapes where nature itself was targeted for damage or destruction. 'During the Second World War, genocide often went hand in hand with the degradation or even destruction of the environments people depended on, including natural landscapes', says Kolen.

The team will also investigate landscapes where state intervention led to the exploitation of natural resources, such as the gas fields in Groningen. 'In these regions, a sense of marginalisation has grown over the past century and into the present. Damage to homes, villages and the natural environment often goes unacknowledged, with no compensation. Yet, at the same time, there is a strong sense of pride in the landscape.'

Another focus is traumascapes linked to the colonial past, such as the large-scale deforestation of Bonaire during colonial rule. The colonial legacy of this environmental exploitation has contributed to intergenerational trauma. 'This legacy makes it harder for local communities to accept and engage with current efforts around reforestation and biodiversity protection', says Mickleburgh.

Interdisciplinary research

This six-year project brings together archaeologists, historians, geographers, psychologists, neuroscientists and civil society organisations. Their approach combines a range of methods from archaeological and technical methods, such as soil scans and aerial photography, to archival research, community-based investigations and artistic projects such as dance and theatre.

The team will also use 'emotion networks', a method that brings together people from different backgrounds to share what a place means to them. The goal is not to debate but to foster understanding of one another's feelings and perspectives. Through this approach, the researchers aim to make traumascapes more accessible and inclusive. For example, descendants of members of the Dutch National Socialist Movement often feel excluded from memorial sites like Westerbork, even though they too may carry pain and feelings of guilt. Emotion networks can create a deeper understanding of why certain places are important to certain groups.

Future

Understanding traumascapes is also important for the future. 'These kinds of places are still being created today, says Kolen. 'Insights from the past can help us approach such sites differently once a conflict has ended.'

The researchers can see how traumascapes are often avoided for long periods. They may be neglected, cleared or destroyed and erased. 'That isn't usually done with bad intentions, but rather as a way of trying to tidy up the past', says Kolen.

Yet traumascapes can help communities come to terms with trauma. 'We want to explore how, in the future, we can engage with groups who once stood in opposition - or even side by side - during a conflict. They have very different experiences of landscapes and wish to engage with them in different ways, be it through preservation or destruction. We hope to bring people closer together and to use research to offer new alternatives. The conversation doesn't have to be so polarised.'

Picture: National Monument at Westerbork