His Surinamese neighbours in Amsterdam gave Russia expert and economic historian Isaac Scarborough an idea: a re-evaluation of the Surinamese economy in the twentieth century. An NWO XS grant will enable him to make a start on this.
'When the discussion about Suriname's independence was held in the last century, the economy was often cited as an argument,' says Scarborough. 'Suriname would be an enormous financial burden for the Netherlands, but in fact it was never assessed whether this was actually true.'
Creating an overview
It is known that in the twentieth century, Suriname developed from an agricultural economy to an economy based first on bauxite mining and then largely on gold. However, the economic value of this is calculated differently each time. After Queen Juliana signed the Charter for the Kingdom in 1954, which gave Suriname an equal place in the Kingdom, the extent to which Suriname was seen as part of the Dutch economy varied.
'What was produced, what was its value, and how was that calculated?', Scarborough summarises. 'I will first analyse the economic reality, and then I'll make a comparison with the political debate in The Hague. Did Suriname indeed cost more than it yielded?'
Global perspective
It seems like an unusual research choice for someone who so far has mainly focused on the Soviet Union, but, according to Scarborough, the transition is more marginal than it might seem. 'I previously conducted similar research into Tajikistan's position within the Soviet Union, looking at financial transactions and the economic development of the region. I now want to establish a similar baseline for Suriname.'
During the year covered by the NWO XS grant, Scarborough wants to create a dataset containing the most important economic data. 'I hope to use this to demonstrate the value of this project and to formulate interesting questions for follow-up research.'
Ideally, Scarborough would then like to place Suriname in a global perspective, comparing the country with other former colonies. 'It would be nice to see what similarities there are between them and how such processes have played out in a larger context.'
