information network, the flow of information was disjunctive. The colonial state
enforced the delivery of information. In analysing the archives created by the
colonial apparatus and by reconstructing the velocity of the information, we
will be able to detect the multi-stage and multi-layered information systems and
the ramified networks of colonial information. Information was not static, but
changed every time it was used, aggregated and forwarded. By researching the
structures of the networks we can perhaps find out how the 'man on the spot'
was connected to the administrative colonial hubs in the East Indies and, via the
network, also to the Netherlands. By studying the content of the information
that was sent via the different lines of the network, we might be able to learn
more about the real substance of the archives. Colonial servants gathered local
knowledge, then codified and translated it into the language of the state.
The deeper the state wanted to intervene, the more information was required.
By doing this, these colonial administrators produced files, censuses, statistics,
maps and memoranda, which formed the raw material for the making of colonial
policy. Extensive research in the archives and knowledge of the archives creation
at the nodes and connectors of the information networks may shed more light on
the question what kind of information was transferred and how the meaning of
the archival documents changed in the fluid processes of information exchange.
Abbreviations
NA Nationaal Archief (National Archive) The Hague
ANRI Arsip Nasional Republik Indonesia Jakarta
(National Archive of Indonesia)
60
COLONIAL LEGACY IN SOUTH EAST ASIA -
THE DUTCH ARCHIVES
