Buku / Bibliotheca Surinamica
Buku - Bibliotheca Surinamica is a private collection of Surinamica; books, photographs, paintings, etchings, manuscripts and ephemera. All items are related to the history of Suriname. Each book or photo tells a story of a long neglected past. Only in recent years has interest for this past begun to emerge. The history of Suriname is in fact Dutch, or in a broader perspective, European history. Suriname and its former colonizer, the Netherlands, share a common past.
The aim of Buku is to document this history in which the African, Jewish, Indian, Javanese, and Chinese diasporas are interwoven with European colonial expansion, and all together superimposed on the already present Amerindian heritage. The Surinamica collections of the University of Amsterdam (UvA), the Koninklijk Instituut voor de Tropen (KIT) and the Koninklijk Instituut voor Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde (KITLV) are internationally renowned. Worldwide there are a few private collections of Surinamica, unknown to the public, but of equal quality to those found in museums.
Region
Buku / Bibliotheca Surinamica is an ongoing project. Buku often acts as a catalyst for, and supports academic studies, journalistic research, literary and arts projects. Buku tries to reach a broader audience by offering both new and antiquarian books, as well as reproductions of old prints, and postcards at cultural and literary festivals. The website www.buku.nl is regularly updated with new material. Often scholars are offered space to publish their articles. New themes are added on a regular basis (the most recent being children's books for example). Buku currently is working on a book with 250 picture-postcards from around 1900, in Suriname. The construction and expansion of the website continues.
The list of publications, exhibitions and cultural events to which Buku has contributed is long. Just to mention a few: Art exhibition in Arnhem in 2002; The Albert Helman exhibition and presentation at the KIT in Amsterdam 2003; Cooperation with the NiNsee (especially with regard to their permanent exhibition, since 2005). The Buku / Bibliotheca library is increasingly being consulted by the larger public.
The aim of Buku is to document this history in which the African, Jewish, Indian, Javanese, and Chinese diasporas are interwoven with European colonial expansion, and all together superimposed on the already present Amerindian heritage. The Surinamica collections of the University of Amsterdam (UvA), the Koninklijk Instituut voor de Tropen (KIT) and the Koninklijk Instituut voor Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde (KITLV) are internationally renowned. Worldwide there are a few private collections of Surinamica, unknown to the public, but of equal quality to those found in museums.
Region
Buku / Bibliotheca Surinamica is an ongoing project. Buku often acts as a catalyst for, and supports academic studies, journalistic research, literary and arts projects. Buku tries to reach a broader audience by offering both new and antiquarian books, as well as reproductions of old prints, and postcards at cultural and literary festivals. The website www.buku.nl is regularly updated with new material. Often scholars are offered space to publish their articles. New themes are added on a regular basis (the most recent being children's books for example). Buku currently is working on a book with 250 picture-postcards from around 1900, in Suriname. The construction and expansion of the website continues.
The list of publications, exhibitions and cultural events to which Buku has contributed is long. Just to mention a few: Art exhibition in Arnhem in 2002; The Albert Helman exhibition and presentation at the KIT in Amsterdam 2003; Cooperation with the NiNsee (especially with regard to their permanent exhibition, since 2005). The Buku / Bibliotheca library is increasingly being consulted by the larger public.
Buku is fully independent but often cooperates with other organizations such as:
" Stichting Instituut ter Bevordering van de Surinamistiek (IBS)
" Nationaal instituut Nederlands slavernijverleden en erfenis (NiNsee)
" Vereniging Ons Suriname
" Werkgroep Caribische Letteren van de Maatschappij der Nederlandse Letterkunde
Contact details
Carl Haarnack
Postbus 3432
1001 AE Amsterdam
surinamica@gmail.com www.buku.nl
tel 020- 77 53 248 or 06 300 88 159