Lecture | Global Histories of Knowledge Seminar
In Search of a Homo Economicus Javanicus. From J. H. Boeke to Clifford Geertz.
- Date
- Thursday 11 December 2025
- Time
- Serie
- Global Histories of Knowledge 2025 - 2026
- Address
-
Herta Mohr
Witte Singel 27A
2311 BG Leiden - Room
- 1.80
Dr. Remco Ensel, Associate professor at the Radboud Institute for Culture and History will talk about his book 'Kennis die knecht' on the coloniality of twentieth century economic theories about the ‘homo economicus Javanicus’.
Abstract
In 1910, the eccentric economist Julius Boeke travelled to Indonesia, a country whose inhabitants, he believed, lacked a desire to work, a spirit of thrift and an entrepreneurial spirit. Boeke and his colleagues were tasked with translating the insights of the relatively new science of economics into colonial policy. Following Indonesia's independence, Boeke handed over responsibility to the American anthropologist Clifford Geertz and his colleagues to implement the so-called 'Western' economic habitus.
Bio
Remco Ensel is an Associate Professor of Cultural History at Radboud University and a senior researcher on antisemitism at the NIOD Institute for War, Holocaust and Genocide Studies. He specializes in the history of culture, science, and collective ideas about humanity and society. His specific areas of interest include memory and cultural memory, the role of culture in processes of inclusion and exclusion, and the culture of modernity. In particular, he has conducted research on the history of historiography, anthropology, economics, folklore studies, nationalism, racism, and antisemitism.