Institute for History Annual Report 2010 - O - Universiteit Leiden

economic machine with unrivalled credit facilities
and a myriad of commodities and distribution
channels. This project aims to analyze how the
Dutch networks functioned in this Atlantic world
system and to explain to what extent and why
these networks changed during this period. The
analysis relates to the circulation of people and
goods as well as to that of ideas. The project will
not only generate more insight into the relevance
of the Atlantic dimension to Dutch history, but
will also contribute to the rapidly expanding
international field of ‘Atlantic history’ at large. The
research will focus on four (clusters of) pivotal
centres at both sides of the Atlantic
(Amsterdam/Rotterdam; Paramaribo; Curaçao/ St.
Eustatius; Elmina). Each of these centres is
considered to be a major junction in the flow of
people, goods and ideas connecting the three continents
of the Dutch Atlantic and its multinational
environment. The project will result in a
synthesizing monograph and an edited volume,
two monographs, a number of articles in
international and national journals, two doctoral
dissertations (one of which primarily financed
from other sources), a number of papers at
international conferences, and digital databases.
These publications will be mostly in English in
order to contribute to the burgeoning field of
Atlantic studies.
Encountering A Common Past in Asia
(ENCOMPASS)
Leonard Blussé, Wim van den Doel, Jos
Institute for History
107
Gommans and Alicia Schrikker
August 2006 saw the inception of the ENCOM-
PASS programme. ENCOMPASS is an education
programme (BA/MA/MPhil) for Asian students
which is part of the Department of History. The
students learn the Dutch language in order to be
able to study Dutch historical (colonial) sources
and in this way contribute to Asian historiography.
Approximately half the students are from
Indonesia. The other students originate from
countries such as Sri Lanka, India and China. All
students are in possession of a BA degree and
wish to study further for an MA or MPhil degree.
Some of the students have additional work experience
in the Arsip Nasional (National Archives) in
Jakarta. The Ministry of Education, Culture and
Science has made available a total of twelve yearly
grants for Asian students for a two or three year
stay in Leiden in the period from 2006 to 2011. The
first year (BA) of the programme focuses primarily
on the acquisition of the Dutch language; in
addition, students follow a number of tutorials in
which historical skills are practised and historical
knowledge refreshed. After the first year, students
join the regular MA programme in History, within
which they follow either the European Expansion
and Globalisation specialisation or the Historical
Archival Sciences specialisation. The most
promising students are given the opportunity to
join the MPhil programme. By 2009, the
ENCOMPASS programme should have extended
to include a PhD track.
Since the programme effectively only started in
August 2006, the activities in the first months of