Fashioning Cultural Representations: Pioneer Colonial Explorers and Dutch Borneo’s Gentle Headhunters

Abstract

Photographic images of interior Dutch Borneo’s nature and, more particularly, her peoples and cultures are examined as they were produced and used around the turn of the twentieth century, from their creation in the context of pioneer exploration across the island to their presentation and display, in various forms, for consumption by the general public back in Europe. A young Dutch army medical officer, later university professor, Anton Nieuwenhuis, a talented Indo military topographer and photographer, Jean Demmeni, and an elderly Norwegian professional explorer, Carl Lumholtz: These three major, yet quite different, players of the “there and then” scene strongly contributed, each in his own way, through the combined power of their visual and textual testimonies, to the shaping of affirmative representations, ideas, and imageries among their home public about Borneo and the peoples of her hinterland, these independent Dayak tribes, which had long been suffering from prejudiced reports, disrepute, and outright ignominy.

Keywords

• Borneo
• exploration
• photography
• headhunters
• text and images
• cultural representations