Britt J . G . Dams

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Papers by Britt J . G . Dams

Vreemden-vertoond: studies in exoticism and the culture of spectacle in the Spanish Netherlands and the New World

Comprehending the New World in the Early Modern Period: descriptions of Dutch Brazil (1624-1654)

The dissertation deals with the textual legacy of Dutch Brazil in four 17th-century Dutch publica... more The dissertation deals with the textual legacy of Dutch Brazil in four 17th-century Dutch publications. The chosen descriptions not only demonstrate the Dutch impact on Brazil, but were in their turn products of a particular Dutch approach whereby the colony was appropriated and understood through descriptions, or what will be referred to as the comprehension of Dutch Brazil.

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Counter-Voices in the Tropics

Routledge eBooks, Jan 17, 2023

Writing to comprehend Dutch Brazil: Joannes de Laet's Iaerlyck verhael

In her article Writing to Comprehend Dutch Brazil: The Role of Intertextuality in Joannes de Laet... more In her article Writing to Comprehend Dutch Brazil: The Role of Intertextuality in Joannes de Laet’s “Laerlyck Verhael” on Dutch Brazil Britt Dams (Ghent University) connects the Low Countries, Africa and South America in the context of the seventeenth-century Dutch colony in Pernambuco. She focuses on the geographer Johannes De Laet (1581-1649), one of the directors of the West India Company, and his thirteen volumes Iaerlyck Verhael (Annual Story) about the history of the WIC from 1623 to 1636, i.e. the year in which Johan Maurits van NassauSiegen took off for Brazil. Dams analyzes a number of selected passages where de Laet described the tropical reality of (what would become) Dutch Brazil, more specifically the fauna, the flora, the local people and the slaves. According to Dams, these descriptions both reveal and construct the exotic reality encountered by the Dutch colonizers in Brazil. By showing how descriptive passages became on their turn textual loci of knowledge-transfer,...

Transcriptions and descriptions of exotic fauna in Barlaeus' Rerum Per Octennium and De Laet's Historia Naturalis Brasiliae

This contribution deals with the Early Modern Dutch encounter with the New World. In particular, ... more This contribution deals with the Early Modern Dutch encounter with the New World. In particular, I focus on a number of descriptive passages from two influential textual legacies of the Dutch colonization of Brazil (1624-1654): the Rerum per Octennium (1647) by Caspar Barlaeus and the Historia Naturalis Brasiliae (1648) by Johannes de Laet. Both works contain a collection of descriptions that both reveal and construct the strange reality encountered by the Dutch colonisers in Brazil. I think through the function of these descriptions and by means of an analysis of some selected passages I show that the Dutch colonisers were not only driven by economic interests in their Brazilian adventure. More specifically the descriptive passages become textual loci of knowledge-transfer and specific rhetorical techniques sustain this transfer. The Dutch West India Company (WIC), a trade company created in 1621, made large conquests in Brazil during the 1630’s and 1640’s. During this period, from...

Elias Herckmans. A Poet At The Borders Of Dutch Brazil

The Dutch Trading Companies as Knowledge Networks

devant moi, le cercle infranchissable: moins les cultures humaines étaient en mesure de communiqu... more devant moi, le cercle infranchissable: moins les cultures humaines étaient en mesure de communiquer entre elles et donc de se corrompre par leur contact, moins aussi leurs émissaires respectifs étaient capables de percevoir la richesse et la signification de la diversité.' Lévi-Strauss C., Tristes Tropiques (Paris: 1955) 43.

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Production, Communication, and Comprehension of Knowledge of the New World: Ethnographic Descriptions in Caspar Barlaeus’ Rerum per Octennium

Journal of Early American History, 2012

This article deals with the textual legacy of Dutch Brazil, in particular the ethnographic descri... more This article deals with the textual legacy of Dutch Brazil, in particular the ethnographic descriptions in one of the most popular works about the colony: Barlaeus’ Rerum per Octennium in Brasilia et alibi nuper gestarum. Barlaeus never set foot in Brazil, but was an important Dutch intellectual authority in the seventeenth century. To compose the Rerum per Octennium, he relied on a wide variety of available sources, not only firsthand observations, but also classical, biblical and other contemporary sources. From these, he made a careful selection to produce his descriptions. Recent research shows that the Dutch participated in networks of knowledge and imagination as well as in a more familiar early modern trading network. This article reveals that Barlaeus’ descriptions not only circulated as knowledge, but also produced new knowledge. The Rerum soon became one of the standard works about the colony due to the importance of its author and its composition. Furthermore, the article...

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Brasil Holandês. A Construção Do eu e Do outro No relato De Roulox Baro‟

MNEMOSINE REVISTA VOLUME 1, Nº 1, JAN/JUN …

31 BRASIL HOLANDÊS. A CONSTRUÇÃO DO EU E DO OUTRO NO RELATO DE ROULOX BARO‟ Britt Dams Dutch... more