Looking beyond knives, buttons and beaded aprons: indigenous and Maroon agency in colonial collecting practices and the provenance of ten Surinamese objects in The Netherlands

At the start of the twentieth century, material culture from the Wayana and Trio Indigenous groups of Suriname was collected along with natural history specimens during colonial expeditions commissioned by the Royal Dutch Geographical Society. Newly donated personal diaries from one of the members of the expeditions, Claudius Henricus de Goeje, offer unprecedented insights into the provenance of the objects. This paper explores the research question: How did the agency of Indigenous and Maroon Surinamese shape the material culture collection during colonial expeditions, and how can a nuanced understanding of the provenance of these objects challenge colonial narratives of ‘discovery’ and collection? By examining the provenance of ten selected objects, this paper addresses the complex histories of these items, including the identities of their owners, the methods of acquisition and their raw materials. The objects were acquired through various means: some were traded, others were created specifically for the expeditionary team and some were acquired through coercion. The methodology combines a comparative analysis of primary sources - diaries, correspondence, photographs and expedition reports - alongside the direct analysis of ethnographic collections and archival material housed at the Wereldmuseum (Amsterdam and Leiden) and Leiden University, as well as natural history collections housed at the Naturalis Biodiversity Center. By reframing Indigenous and Maroon individuals as active collaborators rather than passive subjects, this analysis confronts colonial biases in provenance narratives that historically centre European collectors while marginalising Indigenous and Maroon contributions, aiming for more inclusive narratives that recognise the complex entanglements of power and agency in the historical creation of museum collections.