Maarten Manse

I am originally from the Netherlands where I did my PhD (Leiden University, 2021), on colonial governance and taxation in Indonesia. My research is about the history of Southeast Asia, but I have also taught courses on European history, the history of ideas, international relations and world history.

Currently, I am a postdoctoral researcher at Linnaeus University in the project 'Imperial Expansion and Intercultural Diplomacy' (https://sea-treaties.org/)

Teaching

I have previously taught various courses at Leiden University, Utrecht University and the Vrije Universiteit in Amsterdam. In the autumn semester of 2023, I will be teaching at Linnaeus University in courses on 'Imperialism and the Making of the Modern World' and 'Theoretical Traditions.'

Research

My research interests cover the history of colonialism and decolonization of Southeast Asia, in particular mechanisms of colonial governance, state-formation and state-society interaction. I currently participate in a research project on Treaty Making in Southeast Asia (https://lnu.se/en/research/research-projects/project-imperial-expansion-and-intercultural-diplomacy/).

My recent publications include:

• ‘Compromise and adaptation in colonial taxation: fiscal ideology, policy, practice and inequality in colonial Indonesia, ca. 1870-1920’, in: G.K. Bhambra and J. McClure (eds.), Imperial Inequalities: The politics of economic governance across European empires (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2022), 177-197.
• ‘Two sides of the same coin: direct taxation, governance and negotiating the state in colonial Indonesia’, Journal of Social History 56:2 (2022).
• ‘From headhunting to head taxes: colonial fiscal policy and violence on Seram, ca. 1860-1920’, in: Bijdragen tot de Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde / Journal of the Humanities and Social Sciences of Southeast Asia 177:4 (2021) [open access].