Research Catalog

Engineering the Dutch empire : irrigation, the colonial state and ideology in Java, 1832-1942

Title
Engineering the Dutch empire : irrigation, the colonial state and ideology in Java, 1832-1942 / Wim Ravesteijn.
Author
Ravesteijn, Wim
Publication
  • Delft : Eburon, 2018.
  • ©2017

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TextUse in library JFF 19-318Schwarzman Building - Main Reading Room 315

Details

Description
435 pages : illustrations, maps; 26 cm
Summary
Since time immemorial, wet rice farming has been practised in Java, the main island of the Indonesian archipelago. For those people there was something divine about running water. Such water was attributed to the gods. The Solo, the biggest river of Java, was for them the Bengawan: the auspicious Lord of the Waters. In the nineteenth century, Dutch irrigation engineers arrived from overseas to subject these water gods to their own technical regimes. In terms of their own religious beliefs, they went about perfecting creation in the Netherlands East Indies. In so doing, the engineers were following in the footsteps of the sovereigns of the old Indo-Javanese domains and their ambitious projects. This book shows what their efforts resulted in. It captures the experiences, the achievements as well as the disappointments of these tropical engineers. Nowadays, their works still predominate in the Javanese landscapes though, ironically, it was precisely the Solo that was to prove too powerful for them! This monograph concludes a series of volumes on irrigation and public works in Indonesia between 1800 and 2015.
Subjects
Genre/Form
History.
Bibliography (note)
  • Includes bibliographical references (pages 393-430) and index.
Contents
Prologue: the lens matters! -- 1. 'The Dutch have gone, their monuments have been left behind' - Introduction: the colonial image of irrigation engineering -- 2. 'Minimal openness, unfair assessment' - Theoretical framework: modern perspectives on irrigation development -- Part I. Ingenuity and authority, 1830-1885. 3. 'Despite failures, congratulations to the pioneers' - The weir in the Sampean -- 4. 'The Javanese can make water flow uphill' - The power to struggle between Public Works and the Civil Service -- Part II. Technologies and technocrats, 1885-1920. 5. 'The creation of a flourishing plain': the Pemali Works -- 6. 'Towards the complete irrigation of all government land' - The mandate of the Civil Public Works Department -- 7. 'Faith arrives on foot but leaves on horseback' - The Solo Valley Works -- 8. 'An inseparable companion of agriculture, welfare and progress' - Involvement in irrigation as teamwork -- Part III. Technical perfectionism and rational bureaucracy, 1920-1942. 9. 'Emerging from the economic and moral depression' - The Tangerang Works -- 10. 'Big in small achievements' - The modern irrigation system -- 11. 'Modern!' - Conclusion: a research-based representation of colonial irrigation intervention -- Epilogue: engineering the republic.
Call Number
JFF 19-318
ISBN
  • 9789463011662
  • 9463011668
OCLC
1021029698
Author
Ravesteijn, Wim, author.
Title
Engineering the Dutch empire : irrigation, the colonial state and ideology in Java, 1832-1942 / Wim Ravesteijn.
Publisher
Delft : Eburon, 2018.
Copyright Date
©2017
Type of Content
text
still image
cartographic image
Type of Medium
unmediated
Type of Carrier
volume
Bibliography
Includes bibliographical references (pages 393-430) and index.
Chronological Term
1830-1945
Research Call Number
JFF 19-318
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