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Reading the acknowledgements section of any book that might be categorized as global history, one comes across a long and impressive list of archives, frequently spanning multiple continents. These books often historicize structures that facilitate or constrain global connections, mobility and interactions, and they often present narratives that are less Eurocentric than those they write against. But they rarely raise the question of who gets to be a global historian. After all, the use of multiple archives across national borders has always relied on the possession of a strong passport and the funding of a wealthy institution. When these once marginal issues suddenly gained traction in March 2020 amid national lockdowns and restrictions on international travel, we were puzzled. Why did such issues become ‘global’ only when they started to impact particular scholars – notably those who had previously enjoyed the greatest access to resources and freedoms? Why did funding bodies start to think about these issues only once the pandemic hit? What does it mean to ‘do’ global history in a deeply unequal world? It was during an e-conversation about these questions that the idea for a seminar series entitled ‘The archives of global history in a time of international immobility’ was born.

In this contribution Barbara Henkes explores the possibilities offered by Michal Rothberg's concept of the 'implicated subject' as an alternative to the well-known categories of victim, perpetrator and bystander. Where the 'bystander' was introduced to nuance the perpetrator-victim dichotomy, it soon became clear that the conceptual problems were not solved in this way. It provided insufficient support to investigate the dynamic reality from which subjects can switch positions or can take multiple positions at the same time. Henkes argues that the implicated subject can contribute to an understanding of our individual and collective responsibilities in relation to historical violence and contemporary inequality associated with it.

Published online: 07 April 2017

This quote served as the motto to the 1907 book Java. Geographisch, Ethnologisch, Historisch, door Prof. P.J. Veth. Vierde Deel: Etnographie, and it is illustrative of the discourse about power, legitimacy and colonialism that is displayed throughout this work. However discordant a quote from the beginning of the twentieth century may come across in a journal dedicated to second-wave feminism, it is not out of place here. As will become evident from the next few pages, second-wave feminism was not only a social movement, but also an intellectual one that gave rise to academic developments that are still highly relevant today. As such, it provides historians of gender and colonialism with methodological tools. With the help of these approaches, I will turn to questions of gender in a specific Dutch ethnographic text about the Netherlands Indies, and take apart the notions of masculinity and colonial power relations that constitute it. As a case study I will use the aforementioned ethnographical work about the island of Java to demonstrate that the portrayal of native masculinity in this work can be interpreted as a legitimization of colonial power.

Purpose: To study the Dutch youth’s perceptions on and attitudes toward mobile advertising. Background: Consumers are living within a media saturated environment, which limits the effectiveness of advertising. This has led to advertising clutter, most prevalent in traditional mass media. The advertising clutter has resulted in marketers moving their advertising focus toward less cluttered mediums, such as mobile advertising. Mobile advertising allows companies to specifically target the right consumers by looking at age, gender and geographic regions etc. Being able to advertise to such a specified target group is an advantage for companies, however the question remaining is how consumers perceive this form of specific targeting advertising. Method: In this research the deductive approach has been implemented in order to answer the research questions. Both qualitative and quantitative data has been collected through a questionnaire and focus group. The statements used in the questionnaire are based on previous studies and theories. The data retrieved through the questionnaire has been analysed using SPSS. Conclusion: The results of this study showed the Dutch youth mainly sees the originality, interactivity and entertainment levels of mobile advertising as positive in comparison to traditional forms of advertising. Furthermore, message content was shown to be an important factor in order for the consumer to perceive the advertising as positive. The main aggravating attributes that come with mobile advertising are the perceived risks, like receiving too many advertising messages. Furthermore it was found that the more positive the attitude toward advertising in general is, and the more the consumer likes searching for product information, the more positive the attitude toward mobile advertising will be. The main purpose of this research was to find out what the attitudes of the Dutch youth are toward mobile advertising. The statistical results showed a negative attitude toward mobile advertising. However, the qualitative results showed that when mobile advertising is used in a proper way, consumers’ attitudes can be positive.