New intern - Marie Keulen

At the beginning of this academic year, IN THE SAME SEA welcomed Marie Keulen as an intern on the project.

Marie is a research master's student from Leiden University enrolled in the Colonial and Global History program. She holds a bachelor's degree in History and Philosophy from the University of Amsterdam. Her research interests include the interplay of global, regional, and local dynamics within colonial societies. She is particularly interested in the interactions, confrontations, and connections between the different social and cultural groups inhabiting the Atlantic and Caribbean region, with a special focus on missionary encounters.

Marie is writing her MA thesis on the Moravian mission in Berbice and Suriname among the indigenous Arawak people inhabiting the northern coast of South America. She is interested in the divergent experiences, expectations, and understandings of conversion and Christianity by both missionaries and (potential) converts within the context of these Caribbean colonial slave societies.

During her time at IN THE SAME SEA, Marie has been working on the role of missionary groups in the Lesser Antilles, in particular relating to the efforts of planters, slave owners, and local administrators in maintaining slavery. In order to maintain slavery and its profits, island elites were shaping and re-shaping the regime of slavery and the lives of the enslaved men and women living and working in colonial slave societies. Were the missionary men and women visiting these societies part of this process and if so, in what way? She explores this question by looking into the Methodist's mission on the Dutch island St. Eustatius.

In addition, Marie is involved in the project’s database on maritime marronage. She uses her Dutch language skills to work in the very well-preserved Curaçaoan newspapers to find advertisements and notices on runaways. She also contributes to the project’s research on enslaved movement within the Lesser Antilles by exploring the question of extradition of fugitive slaves between various colonies and by identifying related source material from the Dutch Archives.