Life Under the Palms
The Sublime World of the Anti-colonialist Jacob Haafner
Distributed for National University of Singapore Press
200 pages
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15 halftones
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6 x 9
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© 2019
- Contents
- Review Quotes
Table of Contents

Contents
Introduction: Haafner’s Journeys Haafner’s Work and His World Reactions to Haafner My Journey to Haafner Chapter 1: A Wandering Existence Carefree First Adventure in Porto Praya The Cape of Good Hope Adultery and Torture Khoikhoi Love Beads Famous Lost Son The Umbilical Cord Unravels Chapter 2: Struggle for Life Sardis: A Futile Person Graveyard of the Europeans Willem Koelbier: The Bloodthirsty Tiger At the Pen in Nagapatnam The Sadras Idyll Advanced Science Sadras Lost, Disastrous Cost Chapter 3: Where can Our Soul Shelter? Famine in Madras The Foolish Count Bonvoux Anna’s Embrace The Palmetto Oh, That Wanderlust! Baker George Most Reasonable of the Unreasonable Mestizo among the Mestizos Delusion and Pimberah Forsaken by Anna Chapter 4: Passion for India Merchant in Calcutta The Impetuous Julius Soubise Sunrise Mamia! Snakebite Lily of the South In the Land of the Dodo and Javanese Hawfinch Heaven and Earth Perished Chapter 5: Languishing in Europe Kees, Kees! Shouted the Orange Rabble A Full Purse The Haafner Case The Dutch Society of Sciences Laureate of the Teylers Theological Society The God of One’s Tyrants A Shot across the Bow of the Mission Phallus Worship Farewell Lovable Objects! Postscript Sources Jacob G. Haafner (1754–1809): A Brief Chronology of His Life List of Publications by Jacob Haafner List of Publications on Jacob Haafner Index
Review Quotes
Praise for the Dutch edition | NRC Handelsblad
“Haafner’s stories often seem outrageous, yet van der Velde shows how independent records verify his accounts.”
Praise for the Dutch edition | De Leeswolf
“A vibrant and deliberately concise biography. . . . van der Velde paints a unique image of the late eighteenth-century colonial world, through the medium of Haafner’s stories.”
The IIAS Newsletter
“The book opens a window onto the 19th century colonial world by including excerpts and examples of Haafner's original writings and his sketches. The book provides an approachable point of view on the available sources to a learner interested in studying the colonial past. Further, the author's expertise and in-depth research in the field ensure an authentic account of Haafner's writings.”
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