M.E. Keulen (Marie)

Marie Keulen is a PhD candidate at the History Department of Radboud University. She is a social and cultural historian of 19th- and 20th-century Dutch colonialism, with a special interest in the history of childhood, gender, intimacy, Christian missions, and the transition of Caribbean colonial societies from slavery to post-slavery colonialism. In her PhD research, Keulen investigates policies and practices of child upbringing by missionary organisations in 19th and early 20th century colonial Suriname. As Suriname was transitioning from slavery to post-slavery colonialism, children were seen as the key to transforming and ‘civilising’ colonial subjects by colonial authorities as well as missionaries. How were missionary practices of child upbringing entangled with colonial governance? How did the affected children, their families and communities interact with and influence these missionary practices? By answering these questions the project aims to understand how the lives of children were shaped by the combined efforts of colonial administrators, missionaries, the families and communities of children, and children themselves. In 2023-2024 and 2025-2026, Marie Keulen was involved as a researcher in two projects examining the historic ties of the cities of Eindhoven and Breda to colonialism and slavery. Both studies were commissioned by the municipalities and led by Beyond Walls Collective. In 2022-2023 Marie Keulen worked as a Prof. J.C.M. Warnsinck Fellow at the National Maritime Museum (Het Scheepvaartmuseum), where she researched the role of missionary travel writing in Dutch imperial culture.