The Pilgrims and the Politics of Memory

A Fresh Perspective on 400 Years.

Leiden University will host the International Leiden Mayflower 400 Conference which will take a fresh approach to discussing the impact of the Mayflower voyage in 1620.

Rather than relying solely on the Anglo-America approach which often dominates discussion of this historic event, the Netherlands and Wampanoag Nation fully included and their contributions and impacts  closely examined.   How might this change the popular narrative of the early colonization of North America?

The conference will take a “four-nations” approach to include Native American and Dutch perspectives, as well as those from the United Kingdom and the United States.

Taking the Mayflower anniversary as starting point and central concern, this interdisciplinary conference seeks to interrogate the myths, power-bases, mobility, and knowledge production of colonial pasts through three distinct but related strands:

• Contesting memories and commemorations
• Colonialism, migration, and indigenous impact and resistance
• The production of knowledge, print culture, and national myths