Items

• ‘Kunnen de Indiërs al lezen?’ (‘Can the Indians read yet?’)
  A translation of a Belgian newspaper article from the 1950s, which exemplifies problems in the European reporting about India from this era. Written by a well-known journalist and novelist, it is part of a series where he tells the readers about his experiences on a journey through the Subcontinent.
• ‘Op bezoek bij een Indisch Zamindar’ (‘Visiting an Indian Zamindar’)
  A Belgian newspaper article from the 1950s reporting a visit to an Indian zamindar or landowner. It is part of an extensive series of articles, published in a colonial newspaper and written by the author Aster Berkhof who would become well-known in the subsequent decades. Like the other articles, this piece reveals much about its author’s attitudes towards a society and culture foreign to him.
• ‘Het drama van een landbouwer die zijn akker niet wilde verlaten (‘The drama of a farmer who refused to leave his field’)
  A Belgian newspaper article from the 1950s reporting the case of an Indian farmer and the situation in rural India at the time. It is part of an extensive series of articles, written by the author Aster Berkhof who would become well-known in the subsequent decades. Like the other articles, this text showcases some of the typical problems in European reporting about India.
• ‘Verpletterende armoede in de Indische jungle’ (‘Crushing poverty in the Indian jungle’)
  An article from a Belgian colonial newspaper published in the 1950s and written by a well-known journalist and novelist. In a series of articles that contain some of the typical clichés on India popular in Europe at the time, he reports about his journey through the Subcontinent.
• ‘Schijn en werkelijkheid in Delhi’ (‘Appearances and reality in Delhi’)
  A newspaper article from the 1950s written by the Belgian author Aster Berkhof who would become well-known in the subsequent decades. The article describes his arrival in Delhi and the typical image of India he has and reports his own experiences and judgements. This is part of a series of articles published in a colonial newspaper, which exemplify some of the typical problems of European reporting about India.
• Indianische Raisz von dreyen Ehrwurdigen Priestern der Societet Iesu (The Indian Voyage of Three Venerable Priests of the Society of Jesus)
  German translation from 1620-1621 consisting of a series of (edited) letters translated from Italian and French, and added unto each other in order to promote the Jesuit missions to Asia, in particular the 1618 expedition from Lisbon led by Jesuit priest Nicolas Trigault. The mission’s main object was reaching China, for which its members were primarily known, yet they passed by and worked in Goa for some time, hence their correspondence contains lesser-known descriptions of India.