Academic publications & activities:
Peer-reviewed journal articles:
Pietersma, E (2026). ‘The “Lord of Life” with his “Trunk King”: the usage of a Javanese Ganesha statue in the colonial collecting praxis of king Chulalongkorn, 1896-1926.’, TRaNS: Trans-Regional and –National Studies of Southeast Asia, 1-18. https://doi.org/10.1017/trn.2026.10020.
Pietersma (2023), ‘From Crafts to Agency: The Legacy of Colonial Discourses in Exhibiting the Ainu in the Tokyo National Museum and National Museum of Ethnology at Osaka between 1977 and 2017′ Museum and Society 21 (3), 22-35. https://doi.org/10.29311/mas.v21i3.4324.
Pietersma and Harrison (2023), ‘The Broken Coloniser: Ruptures of Homecoming and Belonging in Nyckle Haisma’s Peke Donia, de koloniaal’, Indonesia and the Malay World 51 (151), 364-381. https://doi.org/10.1080/13639811.2023.2278951.
Theses:
Pietersma (2026), The Asian ‘Europeans’ between the cracks: the Japanese in the Dutch East-Indies and the uncertainties of colonial rule, 1899-1929, MA in History, University of Wisconsin-Madison, USA.
Pietersma (2020), The past as an explicit force: the legacy of imperialism in Japanese museums with a reflection on countermeasures, 1977-2017, MA in Cultural Anthropology, National Taiwan University, Taiwan.
Pietersma (2018), “Always Barbarians?”: The legacy of imperialism in Japanese museums, 1977-2017, MA in Asian Studies, Leiden University, The Netherlands.
Pietersma (2016), Representing Japan by Western Means: A research on the establishment and role of museums and exhibitions in Japan in the Meiji-period, 1868-1912, BA in History, University of Groningen, The Netherlands.
Academic Conferences:
Pietersma (2026), ‘The “Asian” “Europeans” in the cracks: the Japanese in the Dutch East-Indies and the uncertainties of colonial rule, 1901-1929.’ Presented at the 12th annual Trans-Asia Graduate Student Conference (TAGS), April 17 and 18, 2026, at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, Wisconsin, USA.
Pietersma (2025), ‘The Face of Korea Attested: Representing Korea at the Tokyo National Museum and National Museum of Ethnology in Osaka, 1977-2017.’ Presented at the 11th annual Trans-Asia Graduate Student Conference (TAGS), April 4 and 5, 2025, at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, Wisconsin, USA.
Pietersma (2024), ‘The “Lord of Life” and the “Trunk King”: The bestowment of a Ganesha statue from Candi Singasari to King Chulalongkorn and its entangled contexts, 1896-2023.’ Presented at the International Convention on Asia Scholars (ICAS) 13, July 28 to August 1, 2024, in Surabaya, Indonesia.
Scholarships & Rewards:
International Institute of Asian Studies (February 2019): IIAS Grant for participation in the Double Degree program “Critical Heritage Studies of Asia and Europe”.
Taiwanese Ministry of Education (September 2018 to February 2019): Huayu (Mandarin) Enrichment Scholarship for studying Mandarin at National Taiwan University, Taiwan.
University of Groningen (September, 2014 to August 2015): Marco Polo Grant for studying abroad at Osaka University, Japan
General Publications:
Book Reviews:
Pietersma (2023), Review of Puanghcon Unchanam (2020), ‘Royal Capitalism: Wealth, Class, and Monarchy in Thailand,’ The Review of the International Institute for Asian Studies.
Pietersma (2022), Review of Justin Thomas McDaniel (2021), ‘Wayward Distractions: Ornament, Emotion, Zombies and the Study of Buddhism in Thailand,’ The Review of the International Institute for Asian Studies.
Pietersma (2022), Review of C.Y. Chow (ed.) (2022), ‘A Century of Development in Taiwan: From Colony to Modern State,’ The Review of the International Institute for Asian Studies.
Blogs:
International Institute for Asian Studies (Autumn 2023), ‘ ‘Critical Heritage Studies of Asia and Europe: A Reflection of 2021 and Beyond,’ The Newsletter 96.
International Institute for Asian Studies (Spring 2021), ‘The Double Degree in Critical Heritage Studies. A most rewarding challenge’, The Newsletter 88.
Jonge Historici (April 7, 2017), Longread of ‘Scriptie: Edwin Pietersma, Representing Japan by Western Means,’ Uitgeverij Jonge Historici (in Dutch).
Jonge Historici (April 7, 2017), ‘ “Het Japanse Museum”: Hoe kunst, cultureel erfgoed en identiteit werden gevormd onder leiding van Okakuro Kakuzo, 1862-1913’, Uitgeverij Jonge Historici (in Dutch).
Interviews:
Omrop Fryslân (March 22, 2023), ‘Balkster Edwin Pietersma foel foar East-Azië en jout no les op in uni yn Bangkok’ (in West-Frisian and Dutch).
International Institute for Asian Studies Podcast ‘The Channel’, S1., Ep. 17 (October 13, 2022) – ‘Critical Heritage Studies with Edwin Pietersma’.
NOS Sport (July 24, 2021), ‘Terug naar Tokio: fakkeldrager Sakai’ (in Dutch).
Memberships:
Koninklijk Nederlands Historisch Genootschap (Royal Netherlands Historical Society): 2020-current.
Modern Japan History Association: 2023-current.
Association for Asian Studies: 2025-current.
Association for Critical Heritage Studies: member 2020-2024.