Nationalism based on Western education in the characters in “Child of all Nations”

Abstract

Association between Western education and the brewing spirit of nationalism is well documented in many of the characters in Child of All Nations, most notably Minke, Kommer, and Jean Marais. It would not be too farfetched to claim that without Western education, Minke and his comrades would not have been able to discard the sense of respect and admiration that they hold for their colonisers – a consequence of extended exposure to the Dutch’s self-propaganda of their eminence. Indeed, the fight for Indonesia’s independence would have been a slow and sluggish, perhaps even a failed one. However, before delving into how Western education was able to sow the seed of nationalism in the characters in the book, it is only prudent to first examine the education system that was offered in Indonesia during the Dutch colonialism era.