Geographies of Freedom

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There’s an uncanny kind of shock value to hearing a friendly, old-timey television announcer speak of how the “simple people” of the Netherlands Antilles were rescued from “primitive living conditions” when large oil refineries appeared on the islands, ending their “deficient medical care and lack of hygiene.” This compilation of archival material centering on the neocolonial ties between Dutch multinational Shell and the islands has a knack for exposing these kinds of tensions.