The five options that emerged from this namestorming session were presented to the faculty community via a poll. 499 of the 963 voters opted for Raden Kartini as the person after which the room should be named (Kartini Room). In second place was Susanna van Gujarati (Van Gujarati Room) with 170 votes, followed by the names Bushalte (146 votes), Room of Present Pasts (133 votes) and The Global Village Square (15 votes).

Raden Adjeng Kartini (1879 – 1904) is viewed as a pioneer for the emancipation of women and for resolving racial inequality. In 1903, she founded the first girls’ school in Indonesia and became well-known for her correspondence with Dutch intellectuals. Kartini Day is celebrated every year on 21 April in Indonesia in honour of her birthday and her contribution to women's rights in Indonesia.

As next step before the definitive name change, the faculty will be organising a symposium about Kartini in February in order to reflect critically on the significance of this choice.  What does it mean if you name the room after a person? Are we not excluding part of the history and meaning of the room through this choice? And how should we make Kartini visible in the room? These and other questions will be discussed during the symposium.

If you are interested in contributing to the symposium, please let us know by sending an email to communicatie-fgw@uva.nlExternal link.