Dutch colonial presentations at the world exhibitions in the period 1880-1931 served to legitimize the Dutch imperialist project and highlight the problem of Dutch identity and the Netherlands' place in the world. At these exhibitions, the Netherlands showed off its colonies by erecting models of schools, sugar-factories, bridges, and railways exhibits, which were meant to give proof of the good works of modern colonial administration and enterprise. Not only were there displays of ethnographic objects, life-size temples and villages inhabited by authentic Javanese and Sumatrans were brought...