(2016) The Epitome of Indonesia: Invisible powers of visible things (original) (raw)

This was a presentation I gave at the one-day Conference on 'Indonesia sebagai Ruang Imajinasi [Imagining Indonesia]' at Universitas Brawijaya, Malang, on 7 November 2018. The paper was subsequently published in the conference proceedings - Indonesia sebagai Ruang Imajinasi. Ed.Ary Budhiyanto dkk. (Malang: Program Studi Antropologi, Fakultas Ilmu Pengetahuan Budaya, Universitas Brawijaya, 2018), pp.1-7. There is also a PowerPoint presentation which will help to bring this paper alive visually. The main theme I was asked to address by the conference organisers related to concepts of political space in 19th century Java (in particular during the era of Diponegoro [1785-1855] and the Java War [1825-30]) and the subsequent emergence of the concept of Indonesia through the publications of George Windsor Earl (1813-1865) and his younger contemporary, James Richardson Logan (1819-1869), founder of the Journal of the Indian Archipelago and Eastern Asia (Singapore, 1847-63). I also looked at the period of the early 20th century Indonesian nationalist movement or pergerakan nasional (1908-1942).

This chapter discusses how Indonesia is imagined by the youth in Kupang, East Nusa Tenggara (NTT). From the periphery, the imagining of Indonesia is multi-layered, at times converging and diverging from the dominant discourse of Indonesia as a well-integrated country. Unlike in the dominant narrative, for the youth in Kupang, Indonesia is not held together by shared “given” features of language, culture, or physical appearance. Differences between the customs and habits of various sub-national groups are clearly visible from the point of view of youth in Kupang. These customs, habits, and values can be incompatible with each other. The idea of a “national” culture under which all these local cultures can be subsumed is weak. The homogenizing forces that domesticate culture and downplay interregional differences are present, but less internalized by the youth in Kupang than in Jakarta. The absence of a firm conviction in shared “given” similarities is “compensated” by an instrumental...

After four years of physical struggle and diplomacy, Indonesia’s independence was officially recognized, and its sovereignty transferred on 27 December 1949. While protracted struggle and sacrifice to obtain independence had galvanised the people around an idea of Indonesia, this shared experience and political victory could not provide the sole points of reference for the social and cultural transformation necessary to engender national unity. In this article, I engage three conflicting yet ultimately overlapping arguments and positions, each one positing a modern artistic subjectivity and perspectives of an Indonesian modern art. At stake was not only participation in constructing a national identity, and giving meaning and expression to an amorphous keIndonesiaan (Indonesian-ness), but also related issues of creative freedom and the role art and artists would play in its formation. Regardless of their ideological differences, the positions discussed here share a common commitment...