eCommons

 

Chineseness Is In The Eye Of The Beholder: The Transformation Of Chinese Indonesian After Reformasi

Other Titles

Abstract

My dissertation is an ethnographic project documenting the transformation of Chinese Indonesians post-Suharto Indonesia. When Suharto was in power (1966-1998), the Chinese in his country were not considered an ethnicity with the freedom to maintain their ethnic and cultural heritage. They were marked as "the Other" by various policies and measures that suppressed their cultural markers of ethnicity. The regime banned Chinese language education, prohibited Chinese media, and dissolved Chinese organizations, an effort that many Chinese thought of as destroying the Chinese community in Indonesia as they were seen as the three pillars that sustained the Chinese community. Those efforts were intended to make the Chinese more Indonesian; ironically, they highlighted the otherness of Chinese Indonesians and made them perpetual foreigners who remained the object of discrimination despite their total assimilation into Indonesian society. However, the May 1998 anti-Chinese riot that led to the fall of the New Order regime brought about political and social reform. The three pillars of the Chinese community were restored. This restoration produces new possibilities for Chinese cultural expression. Situated in this area of anthropological inquiry, my dissertation examines how the Chinese negotiate and formulate these identities, and how they ascribe meaning to Chinese identities. I argue that Chinese cultural expression facilitates the re-emergence of multiple Chinese identities. The multiplicity of Chinese identities is reflected in the way they view Chinese culture, the creation of exclusionary and inclusionary boundaries, and the idea of Chinese political engagement. All these occur as a result of different backgrounds and experiences of individual Chinese.

Journal / Series

Volume & Issue

Description

Sponsorship

Date Issued

2013-08-19

Publisher

Keywords

Chineseness; Identity; Chinese Indonesians; Post-Suharto Era

Location

Effective Date

Expiration Date

Sector

Employer

Union

Union Local

NAICS

Number of Workers

Committee Chair

Welker, Marina Andrea

Committee Co-Chair

Committee Member

Willford, Andrew C.
Santiago-Irizarry, Vilma
Tagliacozzo, Eric

Degree Discipline

Anthropology

Degree Name

Ph. D., Anthropology

Degree Level

Doctor of Philosophy

Related Version

Related DOI

Related To

Related Part

Based on Related Item

Has Other Format(s)

Part of Related Item

Related To

Related Publication(s)

Link(s) to Related Publication(s)

References

Link(s) to Reference(s)

Previously Published As

Government Document

ISBN

ISMN

ISSN

Other Identifiers

Rights

Rights URI

Types

dissertation or thesis

Accessibility Feature

Accessibility Hazard

Accessibility Summary

Link(s) to Catalog Record