Creole Identity in Postcolonial Indonesia

Jacqueline Knörr is Head of Research Group at the Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology and Extraordinary Professor at the Martin Luther University in Halle/Saale, Germany. She was brought up in Ghana and Germany and conducted extensive field research in Indonesia, West Africa and Central Europe. She has worked as Senior Lecturer, Senior Researcher, University Professor, Scientific Director, Consultant and Political Advisor. Her research and publications focus on the political anthropology of postcolonial societies, decolonization, nationalism, identity politics, ethno-linguistics, gender, and childhood.

• List of Maps and FiguresAcknowledgementsIntroductionCreole Identity and Postcolonial DiversityEthnic versus Transethnic IdentityNational Identity in the Context of Ethnic and Transethnic ReferencesThe City as Locus and FocusCategories of Identification and Social Discourses as Objects of Observation and AnalysisNotes on Field ResearchChapter 1. Creole Identity in Postcolonial ContextCreole Terminology at the Conceptual Crossroads of History and IdeologyCreolization and Creole Identity Beyond the CaribbeanTowards a Comparative Concept of Creole IdentityIndigenization and Ethnogenesis as Criteria of CreolizationCreoleness versus (Post-)creole ContinuumThe CvP Model: Creolization versus PidginizationThe Pidgin Potential of Creole Identity for Postcolonial Nation-buildingCreole AmbivalencesChapter 2. Jakarta, Batavia, BetawiCityscape and City DwellersHistorical Beginnings: Sunda Kelapa, Jayakarta, BataviaSocial Organization and Interethnic Relationships in BataviaCreolization and the Emergence of the BetawiSocial Marginalization of the BetawiThe (Re-)discovery of the Betawi: Objectives and Context of State SponsorshipChapter 3. Orang Betawi versus Orang JakartaDiscourses, Definitions, DichotomiesBetawi (asli) versus pendatangBetawi versus Betawi Asli: Ethnic References with and without ‘Asli’Betawi as Jakarta AsliThe Pidgin Potential of Betawi Culture and IdentityOrang Jakarta as a Category of Urban IdentificationCreolization of Jakartan Identity?Tradition and Modernity in the Relationship between Orang Betawi and Orang Jakarta … and a Miss and Mister Jakarta PageantChapter 4. Suku bangsa Betawi: Integration and Differentiation of Ethnic IdentityThe Inner and Outer circle of the BetawiBetawi Kota: the (Political) Spearhead of the BetawiBetawi Pinggir: the Guardians of ‘True Islam’Betawi Udik: the Guardians of ‘True Tradition’Betawi Kota, Pinggir and Udik: Integration through Differentiation and Diversification from WithinThe Arabic Dimension of Betawi-nessTugu: Exotics of Enclave?Kampung Sawah: The (Christian) Betawi in the Paddy FieldBangsawan Betawi: About the Invention of a Betawi AristocracyBatak Going Betawi, Or: What Is a Batak Betawi?Chapter 5. Betawi versus Peranakan (Chinese)Conceptual DisentanglementCina Benteng: the First PeranakanBetween Privilege and Expulsion: The Chinese in Batavia and Early Postcolonial JakartaThe Repression of the Chinese during the Suharto EraRecent Developments: ‘Free the Dragon’ versus ‘Be(com)ing Betawi’The Betawi’s Appetite for IncorporationChapter 6. Orang Betawi versus Orang Indonesia: On the Connection between Ethnic Diversity and National UnityPancasila and Bhinneka Tunggal Ika as Core Principles of National IdentityThe Betawi as a Representation of Bhinneka Tunggal Ika: On the Meaning of ‘Diversity of Origin’ for ‘Unity in Diversity’National Meanings of Betawi IndigeneityBetawi-ization versus Javanization of the National CentreBetawi contraorang kompeni: Postcolonial Constructions of Anticolonial HeroismOrang Betawi and Orang Indonesia as Interconnected Categories of IdentificationChapter 7. Betawi Politics of Identity and DifferenceBetawi Goes Politics: The First ‘Betawi untuk Gubernur’ CampaignIndigeneity in the Production of Authenticity and CommitmentCreole Identity in the Production of CommonalitiesIslam In and Out of PoliticsJakarta between National and Local RepresentationSocial Margins Going Ethno-politicsBetawi as a Social Class and as Urban IdentificationConclusion: Towards an Open EndBibliography

“Creole Identity in Postcolonial Indonesia reveals some fundamental aspects of ethnicity, nationalism, and the transethnicity that bind them…the sort of transethnic creolization that Knorr describes is probably common in the modern world, if not the very nature of modern culture- and identity-making processes. Her book is a valuable description of phenomena in one postcolonial setting that can and should be applied as widely as possible.”  ·  Anthropology Review Database“This is a very strong ethnographic account of a process of ethnic identity formation of a specific kind. The book is strong in its theoretical and its ethnographic contributions,…especially in refining the concepts of creolization and pidginization, based on rich source material.”  ·  C. S. van der Waal, Stellenbosch University