Being Malay in Indonesia : histories, hopes and citizenship in the Riau Archipelago / Nicholas J. Long.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Long, Nicholas J., author.

Series:

Southeast Asia publications series

Asian Studies Association of Australia Southeast Asia publications series

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Malays (Asian people)--Indonesia--Riau (Province)--Ethnic identity.

Malays (Asian people).

Ethnicity.

Riau (Indonesia : Province)--Economic conditions.

Riau (Indonesia : Province).

Indonesia--Riau (Province).

Physical Description:

xii, 288 pages : illustrations ; 23 cm.

Place of Publication:

Honolulu, HI : University of Hawaiʻi Press ; Asian Studies Association of Australia, [2013]

Summary:

In 1999, the people of Indonesia's Riau Archipelago were angry. Resentful of decades of "internal colonialism" by Mainland Sumatra, and concerned that they lacked education and skills to flourish in a globalised world, they dreamed of inhabiting a province of their own. When the post-authoritarian state committed itself to democracy and local autonomy, they lobbied vigorously and successfully for the region to be returned to its "native" Malay residents. Riau Islands Province was born in 2004. This book explores what happened next. Living in a new province created "for Malays" forced Riau Islanders to engage with thorny questions over what it meant to be Malay and how to achieve the official goal of becoming globally competitive "human resources". Putting nuanced ethnographic observations of life in the islands into a provocative dialogue with theorists ranging from Zizek to Sartre, this book explores how feelings of unsettledness and doubt came to permeate the province as a result of its very creation. Offering fresh perspectives on commerce, spirit beliefs, education and culture, Being Malay in Indonesia challenges much of the received wisdom in the anthropology of Southeast Asia and makes a powerful case for the importance of feelings, sentiments and affect in studies of local development and political change. Book jacket.

Contents:

Introduction

Provincial capital

Aristocrats

Marketplaces

Neighbourhoods

Hauntings

The human resources crisis

Achieving Malayness.

Notes:

Published in Singapore by NUS Press.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 256-273) and index.

ISBN:

9780824838652

0824838653

OCLC:

823014114