11-15 April 1996
Honolulu, USA
By Huub de Jonge
The presentations on Pramoedya focused primarily on the writer as a public figure, an intellectual leader, a critic of the Indonesian regime, and a source of inspiration to younger generations. Ben Abel dealt extensively with the way Pramoedya used and developed his language to make sure that his frustrations and aspirations were made plain to all levels of society. Julie Shackford-Bradley illustrated the way Pramoedya changed the one-sided emphasis on male characters in Indonesian novels ('print patriarchy') by paying ample attention to the role of women in the struggle against Dutch supremacy and the formation of the Indonesian nation. Sumit Mandal's presentation discussed Pramoedya's resistance to the anti-Chinese measures introduced by the government in 1960. The letters Pramoedya wrote about this policy in Bintang Minggu (later published in Hoa Kiau di Indonesia) contain words and expressions "which disturbed contemporary assumptions about nation and community." Benedict Anderson noted that this session was the first ever held to discuss Pramoedya's work explicitly and pleaded for further research as the impact of his work and deeds will become more apparent in the coming years.
Globalization
The sessions on 'Materializations of Modernity in Indonesia' and 'Local Readings of Global
Culture' each dealt with the effects of globalization from a different (specific) angle. The first
session focused primarily on the use of things, material objects or commodities, in the
process of modernization in Indonesia. Patricia Spyer and Henk Schulte Nordholt, for
example, paid attention to the relationship between styles of dress and colonial as well as
Indonesian state formation. Among other points raised, they made clear that different societal
groups used clothes to mark their place in the rapidly changing society. Danilyn Rutherford
showed how by fetishizing outside objects, the people of Biak succeeded in deferring
modernity. The second session dealt with the way outside ideas in Southeast Asia were used
to suit local realities. Nancy Lutz argued this has often led not only to new cultural
expressions, but also to either the reinforcement or disappearance of traditional ones.
Also very interesting were the two sessions on the 'Direction and Priorities of Research on
Southeast Asia' in which scholars from Thailand, Vietnam, Myanmar, Malaysia, the
Philippines, and Indonesia discussed scientific priorities, trends, and perspectives in their
countries of origin. Almost all speakers emphasized the need for an insider's perspective on
development in their country as a counterweight to the outsiders' view of westerners. In
doing so they also acknowledged that they realized how difficult it is to free themselves from
Western scientific ideas (post-modernism was, by way of exception, seen as a positive
approach). It was generally agreed that topics of research are still decided by the 'needs of
their country'.
Their governments are opposed to research which does not contribute to the stability and
development of the population at large. It was interesting to see that a distinction was made
between societal trends which deserved scientific attention (e.g. changing lifestyles,
Islamization, new middle class) and developments which were less interesting, but still had
to be studied.
My own contribution was entitled 'Pilgrimages and Local Islam on Java'. I presented it in
the form of a poster during a session in which several participants explored the role of
pilgrimages visually and verbally in different types of societies.
Dr Huub de Jonge is senior lecturer at the Institute for Cultural and Social Anthropology, Nijmegen University, the Netherlands.