Strangers at home: History and subjectivity among the Chinese communities of west Kalimantan, Indonesia

Abstract

The Chinese diasporic subject as stranger -- The Japanese occupation and the Chinese anti-Japanese movement -- Post-war, pre-New Order -- Recovering a place in history : narratives of violence -- The vicissitudes of the communist underground -- Negotiating estrangement : between cosmology and the social -- The phenomenology of spirits, or, The presencing of the other -- West Kalimantan as home -- On the politics and poetics of home. "This is an ethno-historical study of Chinese from West Kalimantan, Indonesia that, unlike other Chinese diasporic studies, takes its departure from the "away" position. The study aims to interrogate how, where, and in what terms "home" is defined for the stranger. Through examining historical events such as the Japanese Occupation, the repatriation of overseas Chinese to China, and ethnic and state violence in West Kalimantan, this study highlights the plight of the Chinese as political orphans in search of a home that eludes them, whether in Indonesia or China. Through a rich array of different kinds of data, including oral histories and memoirs of the communist underground, this book offers novel perspectives on the role of history in subject formation."--Publisher's description