Abstrack:
During the 1950s, even in a small provincial town like Maumere, people engaged in struggles for new, more participatory forms of community extending beyond the family and the village. The new republic and new religious practices provided the context. Unconstrained by effective formal institutions or the rule of law, and channeled along existing social networks, these struggles brought vast numbers of people into a new public sphere. They were hybrid movements, mixing informal and formal institutions, traditional and modern ideas, as well as inclusive and exclusive practices. Over time, however, exclusive, elitist practices came to dominate. The decline of inclusive, associational, popular citizenship practices ended in the dramatic pogroms of 1965 all over Indonesia. The presentation will examine the reasons for this decline, and ask how the earlier inclusive practices can be recovered in the 21st century.
Full Text: