Performing Power: Cultural Hegemony, Identity, and Resistance in Colonial Indonesia

Performing Power by Arnout Van der Meer explores how colonial dominance in Indonesia was legitimized, maintained, negotiated, and contested through the everyday staging and public performance of power between the colonizer and colonized. It reveals how ordinary interactions reveal about the construction of national, racial, social, religious, and gender identities, as well as the experience of modernity in colonial Indonesia. By the twentieth century, the Javanese used the tropes of Dutch colonial behavior to subvert the administrative hierarchy of the state.

Format: Hardback
Length: 300 pages
Publication date: 15 August 2021
Publisher: Cornell University Press

Here is the rephrased text:

Performing Power delves into the intricate dynamics of colonial dominance in Indonesia, shedding light on the various ways in which power was legitimized, maintained, negotiated, and contested. Authored by Arnout Van der Meer, this groundbreaking work explores the profound impact of seemingly ordinary interactions on the formation of national, racial, social, religious, and gender identities, as well as the experiences of modernity in colonial Indonesia.

Through acts of everyday resistance, such as speaking a different language, withholding deference, and altering one's appearance and consumer behavior, a new generation of Indonesians challenged the hegemonic colonial appropriation of local culture and the perpetuation of racial and gender inequalities. These power dynamics underwent a remarkable transformation over time, leading to the subversion of the colonial order by the Javanese in the twentieth century.

This insightful book is made accessible to a wider audience through the generous funding provided by the Sustainable History Monograph Pilot and the Mellon Foundation. The ebook editions of Performing Power are available as Open Access (OA) volumes from Cornell Open and other Open Access repositories, ensuring that the knowledge and insights contained within these pages are freely accessible to all.

Arnout Van der Meer's Performing Power is a seminal work that offers a fresh perspective on the complex history of colonial Indonesia. By examining the everyday interactions between colonizer and colonized, it provides valuable insights into the construction of identities, the experiences of modernity, and the strategies employed by individuals and communities to challenge and subvert power structures. This book is a must-read for scholars, students, and anyone interested in understanding the complexities of colonialism and its enduring legacy.

Weight: 28g
Dimension: 229 x 152 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781501758577