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The Making of Middle Indonesia book cover
The Making of Middle Indonesia
Middle Classes in Kupang Town, 1930s–1980s
2014
First Published
3.45
Average Rating
300
Number of Pages

Part of Series

What holds Indonesia together? 'A strong leader' is the answer most often given. This book looks instead at a middle level of society. Middle classes in provincial towns around the vast archipelago mediate between the state and society and help to constitute state power. 'Middle Indonesia' is a social zone connecting extremes. The Making of Middle Indonesia examines the rise of an indigenous middle class in one provincial town far removed from the capital city. Spanning the late colonial to early New Order periods, it develops an unusual, associational notion of political power. 'Soft' modalities of power included non-elite provincial people in the emerging Indonesian state. At the same time, growing inequalities produced class tensions that exploded in violence in 1965-1966.
Avg Rating
3.45
Number of Ratings
11
5 STARS
9%
4 STARS
45%
3 STARS
36%
2 STARS
0%
1 STARS
9%
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Author

Gerry van Klinken
Gerry van Klinken
Author · 3 books

Gerry van Klinken is an honorary research fellow at KITLV, where he worked as a senior researcher until 2018, and at the University of Queensland in Brisbane, Australia. Gerry became professor by special appointment of Southeast Asian Social and Economic History at the University of Amsterdam in 2013, and emeritus upon his retirement in 2018. Gerry’s current research is moving towards the comparative history and politics of climate change adaptation in Asia (Indonesia, Japan, the Philippines and India). He coordinated international research projects on the provincial middle class in Indonesia (In Search of Middle Indonesia, 2006-2011), on citizenship and democratisation in Indonesia (From Clients to Citizens? 2012-2016), and on digital humanities (Elite Network Shifts, 2012-2016). After gaining a MSc in geophysics (Macquarie University, Sydney, 1978), Van Klinken taught physics in universities in Malaysia and Indonesia (1979-91). Thereafter he moved into Asian Studies and earned a PhD in Indonesian history from Griffith University in Brisbane in 1996. After that he taught and researched in this field at universities in Brisbane, Sydney, Canberra, Yogyakarta (Indonesia), and now Leiden and Amsterdam. In 1998 he became a frequent media commentator on Indonesian current affairs in Australia. He was editor of the Australian quarterly magazine Inside Indonesia between 1996 and 2002 and remains on the editorial board. From late 1999 to 2002 he was resident director in Yogyakarta for the Australian Consortium of In-Country Indonesian Studies (Acicis). In 2002-2004 he also spent nine months as research advisor to the Commission for Reception, Truth and Reconciliation in East Timor (CAVR).

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