Departing from Java: Javanese Labour, Migration and Diaspora
From colonial times on Java through to the present day, large numbers of Javanese have left their homes to settle in other parts of Indonesia or much further afield. Frequently this dispersion was forced, often with traumatic results. Today, Javanese communities continue to exist as near to home as Kalimantan and as far away as Suriname and the Netherlands. Meanwhile, migrant workers from Java continue to travel abroad, finding short-term employment in places like Malaysia and the Middle East.

This volume traces the different ways in which Javanese migrants and migrant communities are connected in their host society and with Java as a real or imagined authoritative source of norms, values and loyalties. It underlines the importance of diaspora as a process in order to understand the evolving notions of a Javanese homeland across time and space. Even though Java as the point of departure links the different contributions, their focus is more on the process of migration and the experiences of Javanese migrants in the countries of destination. In so doing, they examine historical developments and geographical similarities and differences in the migrants’ social and political positions, mechanisms of authority, and social relations with other migrants.

Clearly, the labour element dominates the Indonesian overseas experience. But the volume also elucidates how ethnicity, class, gender, religion and hierarchy have shaped and still inform the dynamics of diasporic communities. Many of the chapters pay particular attention to gender as, since the 1960s, women for the first time have formed the majority of international migrants, domestic work being the largest category of transnational work. As a result, important aspects of the migration experience are seen in new ways via the lens of women’s experiences.

1128587149
Departing from Java: Javanese Labour, Migration and Diaspora
From colonial times on Java through to the present day, large numbers of Javanese have left their homes to settle in other parts of Indonesia or much further afield. Frequently this dispersion was forced, often with traumatic results. Today, Javanese communities continue to exist as near to home as Kalimantan and as far away as Suriname and the Netherlands. Meanwhile, migrant workers from Java continue to travel abroad, finding short-term employment in places like Malaysia and the Middle East.

This volume traces the different ways in which Javanese migrants and migrant communities are connected in their host society and with Java as a real or imagined authoritative source of norms, values and loyalties. It underlines the importance of diaspora as a process in order to understand the evolving notions of a Javanese homeland across time and space. Even though Java as the point of departure links the different contributions, their focus is more on the process of migration and the experiences of Javanese migrants in the countries of destination. In so doing, they examine historical developments and geographical similarities and differences in the migrants’ social and political positions, mechanisms of authority, and social relations with other migrants.

Clearly, the labour element dominates the Indonesian overseas experience. But the volume also elucidates how ethnicity, class, gender, religion and hierarchy have shaped and still inform the dynamics of diasporic communities. Many of the chapters pay particular attention to gender as, since the 1960s, women for the first time have formed the majority of international migrants, domestic work being the largest category of transnational work. As a result, important aspects of the migration experience are seen in new ways via the lens of women’s experiences.

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Departing from Java: Javanese Labour, Migration and Diaspora

Departing from Java: Javanese Labour, Migration and Diaspora

Departing from Java: Javanese Labour, Migration and Diaspora

Departing from Java: Javanese Labour, Migration and Diaspora

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Overview

From colonial times on Java through to the present day, large numbers of Javanese have left their homes to settle in other parts of Indonesia or much further afield. Frequently this dispersion was forced, often with traumatic results. Today, Javanese communities continue to exist as near to home as Kalimantan and as far away as Suriname and the Netherlands. Meanwhile, migrant workers from Java continue to travel abroad, finding short-term employment in places like Malaysia and the Middle East.

This volume traces the different ways in which Javanese migrants and migrant communities are connected in their host society and with Java as a real or imagined authoritative source of norms, values and loyalties. It underlines the importance of diaspora as a process in order to understand the evolving notions of a Javanese homeland across time and space. Even though Java as the point of departure links the different contributions, their focus is more on the process of migration and the experiences of Javanese migrants in the countries of destination. In so doing, they examine historical developments and geographical similarities and differences in the migrants’ social and political positions, mechanisms of authority, and social relations with other migrants.

Clearly, the labour element dominates the Indonesian overseas experience. But the volume also elucidates how ethnicity, class, gender, religion and hierarchy have shaped and still inform the dynamics of diasporic communities. Many of the chapters pay particular attention to gender as, since the 1960s, women for the first time have formed the majority of international migrants, domestic work being the largest category of transnational work. As a result, important aspects of the migration experience are seen in new ways via the lens of women’s experiences.


Product Details

ISBN-13: 9788776942465
Publisher: NIAS
Publication date: 05/31/2018
Series: NIAS Studies in Asian Topics , #66
Pages: 288
Product dimensions: 6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x (d)

About the Author

Rosemarijn Hoefte (Editor)
Rosemarijn Hoefte is Professor of the History of Suriname after 1873 at the University of Amsterdam and a senior researcher at KITLV/Royal Netherlands Institute of Southeast Asian and Caribbean Studies in Leiden. Her main research interests are the history of post-abolition Suriname, migration and unfree labor, and Caribbean contemporary history.

Peter Meel (Editor)
Peter Meel is director of research of the Leiden University Institute for History. His teaching and research focus is on Caribbean history, primarily the political and cultural history of Suriname following World War II. Based on archival research, oral history, and literature study his publications centre on nationalism, class, ethnicity, political culture, and regional/global integration and processes of migration, diaspora formation and transnationalism.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements ix

Contributors xi

Introduction Rosemarijn Hoefte Peter Meel 1

1 Departing from Java to Lampung: Locating Javanese: Diasporic Practices in Indonesia's Transmigration Resettlement rogramme Rebecca Elmhirst 27

2 A Shared Sense of Belonging: The Javanese in Southeast Sulawesi Agus Suwigrtyo Widaratih Kamiso 54

3 The Javanese of New Caledonia Pamela Allen 82

4 Javanese in Malaysia: Labour Migration, Settlement and Diaspora Amarjit Kaur 103

5 Migration Systems and Identity: Javanese Domestic Workers in Hong Kong and Singapore Wayne Palmer 137

6 'No to Racial Discrimination': Javanese Guest Workers' Experiences of Racism in Taiwan and their Stratagems of Resistance Robert Tierney 160

7 From Java to Saudi Arabia and Dubai: Precarious Itineraries of Indonesian Domestic Workers Rachel Silvey 188

8 East Javanese Housemaids in Saudi Arabia, 1990s-2010s: Transnational Labour Migration, Survival, Social Networks and Identity Nurchayati 209

9 Javanese in Suriname: Between Multi-ethnicity and Nationalism Peter Meel 238

Index 267

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