Other Indonesians: Nationalism in an Unnative Language

In 1928, members of a young subaltern Indonesian elite pirated the language of the Dutch empire, bringing the Indonesian language into being along with its nation. Today, Indonesian is the language of two hundred and forty million citizens but is the "native" language of no one.

Through rich analysis focused on the interplay of language varieties in two remote Indonesian provinces, Other Indonesians describes the unique language dynamic which has enabled the development of modern, democrati...