indonesia's cultural perspectives

Identification. The Republic of Indonesia, the world 's fourth most populous nation, has 203 million people living on nearly one thousand permanently settled islands. Some two-to-three hundred ethnic groups with their own languages and dialects range in population from the Javanese (about 70 million) and Sundanese (about 30 million) on Java, to peoples numbering in the thousands on remote islands. The nature of Indonesian national culture is somewhat analogous to that of India—multicultural, rooted in older societies and interethnic relations, and developed in twentieth century nationalist struggles against a European imperialism that nonetheless forged that nation and many of its institutions. The national culture is most easily observed in cities but aspects of it now reach into the countryside as well. Indonesia 's borders are those of the Netherlands East Indies, which was fully formed at the beginning of the twentieth century, though Dutch imperialism began early in the seventeenth century. Indonesian culture has historical roots, institutions, customs, values, and beliefs that many of its people share, but it is also a work in progress that is undergoing particular stresses at the beginning of the twenty-first century.

The name Indonesia, meaning Indian Islands, was coined by an Englishman, J. R. Logan, in Malaya in 1850. Derived from the Greek, Indos (India) and nesos (island), it has parallels in Melanesia, "black islands"; Micronesia, "small islands"; and Polynesia, "many islands." A German geographer, Adolf Bastian, used it in the title of his book, Indonesien , in 1884, and in 1928 nationalists adopted it as the name of their hoped-for nation.

Most islands are multiethnic, with large and small groups forming geographical enclaves. Towns within such enclaves include the dominant ethnic group and some members of immigrant groups. Large cities may consist of many ethnic groups; some cities have a dominant majority. Regions, such as West Sumatra or

Bibliography: Abdullah, Taufik, and Sharon Siddique, eds. Islam and Society in Southeast Asia , 1987. Abeyasekere, Susan. Jakarta: A History , 1987. Alisyahbana, S. Takdir. Indonesia: Social and Cultural Revolution , 1966. Anderson, Benedict R. O 'G. Language and Power: Exploring Political Cultures in Indonesia , 1990. Boomgaard, Peter. Children of the Colonial State: Population Growth and Economic Development in Java, 1795– 1880 , 1989. Brenner, Suzanne April. The Domestication of Desire: Women, Wealth, and Modernity in Java , 1998. Bresnan, John. Managing Indonesia: The Modern Political Economy , 1993. Buchori, Mochtar. Sketches of Indonesian Society: A Look from Within , 1994. Covarrubias, Miguel. Island of Bali , 1937. Cribb, Robert. Historical Dictionary of Indonesia , 1992. Cunningham, Clark E. "Celebrating a Toba Batak National Hero: An Indonesian Rite of Identity." In Susan D. Russell and Clark E. Cunningham, eds., Changing Lives, Changing Rites , 1989. ——. "Indonesians." In David Levinson and Melvin Ember, eds., American Immigrant Cultures , 1997. Dalton, Bill. Indonesia Handbook , 6th ed., 1995. Emmerson, Donald K., ed. Indonesia beyond Suharto: Polity, Economy, Society, Transition , 1999. Fontein, Jan. The Sculpture of Indonesia , 1990. Fox, James J. Harvest of the Palm: Ecological Change in Eastern Indonesia , 1977. Furnivall, J. S. Colonial Policy and Practice: A Comparative Study of Burma and Netherlands India , 1948. Geertz, Clifford. The Religion of Java , 1976. ——. Agricultural Involution: The Process of Ecological Change in Indonesia , 1970. ——. Negara: The Theatre State in Nineteenth-Century Bali , 1980. Geertz, Hildred. The Javanese Family: A study of kinship and socialization , 1961. Geertz, Hildred, and Clifford Geertz. Kinship in Bali , 1975. Gillow, John. Traditional Indonesian Textiles , 1992. Grant, Bruce. Indonesia , 3rd ed., 1996. Hefner, Robert W., and Patricia Horvatich, eds. Islam in an Era of Nation-States , 1997. Hoskins, Janet. "The Headhunter as Hero Local: Traditions and Their Reinterpretation in National History." American Ethnologist 14 (4): 605–622, 1987. Josselin de Jong, P. D. de, ed. Unity in Diversity Indonesia as a Field of Anthropological Study , 1984. Kahin, George Mc T. Nationalism and Revolution in Indonesia , 1952. Kartodirdjo, Sartono. Modern Indonesia Tradition and Transformation , 1984. Kayam, Umar. The Soul of Indonesia: A cultural journey , 1985. Keeler, Ward. Javanese Shadow Puppets , 1992. Kipp, Rita Smith, and Susan Rodgers, eds. Indonesian Religions in Transition , 1987. Koentjaraningrat. Introduction to the Peoples and Cultures of Indonesia and Malaysia , 1975. ——. Javanese Culture , 1985. ——. ed. Villages in Indonesia , 1967. Kwik, Greta. "Indos." In David Levinson and Melvin Ember, eds., American Immigrant Cultures , 1997. Lev, Daniel, S. and Ruth McVey, eds. Making Indonesia Essays on Modern Indonesia in Honor of George McT. Kahin , 1996. Levinson, David, and Melvin Ember, eds. American Immigrant Cultures: Builders of a Nation , 1997. Liddle, R. William. Leadership and Culture in Indonesian Politics , 1996. Loveard, Keith. Suharto: Indonesia 's Last Sultan , 1999. Lubis, Mochtar. The Indonesian Dilemma , 1983. McVey, Ruth T., ed. Indonesia , 1963. Mulder, Niels. Individual and Society in Java , 1989. ——. Inside Indonesian Society: An Interpretation of Cultural Change in Java , 1994. Peacock, James L. The Muhammadijah Movement in Indonesian Islam , 1978.