Auto-activity

Decolonization and the Politics of Knowledge in Early Postwar Indonesia, ca.1920-1955

Datos Bibliográficos

ID21707508
AutoresSebastiaan Broere (University of Amsterdam, autor de correspondencia)
Año2021
Volumen16
Número2
Páginas143
Fecha de publicación2021-06-24
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaLembaran Sejarah (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 1410-4962 • E-ISSN: 2620-5882
EditorialUniversitas Gadjah Mada (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.22146/lembaran-sejarah.66956
OpenAlexW3181911056
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas4
Referencias citadas17

This article presents a history of decolonization and its politics of knowledge by examining rural reconstruction programs in the first decade of Indonesian independence. It traces the roots of Indonesia’s first two agricultural development schemes to late-colonial criticism of state policy. In these criticisms and schemes, “auto-activity” emerged as a key concept. This paper argues that in the writings of planners and politicians, “auto-activity” facilitated the process of decolonization in various ways. The notion of auto-activity affirmed Indonesian know-how over foreign technical assistance; those who developed it would overcome subjective legacies of colonial subjugation; it encouraged the institutionalization of a benevolent state that helped rural communities to help themselves, and would thus contribute to the materialization of a fair and just society. This article concludes that despite these practices of decolonization, programs of “auto-activity” also opened up possibilities to overrule farmers’s individual choices in new ways

Colonialism · Criticism · Decolonization · Economic growth · Economics · Indonesian · Institutionalisation · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Sociology · Asian Studies and History · Law