Writing Indonesian history in the Netherlands; Rethinking the past

Writing Indonesian history in the Netherlands Rethinking the pastThere are two obvious ways of writing about the 'state of Indonesian history'.The first could be called Rankean: objective, scientific, and buttressed with a scholarly apparatus of typologies, tables, inventories and notes.The second is more post-modern: aware of artifice, admitting the influence of context, accepting subjectivity, and sensitive to the need for disclosure.This essay is closer to the latter than the former.In a compromise that is perhaps typical of much contemporary history writing, it concedes a fundamental subjectivity, but hopes to achieve some measure of respectability by considering a few external sources and paying attention to circumstances.It is usual in such essays to have an initial footnote acknowledging the writer's gratitude to various colleagues, students and friends, while at the same time absolving them of all responsibility for the argument presented.Both points must be made here with such emphasis that I have elevated them to the body of the text: many co-workers might recognize individual ideas or comments, but reject the interpretation.I alone can be held accountable for the following opinions.The main argument of the following pages, however, is uncontroversial enough.Briefly summarized, I suggest that the development of Indonesian history in the Netherlands, like all history writing, is shaped by two major, interacting forces.The first is socio-political, and refers to the constellation of relevant interests and attitudes within the producing society, including changing international relationships, in this case between the Netherlands and Indonesia.The second influence is cultural, comprising the institutions and ideas which shape the academic infrastructure and the formulation of research agendas.Here, we focus on debates within and about history and the social sciences in general, and on Indonesian history in particular.This much is fairly obvious.But I also -quite subjectively -suggest that the writing of Indonesian history at the moment seems to be in rather poor shape.We have an image problem, and it is our own fault.The interesting intellectual terrain seems to have been captured by other disciplines, reducing history to being the drab provider of raw material for cultural studies or social science.Or, as the more beleaguered historians might claim, modest and meticulous scholarship is being pushed aside by ill-informed but superficially impressive generalization

Aesthetics · Argument (complex analysis · Compromise · Context (archaeology · Epistemology · Gratitude · Indonesian · Interpretation (philosophy · Linguistics · Political science · Politics · Social science · Sociology · State (computer science · Subjectivity · Asian Studies and History · Computer Science · History · Law · Medicine · Philippine History and Culture · Philosophy · Psychology · Social Psychology

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