Being Indonesian, being Chinese

Searching for a third space between ethnicity and nationality among Chinese Indonesian Buddhists

Bibliographic Data

ID4372954
AuthorsStanley Khu (0009-0000-5130-5822, State University of Semarang, corresponding author)
Year2025
Volume56
Issue1
Pages1-21
Publication date2025-05-21
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueReligion (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0048-721X • E-ISSN: 1096-1151
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/0048721x.2025.2508486
OpenAlexW4410579655
LanguageEN
Citations received5
References cited28

This paper discusses the religious practices and beliefs of Chinese Indonesians who adhere to the Vajrayana tradition of Tibetan Buddhism to explore the emergence of Homi Bhabha’s ‘third space’ that may reconcile the tense relationship between ethnicity and nationality among Chinese Indonesians. Through ethnographic study in Kadam Choeling Indonesia (KCI), a community of Chinese Indonesian Vajrayana adherents, I discuss how KCI Buddhists utilize their religious identity to navigate and negotiate their national and ethnic identities. My findings demonstrate that their religious identity as Vajrayana adherents facilitates the emergence of a third space that accommodates the simultaneous existence of ethnic and national identities. This concurs with similar studies conducted among Chinese Indonesians who profess other religious traditions like Christianity or Islam. By providing a comparative note, I point out some similarities and differences in how the third space emerges in respective religious settings

Ethnic chinese · Ethnic group · Immigration · Indonesian · Linguistics · Nationality · Sociology · Space (punctuation) · Anthropology · Asian Geopolitics and Ethnography · Asian Studies and History · History · Islamic Studies and Radicalism · Philosophy

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