Chinese Indonesians: Remembering, Distorting, And Forgetting

by Timothy Lindsey (Editor), Helen Pausacker (Editor)

This volume honours, and reflects on, the life and work of the Australian Indonesianist, Charles A. Coppel. His interests - reflected in this volume - are broad, ranging from history, politics, legal issues, and violence against the Chinese, through to culture and religion. The chapters in the volume, contributed by scholars from Australia, Indonesia, Europe, and Singapore, also all reflect a theme, inspired by Charles Coppel's expression, "remembering, distorting, forgetting", by which he drew attention to misrepresentations of the Chinese, seeking to locate the realities behind the myths that form the basis for the racism and xenophobia the Chinese have often experienced in Indonesia.

242 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 2005

Reviews

[Michelle Sulaiman · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm not entirely sure why a lot of people gave really low review.
I encountered this book as I did my research about Wayang Potehi; the last chapter of the book gave me some pointers for my research.

I read the entire book during school break and I found it quite interesting.
Some of the topics discussed seem obvious to Indonesians. Some discourse, I think, will be uncomfortable for a lot of Indonesians but I agree with most of their articles' ideas and/or thesis statements.

Also, I will have never encountered this book if it's not related to my research topic. I wonder if the low rating is because people are expecting a different way of writing? But it's a Festschrift of a Chinese Indonesian scholar...? :/ It is not a fiction book, and it's written in an academic way; I think some people who give low ratings were looking for a different kind of book.