The Anxieties of Mobility: Migration and Tourism in the Indonesian Borderlands

Southeast Asia: Politics, Meaning, and Memory

by Johan A. Lindquist

Since the late 1960s the Indonesian island of Batam has been transformed from a sleepy fishing village to a booming frontier town, where foreign investment, mostly from neighboring Singapore, converges with inexpensive land and labor. Export processing zones such as Batam are both celebrated and vilified in contemporary debates on economic globalization. The Anxieties of Mobility moves beyond these dichotomies to explore the experiences of migrants and tourists who pass through Batam. Johan Lindquist's extensive fieldwork allows him to portray globalization in terms of relationships that bind individuals together over long distances rather than as a series of impersonal economic transactions. He offers a unique ethnographic perspective, drawing together the worlds of factory workers and prostitutes, migrants and tourists, and creating a compelling account of everyday life in a borderland characterized by dramatic capitalist expansion. The book uses three Indonesian concepts (merantau, malu, liar) to shed light on the mobility of migrants and tourists on Batam. The first refers to a person's relationship with home while in the process of migration. The second signifies the shame or embarrassment felt when one is between accepted roles and emotional states. The third, liar, literally means "wild" and is used to identify those who are out of place, notably squatters, couples in premarital cohabitation, and prostitutes without pimps. These sometimes overlapping concepts allow the book to move across geographical and metaphorical boundaries and between various economies. The Anxieties of Mobility is an ideal text for courses dealing with gender, globalization, and anthropology. A documentaryfilm, B.A.T.A.M., directed and produced by the author, is available from Documentary Educational Resources (www.der.org).

Genres: History, Anthropology, Nonfiction

208 pages, Paperback

First published December 1, 2008

Reviews

[Kathryn · Rating 4 out of 5]

"The Anxieties of Mobility" was assigned in my Introduction to Anthropology class. I had previously studied abroad in China, and one focus in my Issues in Chinese Society course was on migrant labor, so I came in with a bit of information on migrant labor in East Asia, but no knowledge whatsoever on Indonesia.

This book focuses on the island of Batam in Indonesia and explores the lives of those affected by the economic growth in the region and by the increased desire for and restraints upon mobility. Lindquist shares the lives of a wide range of people who he met and interviewed in the region including prostitutes, factory workers, escapists, sex tourists and more.

I think its a good read for anyone trying to understand SE Asian culture. Even though the book focuses on Indonesia, Singapore and Malaysia, a lot of the effects of rapid economic growth and changing gender roles affect many other cultures as well and I found a lot of anecdotes and facts were relatable back to China.

[Dragoș · Rating 5 out of 5]

Impeccably written and innovative, The anxieties of mobility is one of those rare 'gimmick' books in social sciences that works like a charm. Charting the development of the Indonesian island of Batam and it's relationship with nearby Singapore Anxieties presents us with a wide swathe of people, all migrants, almost all exploited and using hard work and hard drugs to navigate the triumvirate of concepts put forward by Lindquist as his framework: merantau, malu and liar.

Great read for anyone interested in anthropology or south asian studies.

[Jesse · Rating 5 out of 5]

elegant ethnography of the best kind, and super accessible for students. highly relevant for Southeast Asian Studies, or anyone interested in migration, globalization, labor, development, gender, and emotions.