TY - JOUR
T1 - Marginalizing Colonial Violence at the Beginning of the 21st century
T2 - The Representation of Colonial Military Expedition to Banten of 1808 in the National Museum of Indonesia
AU - Fajri, Adieyatna
PY - 2023
Y1 - 2023
N2 - The article discusses the narrative of colonial violence of the objects displayed in the National museum of Indonesia, in Jakarta. Taking the colonial military expedition to Banten in 1808 as a case study, this paper analyzes the museum exhibition to show the interplay between museum as a product of colonialism and its focus on regionalism, its role in postcolonial nation state-formation promoting national identity building, and the complexities of addressing violence. The article argues that, as the museum engages with the discourse of coloniality and concurrently emphasizes national identity building, it inadvertently marginalizes the narrative of colonial violence. The findings show that despite the abundant references to events and processes of direct and structural violence, the phenomenon of violence as an instrumental practice of colonialism has never been discussed or made the object of explicit analysis in the museum. Instead, the museum in that way promotes a belief in a benign and benevolent Dutch imperialism.
AB - The article discusses the narrative of colonial violence of the objects displayed in the National museum of Indonesia, in Jakarta. Taking the colonial military expedition to Banten in 1808 as a case study, this paper analyzes the museum exhibition to show the interplay between museum as a product of colonialism and its focus on regionalism, its role in postcolonial nation state-formation promoting national identity building, and the complexities of addressing violence. The article argues that, as the museum engages with the discourse of coloniality and concurrently emphasizes national identity building, it inadvertently marginalizes the narrative of colonial violence. The findings show that despite the abundant references to events and processes of direct and structural violence, the phenomenon of violence as an instrumental practice of colonialism has never been discussed or made the object of explicit analysis in the museum. Instead, the museum in that way promotes a belief in a benign and benevolent Dutch imperialism.
U2 - 10.17510/wacana.v24i3.1692
DO - 10.17510/wacana.v24i3.1692
M3 - Article
SN - 1411-2272
VL - 24
SP - 440
EP - 469
JO - Wacana: Journal of the Humanities of Indonesia
JF - Wacana: Journal of the Humanities of Indonesia
IS - 3
ER -