The Agility and Flexibility of Ondel Ondel: Displacement among the Betawi in Jakarta

The displacement of the Betawi after Indonesia’s independence is an example of how processes of evictions in urban cities led to the essentialization of the indigenous culture and a loss of heritage. Urban displacement of Indigenous peoples can cause spatial dispersion, which can break their community’s cohesion apart, which in turn can result in a loss of knowledge and identity, together with the possibility of the emergence of smaller local communities. This ethnographic research raises questions concerning the perseverance of the Betawi within Jakarta after their evictions and uses a multimodal approach to explore how they adapt to their new environments, if they experience a sense of displacement, and how they express their heritage. This written text and documentary film are in dialogue with each other. Where the film shows how the Betawi express and perform their cultural heritage, the written text describes the attributes of the moment they express their cultural heritage....Show moreThe displacement of the Betawi after Indonesia’s independence is an example of how processes of evictions in urban cities led to the essentialization of the indigenous culture and a loss of heritage. Urban displacement of Indigenous peoples can cause spatial dispersion, which can break their community’s cohesion apart, which in turn can result in a loss of knowledge and identity, together with the possibility of the emergence of smaller local communities. This ethnographic research raises questions concerning the perseverance of the Betawi within Jakarta after their evictions and uses a multimodal approach to explore how they adapt to their new environments, if they experience a sense of displacement, and how they express their heritage. This written text and documentary film are in dialogue with each other. Where the film shows how the Betawi express and perform their cultural heritage, the written text describes the attributes of the moment they express their cultural heritage. Together, they argue that urban displacement negatively impacts the identity of the Betawi since they lost their collective legitimacy for a common identity. The story of the Betawi foregrounds the broader issues of displacement, community, and culture in a postcolonial and urbanized country.Show less

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The Agility and Flexibility of Ondel Ondel: Displacement among the Betawi in Jakarta