Indonesia in the World

Indonesia is a unitary state built up from culturally and historically diverse components. In this subject students will examine different ideologies, philosophies and approaches that have been utilised in the move towards unity, including secular nationalism, political Islam, militarism, developmentalism, democraticisation and the rise in consumer culture. Indonesia’s colonial past and its post-colonial experience with the project of nation building will be examined and both the symbols and the pragmatic social-political processes for building national cohesion will be explored. The variety of topics covered is wide and may range, for example, from examining periods of political upheaval and the role of the state and perceived threats to state unity through to the roles of education, language and popular culture in creating a sense of Indonesian-ness. We will also look at the tensions that arise in this ongoing project of nation building, including the phenomenon of regionalism and separatist movements. This subject is conducted in Indonesian.