Ethnic Othering in Indonesia in Historical Perspective:
Intertextuality and Interdiscursivity in Public Documents
Susana Widyastuti*
Macquarie University
Rationale
b. Thematic interrelatedness: interdiscursive
practice of ethnic othering
othering1
• Ethnic
of Chinese Indonesians can be represented as
an ongoing socio-historical discourse from the perspectives of
the Old Order, the New Order, and the Reform.
• This poster is part of a larger multiperspectival analysis2345
involving discourse analysis, ethnographic accounts and socialpsychological attitude analysis.
• The research specifically seeks to explain the dynamics of ethnic
othering as it is discursively realized in public documents.
• Intertextual and interdiscursive analysis is central to mark the
continuities and recontextualizations of the theme in such written
texts.
Theoretical and methodological background
• The study of intertextuality is crucial for understanding social
change6
• Texts incorporate within themselves evidences of histories of other
texts7
• “Because of the principle of history, all communication is
positioned within multiple, overlapping, and even conflicting
discourses….., borrow from other discourses and texts and are, in
turn, used in later discourses”8
c. Historical interrelatedness: interdiscursive
changes from ethnic othering to ethnic
accommodation
Objective
To explore the historical perspective of ethnic othering through
intertextual and interdiscursive relations within relevant government
documents.
The Old Order
President:
Sukarno
1945
1967
Data
The New Order
President:
Suharto
Ethnic othering
48 central government documents legislating Chinese Indonesians
in Indonesia through different regimes.
1998
The Reform
Presidents:
Habibie, Gusdur,
Megawati, S B
Yudhoyono
now
Ethnic accommodation
•
Against the background of othering, the current institutional
order has legislated non-othering regulations.
•
Othering related regulations were abolished and are no longer
in effect (Law RI No. 40/2008 on November 10, 2008).
Results
•
a. Intertextual interrelatedness
Ratification of the International Convention on the Elimination
of All Forms of Racial Discrimination 1965 (Law RI No.29/1999
on May 25, 1999)
The writers include other sources in their texts9 by:
•
Drawing on prior texts as a source of meanings
•
Providing general beliefs and issues
•
Using noticeable phrasing associated with specific groups
•
Bringing in other sources to provide background, support and
contrast
The use of directives
e.g. Menimbang (to think of)
Memperpanjang (to extend)
Mencabut (to revoke)
Conclusions
•
Governmental documents reflect significant intertextual and
interdiscursive relations connected with the theme of ethnic
othering.
•
Historical development of the documents evidence positive
direction, i.e given negative othering in the Old Order and the
New Order, the current environment appears to be more
inclusive.
•
Further research will focus on the personal and group
responses to experiences of ‘othering’ and will offer
explorations of attitudes towards such othering
+ relevant text/discourse
Such analysis is vital in mapping the thematic and historical
interrelatedness.
References
Holliday, A., Hyde, M., & Kullman, J. (2010). Inter-cultural communication. An advanced resource book for students. London: Routledge.
2 Candlin, C. N. (2006). Accounting for interdiscursivity: Challenges to professional expertise. In M. Gotti & D. Giannone (Eds.) New trends in specialized discourse analysis. Bern: Peter Lang. pp. 21-45.
3 Candlin, C. N., & Crichton, J. (2011). Discourses of deficit. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillian.
4 Candlin C.N. & Crichton, J (2012) From ontology to methodology: Exploring the discursive landscape of trust. In Candlin C.N. & Crichton J. (Eds) Discourses of trust. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
5 Crichton, J. (2011). The Discourse of commercialisation. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillian.
6 Fairclough, N. (1992). Discourse and social change. Cambridge: Polity Press.
7 Kristeva, J. (1986). Word, dialogue, and novel. In T. Moi (ed.) The Kristeva reader. Oxford: Blackwell. Pp. 36-61.
8 Scollon, R. (2001). Mediated discourse. The nexus of practice. London: Routledge. p.8
9 Bazerman, Charles (2004) Intertextuality: How texts rely on other texts. In Bazerman, C. and Prior, P A. (Eds) What writing does and how it does it: An introduction to analyzing texts and textual practices. Mahwah: Lawrence
Erlbaum Associates. pp. 83-96.
1
* email: bless_jogja@yahoo.com, Department of Linguistics Macquarie University