| The research programme ?Sites, Bodies and Stories? investigates cultural heritage formation in colonial and postcolonial Indonesia and the Netherlands since the beginning of the nineteenth century. It analyses the emergence of a colonial canon of Indonesian culture, and its impact on the dynamics of appropriation and belonging, inclusion and exclusion, during the process of (post)colonial state formation. Three case studies, focussing on different heritage domains, will be the prisms through which the political dimensions and colonial threads of heritage formation across the colonial divide will be investigated. The case studies concern: (1) archaeological-historical sites; (2) human remains and physical anthropological data; and (3) contemporary performing traditions and performance practices. Each of these heritage domains implicitly refers to an ?authentic? indigenous past. Each domain has been incorporated in a Western scientific body of colonial knowledge, and has been regulated and preserved through the intervention of cultural institutions in Indonesia and the Netherlands. In these three domains cases have been selected which are connected with sensitive and often contested political and religious interests. They touch upon national, religious or ethnic identity issues, while they are framed in discussions concerning national and world heritage, postcolonial relationships between former colonizer and colony, and the moral underpinnings of keeping and investigating human remains. The use of the three cases allows the programme to follow three different approaches to the dynamics of heritage formation: focusing on state interventions (Sites), on international professional agendas (Bodies) and on individual local cultural productions (Stories). The aim is, by following these three approaches to arrive at an analysis of the operation of processes of heritage formation in colonial, postcolonial and international arenas, drawing its power and legitimacy from, respectively, the state, international norms, and local tradition. In a broader sense the programme opens the possibility of a critical evaluation of the political dimensions of the concept of heritage and the practice of heritage studies. Senior and PhD research will result in academic publications; a mid-term international seminar in Jakarta will strengthen the international comparative context of the research, with a focus on Indonesia, the Netherlands, India and England. Indonesian postgraduate students will be involved in research, whereas the programme aims to reach a wider audience as well, through an exhibition, performances, documentary films and public debates on ethical guidelines. |
