| Chapter 1: | Mapping the Terrain of Identity, Memory, and the Media |
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need to understand how similar or different Chinese Indonesians are from other Chinese in homelands other than China.
This chapter explores the sociopolitical and economic situation of Chinese Indonesians as the context for the study. Before focusing on the specific circumstances of Chinese Indonesians, the chapter first presents a historical overview of the overseas Chinese communities across the world and their patterns of migration, with specific attention to Southeast Asia. The second section of the chapter argues that the case of Chinese Indonesians provides a special opportunity for scholars to examine how memory and the media play a role in the identity formation and construction of a diasporic community.
The Overseas Chinese
and Their Place in the World
One of the most comprehensive anthologies available on the overseas Chinese is The Encyclopedia of the Chinese Overseas, now in its second edition (2006) and published by the Chinese Heritage Center at the Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. Wang Gungwu, who also serves as the director of the East Asian Institute, wrote in his preface and introduction of the encyclopedia that the world has placed a tremendous amount of attention on China’s potential to become a superpower at the turn of the 21st century. Friends of China welcome the new opportunities to conduct more trade with China. Foes see this potential as a threat because of China’s increasing military might.
What is the impact of this potential on the overseas Chinese communities? In Southeast Asia, the overseas Chinese see this as a multiplication of business opportunities on their ancestral land. However, the opportunities may become a new source of tension that may contribute to identity conflicts on local and national levels (Suryadinata, 2007). In Australasia, Europe, and North America,