Creole Identity in Postcolonial Indonesia

<p> Contributing to identity formation in ethnically and religiously diverse postcolonial societies this book examines the role played by creole identity in Indonesia and in particular its capital Jakarta. While on the one hand it facilitates transethnic integration and promotes a specifically postcolonial sense of common nationhood due to its heterogeneous origins creole groups of people are often perceived ambivalently in the wake of colonialism and its demise on the other. In this book Jacqueline Knörr analyzes the social historical and political contexts of creoleness both at the grassroots and the State level showing how different sections of society engage with creole identity in order to promote collective identification transcending ethnic and religious boundaries as well as for reasons of self-interest and ideological projects.</p>