ABOUT

It is an ethnographic video produced to unveil the Indonesia we do not “see” from three key elements —— nation branding, soundscapes, and the dounble-minority Chinese Indonesians. Poetically narrated, the video tells the story of the researcher’s experiences and intercultural encounters in five cities in Java as an ethnic Chinese person.

Pay attention to the sounds: the clickety-clack of trains, the pitter-patter of the tropical rain, the (unfamiliar) sound of Bahasa Indonesia; the Islamic call-to-prayers the surround the cities, the soothing Javanese gamelan, loud music in public, and the (familiar) sound of Chinese to the researcher. And see how the sounds shape the experience of the researcher and how the researcher’s position influences her perceptions of the soundscapes and the local realities.

PS: The video and audio recordings were collected by the researcher in January, 2024, across Klaten, Yogyakarta, Surakarta (Solo), Semarang, and Bandung, using a digital camera, a mobile phone, and a drone camera.