Description
Book SynopsisAn exploration of the connections between the urban built environment (primarily in Jakarta) and political consciousness in Indonesia during the colonial and postcolonial eras.
Trade Review“[U]nique and engaging. . . . [M]akes a considerable contribution to the discourse on ‘memory’ in architecture and urban studies, and in particular to broadening the understanding – and reading – of urban space within postcolonial nations.” - Shenuka de Sylva,
Asia Pacific Viewpoint“[Kusno] provides a brilliant diachronic cartography of different architectural and urban elements in contemporary Jakarta and their connection to or disjuncture from the past. . . . [T]his is an exceptional and truly enjoyable book, a good companion to the author’s previous book,
Behind the Postcolonial (2000).” - Eduardo Ascensão,
Planning Perspectives“[T]he essays are well-designed, their themes are carefully developed, and there is ample evidence to give credence to the conclusions that are drawn. The essays are scholarly, unambiguous, and meaningful to the reader. The use of examples from architecture are well-chosen and make the collection an especially good representative of this genre. The author’s two major themes. . .are a strong contribution to the scholarly literature on the history and architecture of Java. . . . [T]he work is well done and worth reading.” - Howard M. Federspiel,
Indonesia“This fine book has its origins in a series of essays published in the aftermath of the May 1998 rioting in Jakarta and the birth of the post-Suharto era, the
product of the so-called
reformasi. . . . Photos and line drawings feature
among some 60 illustrations, and there is a comprehensive bibliography, which includes, as might be expected, Indonesian and Dutch works. . . . I
would highly recommend this book overall. . .” - John P. Lea,
Architectural Science Review“
The Appearance of Memory is very much a revisionist work that deftly manages a plethora of knowledge and detail about the Indonesian city to provide new insight into its dynamics. The book is full of pithy summations that deftly capture well developed themes in Indonesian sociological studies, but, more importantly, it contextualizes these themes through insightful analysis of architectural forms.” - Robbie Peters,
Oceania"This…book demonstrates deep theoretical reflection on a number of different issues around the theme of memory as they are inscribed in material and spatial phenomena…. [Kusno] exposes social challenges that Asian nations deliberately suppress and architectural/urban studies rarely acknowledge." - Anoma Pieris,
Comparative Studies in Society and History“
The Appearances of Memory offers fresh perspectives and intriguing analyses of the political culture of Indonesia as expressed through architecture, development, spatial relationships, and other facets of urban development in the colonial and national periods. It is further evidence of Abidin Kusno’s unique capacity to probe the inner life of Indonesia’s distinct political culture and to connect it to the structures that give it meaning.”—
Christopher Silver, author of
Planning the Megacity: Jakarta in the Twentieth Century“I have always felt that we in Indonesia studies have been unusually lucky in having people thinking at the brink of the discipline, pushing the boundaries of the field. Abidin Kusno is one of those people. The Appearances of Memory is an extraordinary book.”—
Rudolf Mrázek, author of
A Certain Age: Colonial Jakarta through the Memories of Its Intellectuals“
The Appearance of Memory is very much a revisionist work that deftly manages a plethora of knowledge and detail about the Indonesian city to provide new insight into its dynamics. The book is full of pithy summations that deftly capture well developed themes in Indonesian sociological studies, but, more importantly, it contextualizes these themes through insightful analysis of architectural forms.” -- Robbie Peters * Oceania *
“[Kusno] provides a brilliant diachronic cartography of different architectural and urban elements in contemporary Jakarta and their connection to or disjuncture from the past. . . . [T]his is an exceptional and truly enjoyable book, a good companion to the author’s previous book,
Behind the Postcolonial (2000).” -- Eduardo Ascensão * Planning Perspectives *
“[T]he essays are well-designed, their themes are carefully developed, and there is ample evidence to give credence to the conclusions that are drawn. The essays are scholarly, unambiguous, and meaningful to the reader. The use of examples from architecture are well-chosen and make the collection an especially good representative of this genre. The author’s two major themes. . .are a strong contribution to the scholarly literature on the history and architecture of Java. . . . [T]he work is well done and worth reading.” -- Howard M. Federspiel * Indonesia *
“[U]nique and engaging. . . . [M]akes a considerable contribution to the discourse on ‘memory’ in architecture and urban studies, and in particular to broadening the understanding – and reading – of urban space within postcolonial nations.” -- Shenuka de Sylva * Asia Pacific Viewpoint *
“This fine book has its origins in a series of essays published in the aftermath of the May 1998 rioting in Jakarta and the birth of the post-Suharto era, the product of the so-called
reformasi. . . . Photos and line drawings feature
among some 60 illustrations, and there is a comprehensive bibliography, which includes, as might be expected, Indonesian and Dutch works. . . . I would highly recommend this book overall. . .” -- John P. Lea * Architectural Science Review *
"This…book demonstrates deep theoretical reflection on a number of different issues around the theme of memory as they are inscribed in material and spatial phenomena…. [Kusno] exposes social challenges that Asian nations deliberately suppress and architectural/urban studies rarely acknowledge." -- Anoma Pieris * Comparative Studies in Society and History *
Table of ContentsIllustrations ix
Acknowledgments xiii
Introduction 1
Governmentality
1. Whither Nationalist Urbanism? Public Life in Governor Sutiyoso's Jakarta 25
2. The Regime, the Busway, and the Construction of Urban Subjects in an Indonesian Metropolis 49
3. "Back to the City": Urban Architecture in the New Indonesia 71
Remembering and Forgetting
4. Glodok on Our Minds: Chinese Culture and the Forgetting of the May Riots 101
5. The Afterlife of the Empire Style,
Indische Architectuur, and Art Deco 125
Reminiscences
6. Colonial Cities in Motion: Urban Symbolism and Popular Radicalism 155
7. Urban Pedagogy: The Appearance of Order and Normality in Late Colonial Java, 1926–42 182
Mental Nebulae
8. "The Reality of One-Which-Is-Two": Java's Reception of Global Islam 203
9. Guardian of Memories: The
Gardu in Urban Java 223
Notes 279
Bibliography 313
Index 327
