| ID | 078819 |
| Title Proper | Ethnicized violence in Indonesia |
| Other Title Information | where criminals and fanatics meet |
| Language | ENG |
| Author | Brown, David ; Wilson, Ian Douglas |
| Publication | 2007. |
| Summary / Abstract (Note) | Ethnic gang violence is often depicted as a clash between criminals pursuing instrumental advantage or as one between ideological fanatics pursuing collective nationalist, ethnolinguistic, or ethnoreligious rights. However, there is an apparent tension between the conceptualization of such violence as the rational self-interest of deprived individuals, and as the irrational fanaticism of anomic communities. The examination of one particular ethnic gang, the Betawi Brotherhood Forum which operates in Jakarta, Indonesia, indicates how both dimensions of violence coexist and interweave. The apparent analytical tension between individualistic pragmatism and collectivist moral absolutism is resolved by showing how the gang responds to their disillusionment with the state by constructing for themselves a "state proxy" role. This response is portrayed as based upon "ressentiment" - the "faulty rationality" which marginalized individuals adopt so as to translate their clashes of material self-interests into the moral conflict between stereotyped communities - the virtuous ethnic Us against the demonized ethnic Other |
| `In' analytical Note | Nationalism and Ethnic Politics Vol. 13, No.3; Jul-Sep 2007: p367-404 |
| Journal Source | Nationalism and Ethnic Politics Vol. 13, No.3; Jul-Sep 2007: p367-404 |
| Key Words | Indonesia ; Ethnic Conflict ; Violence ; Nationalism |