| Summary/Abstract |
This study investigates constructions of manliness in the late-colonial Netherlands Indies (1870s–1930s), with particular reference to the so-called ‘Sino-Malay’ novels and newspapers produced by its local-born, culturally hybrid Chinese population (Peranakan). These authors incorporated ideas from South East Asia as well as China and Europe in their works, providing insights in traditional notions of heteronormative manhood, but also exposing major reconfigurations of gender within the diverse conditions of modernity. Their writings thus provide an underexplored vista into a remarkably diverse society in transition. I will centre on words used in the Malay vernacular to characterize men and male behaviour. This serves as a springboard to explore three interconnected themes surrounding manliness in Sino-Malay publications: violence, sexuality, and modernity. As will be shown, several constructions of gender and manifestations of popular culture associated with modern Indonesia were rooted in the same discourse as these colonial-era works.
|