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‘In between’: Discovering Indonesian-Dutch connection through poetry
An exchange program helps an Indonesian author and her Dutch counterpart explore common ground.
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Collaboration: Indonesian writer and stage actress Angelina Enny (right) and Dutch actor, musician and stage actor Robin Block emphasize Indonesian-Dutch connection in their book. (Courtesy of Dutch Culture Amsterdam/Armando Ello)
Before the Dutch colonial era ended in the 1940s, Indonesians and Dutch settlers lived alongside each other for hundreds of years.
Yet how much do Indonesians and Dutch people really know about each other, especially about their shared history?
In an effort to provide fertile creative ground for writers and artists from both countries, the Salihara cultural center in Pasar Minggu, South Jakarta, collaborated with the Dutch Culture and Indisch Herinneringscentrum to allow six Indonesian artists and six Dutch counterparts to work together for several months.
The fruits of these encounters provided the material for the cultural center’s 2019 Literature and Ideas Festival (LIFE), which they organized from Oct. 12 to 20. The event featured dramatic readings, discussions, a buffet dinner, lectures and performances.
The festival, called “My History, Shared History”, emphasized the Indonesian-Dutch connection through personal experiences.
The festival invited writers and readers to celebrate the diversity and richness of individual stories and their ability to fill the empty spaces found within the grand narratives of Indonesian-Dutch history. The festival sought to move beyond country flags, racial sentiments and nationalism.
