Money, memory objects and material practices in the everyday conduct of inter-ethnic marriages in Indonesia

Abstract

In the context of historical and ongoing tensions between different ethnic groups, inter-ethnic marriages are increasingly prevalent in Indonesia today. This article explores the social materiality of memory objects (money and related household items) in the negotiation of shared lifeworlds within two inter-ethnic marriages between Javanese and Chinese Indonesians. The research is based on detailed fieldwork conducted face-to-face in East Java over a 10 week period, and supported with further online interactions with participating couples. We demonstrate how a focus on money and related material practices can offer new understandings of how couples respond agentively to inter-cultural tensions in their marriages and strive towards harmony. In doing so we demonstrate how values of cooperation and prudence are articulated through things and related practices, and in the process are harnessed to support couples efforts to build mutually supportive lives together. In the process we document how objects, including money, an onion peeling machine and food emerge in these relationships as both practical things and objects of care, cooperation and affection. This research demonstrates that whilst still of crucial importance, a focus on inter-cultural tensions and the conflicts these can cause can be complimented with a focus on couple's agentive efforts to manage and contain such tensions as they build culturally hybrid lives together.

How inter-ethnic relations are reproduced through everyday social practices: A perspective from the Javanese nasi pecel vendors in Mataraman cities

“…As our analytical strategy to make sense of these complex empirical materials, we followed impressionistic orientation towards visual inquiry into the conduct of everyday life [ 41 ]. This approach has been applied extensively in various contexts, such as the everyday life of homeless, everyday inter-ethnic marriages, and everyday migrant practices [ 5 , 17 , 21 ]. In conducting impressionistic approach, we acted as bricoleurs [ 42 ] by working in an interdisciplinary way to generate insights into the practices of selling food.…”

“…However, many ethnic groups recover from conflict and live side-by-side harmoniously and the ways in which these groups conduct their everyday lives need to be explored [ 3 ]. Subsequently, contemporary research has begun to explore inter-ethnic cooperation in communities recovering from ethnic violence [ [4] , [5] , [6] , [7] ]. For example, scholars have recently investigated how inter-ethnic dating has enabled people in some countries to overcome structural segregation and inter-ethnic division [ 4 ].…”

“…Previous scholars have also used the concept of the conduct of everyday life to study inter-ethnic relations in various settings. For example, everyday cooking practices can be vital for partners in inter-ethnic marriages, where learning to cook a partner's traditional food can be a way to show affection to a partner from a different ethnic group [ 5 ]. In this research, we have extended this scholarship to the study of how such inter-ethnic relationships are reproduced through the practice of selling traditional food in East Java.…”

“…As such, our everyday activities, which involve the use of objects, have implications for culture. For example, prior study documented that the use of everyday objects such as onion peeling machine can be important for showing affection and for the reproduction of the broader collaborative efforts between Javanese wife and Chinese Indonesian husband in generating income for their household [ 5 ]. Previously, scholarship based on social practice theory has explored the practices around food, including traditional food.…”

The assemblage of inter‐ethnic marriages in Indonesia

“…The analysis process conceptualized above resulted in two previous publications (Yulianto, Hodgetts, King, & Liu, n.d.‐a, n.d.‐b), focused on how participants adapt to their new lives together materially and psychologically, and navigate cultural, gendered, and classed tensions. As we completed these articles we became increasingly interested in issues of cultural hybridity in the conduct of these marriages.…”