Wow. What a find. Material for a Master’s Thesis, for sure.
A book by an Indonesian writer that exposes Indonesian perceptions of foreigners as they are known. It reflects direct observation, extrapolation from popular media, and a spectrum of preconceptions arising from indigenous ways of being in and seeing the world. Adrian Vickers (and milieu), take note.
This is fertile ground for growing understanding around the wildly complex relationship between Indonesians and “others” . . . and between we “others” and Indonesians. Reading this book, I’m shocked and fascinated. Disturbed. Concerned. The bridge is not wide enough, or strong enough, yet . . . to allow any kind of effective mutual understanding between “modern” Indonesians and “others”.
This is worrying.
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