Haunted by 'Miscegenation': Gender, the White Australia Policy and the Construction of Indisch Family Narratives
Date
2014
Authors
Dragojlovic, Ana
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group
Abstract
This paper traces complex negotiations of multiraciality in the context of transgenerational
genealogy work in the wake of historical violence, genocide and colonialism.
Basing the analysis on detailed ethnographic material about Indonesian-Dutch (Indisch)
genealogy and memory work, I explore how the regulation of ‘races’ [sic] during the
Japanese occupation of the Dutch East Indies and under the White Australia Policy
employed genealogical charts to determine freedom from imprisonment and/or rights to
full citizenship for Indisch individuals, and how these feature in the genealogy work of
the children and grandchildren of those subjected to racial regulatory norms. Centring
the analysis on a specific family history writing project, I demonstrate how such a project
is haunted by the ghostly figures of historical ‘miscegenation’ – the Indonesian
foremother, and the white woman who crosses lines of respectable white femininity by
marrying an Indisch man. The paper explores how narrative strategies of exclusion are
used differently across generations as a way of dealing with feelings of shame, guilt and
secrecy produced by institutionalised racism, historical violence and imperialism. The
paper argues that genealogy work operates not only as a vehicle for self-exploration and
belonging for transnational families of historical diaspora, but is also central for the
collective identity formation and the production of Indisch peoplehood.
Description
Keywords
Citation
Collections
Source
Journal of Intercultural Studies
Type
Journal article