Dreams made small : humiliation and education in a Dani modernity

Abstract

Indigenous youth from the Baliem Valley area of Papua, Indonesia aspire to be part of 'progress' (kemajuan) in their isolated region but are constrained by colonial conditions that favour migrant Indonesians. In this thesis, indigenous Dani students leave the tense social and political setting of highlands Papua in order, they say, to broaden their horizons in North Sulawesi, a relatively prosperous, peaceful province four days east of Papua by passenger ship. Based on 16 months of fieldwork conducted in 2005-2006 and 2009, this thesis explores Dani efforts to gain university degrees and obtain 'modern' skills and capabilities in a tangled web of racial stigma, prejudice, institutionalized corruption, and intense relationships with other Papuan highlanders. It follows Dani graduates back to the Baliem Valley to see what results they create from a university degree. This exploration of the personal histories and life chances of stigmatized individuals sheds light on Papuan nationalism, the everyday production and negotiation of racial hierarchies, and how affect, in this case humiliation, fuels the formation of a particular vision of identity and the future. Show more