Dissecting History and Problematizing the Past in Indonesia

Studies on Indonesian history commonly deal with issues revolving around the nation's politics, religion, and identity. However, the development of human civilization does not always occur in merely these three aspects. Other aspects such as technological and scientific advancement are also factors which contribute to the progress of human life. Unfortunately, it is uncommon for the academic discipline of history to tackle such issues, especially with a more particular focus on Indonesia. Dealing with these two major themes may also pose some difficulties. To understand recent technological and scientific developments, understanding our ancestors' ways of survival, cultivation, and belief system becomes necessary. Nonetheless, without using manuscripts or conducting interviews with local people of a particular place, information regarding our ancestors' way of life would become mere stories. To overcome these obstacles, Dissecting History and Articulating the Past is produced as an edited volume which explores these issues, particularly in the space of Indonesia. To provide more comprehensive information, Indonesia's relation with its neighbouring countries such as Malaysia and Australia is also presented in this edited volume. This edited volume consists of 7 parts, each of which examines particular issues: (1) History of Indonesian Infrastructures; (2) History and Indonesian Politics; (3) History and Social Issues; (4) History and Transnational Relation; (5) History and Economics; (6) Religion in Indonesian History; (7) History and Manuscripts. The chapters of the edited volume are written by researchers from particular regions in Indonesia. In studying their places of origin, these researchers write the chapters with emotional attachments uniquely belonging to them. Such emotional attachments result in findings with unique perspectives which differ from those of foreign and other Indonesian researchers who have studied the same location. At the same time, researchers who present their findings on Indonesia-Malaysia or Indonesia-Australia relation (along with the life of society in respective countries) also make fresh contributions to existing repository of historical writings on politics and international relations. With diverse issues explored and investigated, this edited volume will prove to be useful for not only historians, but also researchers from different academic disciplines whose focus of research is related to technology and culture.