The Aru Islands; The Past of Eastern Indonesia in Interdisciplinary Context

The principal aim of the new workshop is to continue exploring ways to study historical and cultural processes on Aru and the larger Central-South Maluku region. Since several of us have recently conducted, or will conduct, further research in oral, written or material sources, we will hopefully be able to clarify some of the issues raised at the previous occasion. From a methodological point of view, as already hinted at the first workshop, the breadth of our disciplinary tools can be a real strength. With participants representing anthropology, archaeology, history, and linguistics, the workshop will be a fruitful forum of interdisciplinary or even transdisciplinary exchange. The additional expertise at the new workshop will enable us to engage deeper into local discourses, and to discern the larger patterns of trade and cultural contacts in the central-southern parts of Maluku and beyond.

Friday, November 25

10:30-11:00 Introduction
Hans Hägerdal, Linnaeus University

11.00-12.00 Aru Place-Names: What do they Tell us of the Past?
Benjamin Daigle, Oxford English Dictionary, U.K.

Break

13:00-14:00 Doing Cultural, Historical, and Linguistic Research in Aru: What Happens Afterwards?
Ross Gordon, University of Alberta, Canada, and Sonny Djonler, Dobo

14:00-15:00 The Anti-Dutch Rebellion of 1787-1791 in Malukan Perspectives
Hans Hägerdal, Linnaeus University

15:30-16:30 Linguistic research, exact title to be announced
Antoinette Schapper, KITLV, the Netherlands

Saturday,  November 26

10:00-11:00 Archaeology and International Collaboration Research in Maluku
Husni Muhammad and Marlon Ririmasse, Archaeological Bureau, Ambon.

11:00-12.00 Exploring the role of Material Culture in the Islamisation of Eastern Indonesia: The Case of Dead Birds from Paradise and the Power of Imagination
Emilie Wellfelt, Guest researcher at NIAS, Copenhagen University

Break

13:00-14:00 Bandanese Pottery Production and Trade in the Banda Zone: The Kei Tradition in its Spatial and Historical Context
Roy Ellen, University of Kent, U.K.

14:00-15:00 The Ujir Ceramic Assemblage
Joss Whittaker, University of Washington, U.S.A.

15:30-16.30 Wrapping-up discussion, possibilities for future cooperation
Conclusion of the workshop

Benjamin Daigle is a linguist working at the Oxford English Dictionary, U.K. He has conducted extensive fieldwork in Aru.
btdaigle@gmail.com

Sonny Djonler is a private researcher living in Dobo in Aru, Indonesia. He has in particular collected oral sources including poetic narratives in the Batuley area in eastern Aru.
aduargwari@gmail.com

Roy Ellen is a professor in anthropology at the University of Kent, U.K. His research has in the first place focused on maritime societies and connectivities in Maluku, in particular East Seram, set in a larger regional context.
r.f.ellen@kent.ac.uk

Ross Gordon is a private researcher and Associate Faculty at St. Stephen's College, Edmonton, Canada. He has conducted studies of ecology and society in the Fiji Islands and Indonesia. Together with Sonny Djonler he has collected oral sources in the Batuley area in Aru.
gordon2@ualberta.ca

Hans Hägerdal is an associate professor in history at Linnaeus University, Sweden. In his research he has worked on Western images of Asia and colonial encounters in eastern Indonesia.
hans.hagerdal@lnu.se

Muhammad Husni is an archaeologist and the head of the Archaeological Bureau in Ambon, Indonesia. He has conducted fieldwork in the Moluccas and specifically worked in Aru.
husni_arkeo@yahoo.com

Marlon Ririmasse is an archaeologist at the Archaeological Bureau in Ambon, Indonesia. He has conducted extensive fieldwork in the Moluccas.
ririmasse@yahoo.com

Antoinette Schapper is a linguist and researcher at the KITLV in Leiden, the Netherlands. She has specialised on historical linguistics in Alor, Timor and the Moluccas.
a.schapper@gmail.com

Patricia Spyer as a professor in anthropology at the Graduate Institute of Geneva, Switzerland. She has written extensively about visual and material culture, religion, and is the author several books including the only extensive monograph about the society of the Aru Islands.
patricia.spyer@graduateinstitute.ch

Emilie Wellfelt is a historian who is presently a fellow at NIAS, Copenhagen, Denmark, and a researcher at the University of Cologne, Germany. Her work is mainly focused on the history and anthropology of eastern Indonesia, including Alor and the Aru Islands.
emilie.wellfelt@lnu.se

Joss R. Whittaker is a doctoral candidate in archaeology at the University of Washington, U.S.A. He has experience from archaeological research in Maluku and his doctoral research concerns part of the Aru Islands.
jossw@uw.edu

We may briefly recapitulate what has been done in terms of Aru studies so far. I make no claims of being complete, but the following texts might be useful to know. A fair number of geographical descriptions were issued, mostly in Dutch publications, during the 19th and early 20th centuries. Among the more important are the those of A.J. Bik from 1824 (1928), D.H. Kolff from 1825 (1840), J.F.G. Brumond from 1845, Alfred Russel Wallace from 1857 (1869), J.G.F. Riedel from 1886, Baron G.W.W.C. van Hoëvell from 1890, and H. Merton from 1910. They provide important windows to the past although they were seldom written by persons with an intimate knowledge of the islands. Limited accessibility after decolonization may have hampered studies of this part of Indonesia (cf. Hägerdal 2015). Published analytic studies of Aru mainly belong to the last two decades. Patricia Spyer's well-known monograph The Memory of Trade (2000) is an important anthropological discussion about tradition and socio-economic change focusing on Barakai (Workay). Maritime-related economy in modern Aru has also been studied by Manon Osseweijer (for instance, Osseweijer 2001). An archaeological project was carried out in the 1990s by several Australian scholars in cooperation with local archaeologists. It was hampered by the outbreak of unrest at the end of the 90s, but led to a number of articles on the archaeology of Aru, of great interest (O'Connor et al. 2006). However, many aspects such as the ruined sites of Ujir and Wokam, and the alleged remains of VOC fortifications at Wangil and Dosi, still need to be thoroughly investigated. In terms of historical studies an early but important piece by the naturalist Pieter Bleeker was published anonymously, making use of several inaccessible sources and covering the VOC period and the period immediately after (Bleeker 1858). Bits and pieces of the Arunese past are found in the various Dutch publication series, such as Dagh-Register, Jan Pieterszoon Coen, Generale Missiven, and Bouwstoffen voor de geschiedenis der Nederlanders in den Maleischen Archipel. Of modern studies one may mention Julia Martinez' and Adrian Vickers' book The Pearl Frontier (2015), about Indonesian labour migration to Australia where Arunese pearl divers had a role. Some aspects of early Christianity are treated by Lampers (n.y.), and also by Niemeijer (2001) and Hägerdal (2016). Meanwhile the fifteen Austronesian languages of Aru – some of them acutely endangered – have lately received attention by a few researchers such as Jock Hughes (2000), Antoinette Schapper and Emilie Wellfelt (in progress).

Aru in wider contexts

When addressing problems of Aru's past from our various disciplinary preconditions, I believe that long-term effects of the changing power relationships in the region on economy and social conditions will have a role in our studies. Naturally this will refer to the European engagement with Aru since the 16th century, though we should not forget that the actual presence of Westerners was always quite limited, and that "colonial" rule was in fact indirect rule until the late Dutch era. Features that had importance for the life of the people are the partial introduction of Christianity (17th century) and the monopoly policies of the Dutch (17th -18th centuries). The introduction of Islam (17th century or earlier) and the entanglement with non-VOC networks such as the East Seramese traders and Papuans, are other historical processes that merit our attention. Scholars such as Roy Ellen (2003), Tom Goodman (2006) and Muridan Widjojo (2009) have begun to uncover Maluku networks and connectivities beyond European control in the era before the full implementation of colonial scrutiny. This deserves to be followed up by discussions of how Arunese societies prevailed between the workings of colonialism and other forms of dependency or alliance.
All this can be elucidated by the things we are doing in our respective professions: "traditional" archival research, intensive study of particular archaeological sites, studies of vocabularies and loan-words in local languages, and anthropological study of the local understanding of the past and the function of heritage. Traditionally the power of the written word has been determinant in shaping our picture of the past. Nevertheless, this hierarchy of voices has been questioned by recent postcolonial research (Fur 2015). Also, archaeologists such as Peter Lape (2000) have shown how much a study of material findings can reveal (in this case about the early Banda Islands) when seen in conjunction with maps and old written documents. Oral history and tradition were shunned by historical scholarship until recently due to their perceived intrinsic unreliability, but may provide vital clues to destabilize dominant colonial discourses. In the same way, a comparative study of vocabularies in various parts of the larger region may provide us with a story of connectivities untold by the written documents (Schapper 2015)

Bik, A.J. (1928), Dagverhaal eener reis, gedaan in het jaar 1824, tot nadere verkenning der eilanden Kefing, Goram, Groot- en Klein Kei en de Aroe-eilanden. Leiden: Sijthoff.

[Bleeker, Pieter] (1858), "De Aroe-eilanden, in vroeger tijd en tegenwoordig", Tijdschrift voor Nederlandsch Indië 20:1. http://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=coo.31924079464982;view=1up;seq=269

Bouwstoffen voor de geschiedenis der Nederlanders in den Maleischen Archipel. Deel I-III (1886-1895). 's-Gravenhage: M. Nijhoff.

Brumund, J.F.G. (1845), "Aanteekeningen gehouden op eene reis in het oostelijke gedeelte van den Indischen Archipel", Tijdschrift voor Nederlandsch-Indië 7:2. http://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=hvd.hw28d6;view=1up;seq=55 and http://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=hvd.hw28d6;view=1up;seq=271

Dagh-Register gehouden int Casteel Batavia (1887-1931). 's-Gravenhage: M. Nijhoff,
Batavia: Landsdrukkerij.

Ellen, Roy (2003), On the edge of the Banda zone: Past and present in the social organization of a Moluccan trading network. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press.

Fur, Gunlög (2015), "'But in Itself, the Law is Only White': Knowledge Claims and Universality in the History of Cultural Encounters", in Fugitive Knowledge: The Loss and Preservation of Knowledge in Cultural Contact Zones, ed. by Andreas Beer & Gesa Mackenthun, Münster & New York: Waxmann Verlag.

Generale Missiven van Gouverneurs-Generaal en Raden aan Heren XVII der Verenigde Oostindische Compagnie, Deel I- (1960-). 's-Gravenhage: M. Nijhoff.

Goodman, Thomas (2006), The Sosolot: An eighteenth century East Indonesian trading network. PhD Thesis, University of Hawaii.

Hägerdal, Hans (2015), "Eastern Indonesia and the Writing of History", Archipel 90.

Hägerdal, Hans (2016), "Religion, rejection, and cultural adaptation in official travel accounts from the VOC period", in The Role of Religions in the European Perception of Insular and Mainland Southeast Asia, ed. By Monika Arnez and Jürgen Sarnowski. Cambridge: Cambridge Scholars Publishing.

Hoëvell, Baron G.W.W.C. van (1890), "De Aroe-Eilanden, geographisch, ethnographisch en commercieel", Tijdschrift voor Indische Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde 32-1.

Hughes, Jock (2000), "The morphology of Dobel, Aru with special reference to reduplication", in Spices from the East, ed. by Charles E. Grimes. Canberra, Pacific Linguistics.

Jan Pieterszoon Coen. Bescheiden omtrent zijn bedrijf in Indië. Deel I-VII (1919-1953). 's-Gravenhage: M. Nijhoff.

Kolff, D.H. (1840), Voyages of the Dutch Brig of War Dourga. London: Madden & Co.

Lampers, M.J. (n.y.) "In het spoor van de Compagnie: VOC, inheemse sameleving en de gereformeerde kerk in de Zuidooster- en Zuidwestereilanden 1660-1700". Undated manuscript found at KITLV Library (now incorporated in UB Leiden).

Lape, Peter (2000), Contact and Conflict in the Banda Islands, Eastern Indonesia 11th-17th Centuries. PhD Thesis, San Francisco State University.

Martínes, Julia, and Adrian Vickers (2015), The Pearl Frontier: Indonesian Labor and Indigenous Encounters in Australia's Northern Trading Network. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press.

Merton, Hugo (1910), Forschungsreise in den südostlichen Molukken (Aru- und Kei-Inseln). Frankfurt am Main: Senckenbergischen Naturforschenden Gesellschaft.

Niemeijer, Hendrik E. (2001), "Dividing the Islands: The Dutch Spice Monopoly and Religious Change in 17th Century Maluku." In The Propagation of Islam in the Indonesian-Malay Archipelago. Edited by Alijah Gordon. Kuala Lumpur: Malaysian Sociological Research Institute

O'Connor, Sue, et al. (2006), The Archaeology of the Aru Islands, Eastern Indonesia. Canberra: ANU E Press [Terra Australis 22]. https://press.anu.edu.au/publications/series/terra-australis/archaeology-aru-islands-eastern-indonesia-terra-australis-22

Osseweijer, Manon (2001), Taken at the Flood: Marine Resource Use and Management in the Aru Islands (Maluku, Eastern Indonesia). PhD Thesis, Leiden University.

Riedel, J.G.F. (1886), De sluik- en kroesharige rassen tusschen Selebes en Papua. 's-Gravenhage: M. Nijhoff [Nederlandsch Aardrijkskundig Genootschap].

Schapper, Antoinette (2015), "Wallacea, A Linguistic Area", Archipel 90. http://ifl.phil-fak.uni-koeln.de/sites/linguistik/user_upload/05.SCHAPPER.pdf

Spyer, Patricia (2000), The Memory of Trade: Modernity's Entanglements on an Eastern Indonesian Island. Durham & London: Duke University Press.

Wallace, Alfred Russel (1869), The Malay archipelago: The land of the Orang-Utan, and the bird of paradise. A narrative of travel, with studies of man and nature. London: Macmillan. https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015027794943;view=1up;seq=653

Widjojo, Muridan (2009), The Revolt of Prince Nuku: Cross-Cultural Alliance-Making in Maluku, C. 1780-1810. Leiden: Brill.

Centre for Concurrences in Colonial and Postcolonial Studies, Linnaeus University, in cooperation with KITLV, Leiden and with funding from the Crafoord Foundation, Lund.