Decoding Attempts at Conserving Cultural Heritage: Reading Texts of Semarang and Jakarta Citybooks
Abstract
As a part of citybook.eu project, the Flemish Dutch House deBuren regularly holds atwo-week program where international authors and photographers resided in various cities. The goal of the program is to encourage these authors and photographs to write stories, essays, and poems about the cities. These writings were then uploaded to citybooks.eu in the forms of webtext, e-book, and 30-minute podcasts. In 2013 and 2015, citybooks about Semarang and Jakarta were published. The texts about these two cities generally discussed the cultural legacy of colonialism. Aiming to show the connection between space and attempts at conserving colonial cultural legacy, this research focuses on how cultural legacy is discussed by various texts in citybooks about Semarang and Jakarta. Aspects of space, issues of identity, and attempts at conserving cultural heritages in the text were analyzed. Based on the findings, it was concluded that Semarang and Jakarta were two cities which adopt different strategies in conserving cultural legacies of the colonial period.
Keywords: citybooks, deBuren, cultural conservation, city portrait, colonial cultural legacy
References
[1] Adams, Haneloor. (2018). De hybride stadservaring van de mediopolis. Sociabiliteit in de Citybooks van deBuren. Masterthesis Universiteit van Gent. Retrieved from https: //lib.ugent.be/fulltxt/RUG01/002/479/119/RUG01002479119_2018_0001_AC.pdf
[2] Billiet, Bouke. (2013). Meisje van vroeger/Daun lontar dan Kebenaran. In Citybooks Semarang. Brussel: deBuren.
[3] Couperus, L. (2011). Kekuatan Diam. Jogjakarta: Kanisius. Translated from De Stille kracht (1900). Translator: Christina Dewi Elbers.
[4] Hamadeh, Anis. (2019). Talen beleven met citybooks. Retrieved from http://www. citybooks.eu/nl/nieuws/p/categorie/indrukken
[5] Heijne. Bas. (2015). Het verleden is een ander land./Masa lalu adalah negeri asing. Citybooks Jakarta. Brussel: deBuren.
[6] Jong, Ruth San A. (2015). Wat doe ik hier?/Sedang apa aku di sini? Citybooks Jakarta. Brussel: deBuren.
[7] Longhurst, B., et al. (2017). Introduction Cultural Studies (3rd ed.). London and New York: Routledge Taylor & Francis Group
[8] Mursidah. (2017). Potret Kota Semarang, Jakarta dan Masyarakat dalam Citybooks. Retrieved from https://susastra.fib.ui.ac.id/wp-content/uploads/81/2017/01/9- Makalah-Mursidah.pdf
[9] Peek, Gustaf. (2013). Negen brieven aan Maria M./Sembilan Surat Kepada Maria. M. Citybooks Semarang. Brussel: deBuren.
[10] Powell, J.A., Menendian, S. (2016). The problem of othering: towards inclusiveness and belonging. Othering and belonging. 1, 14-39. Berkeley: University of California. Retrieved from http://www.otheringandbelonging.org/wo-content/uploads/2016/07/ OtheringAndBelonging_Issue1.pdf.
[11] Van Boven, Erica & Gillis Dorleijn. (2013). Literair Mechaniek. Inleiding tot de analyse van verhalen en gedischten. Bussum: Uitgeverij Coutinho.