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The Social World of Batavia: A History of Dutch Asia
In the seventeenth century, the Dutch established a trading base at the Indonesian site of Jacarta. What began as a minor colonial outpost under the name Batavia would become, over the next three centuries, the flourishing economic and political nucleus of the Dutch Asian Empire. In this pioneering study, Jean Gelman Taylor offers a comprehensive analysis of Batavia’s extraordinary social world—its marriage patterns, religious and social organizations, economic interests, and sexual roles. With an emphasis on the urban ruling elite, she argues that Europeans and Asians alike were profoundly altered by their merging, resulting in a distinctive hybrid, Indo-Dutch culture.
Original in its focus on gender and use of varied sources—travelers’ accounts, newspapers, legal codes, genealogical data, photograph albums, paintings, and ceramics— The Social World of Batavia , first published in 1983, forged new paths in the study of colonial society.
Original in its focus on gender and use of varied sources—travelers’ accounts, newspapers, legal codes, genealogical data, photograph albums, paintings, and ceramics— The Social World of Batavia , first published in 1983, forged new paths in the study of colonial society.
272 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1984
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September 13, 2021
Gegar budaya kerap kali terjadi dalam sejarah manusia, kali ini gegar budaya yang dibahas mengambil waktu ketika pertama kali Belanda melalui VOC mencoba menetap di daerah koloni nya yang baru yaitu Batavia. Kurun waktu yang diambil dalam buku ini sejak Batavia ditaklukan joleh Gubernur Jenderal Coen hingga akhir abad 18.
Dalam buku ini dijelaskan bagaimana VOC sebagai perpanjangan tangan pemerintahan Belanda berupaya membentuk suatu komunitas kolonial yang benar-benar murni tanpa terpengaruh oleh budaya Asia maupun Mestizo.
Kehidupan sosial pada awal terbentuknya Batavia sangatlah rumit, terdapat geger budaya yang berlangsung cukup lama untuk menentukan seperti apa wajah masyarakat kolonial hingga akhirnya dimenangkan oleh budaya Mestizo.
Dalam buku ini dijelaskan bagaimana VOC sebagai perpanjangan tangan pemerintahan Belanda berupaya membentuk suatu komunitas kolonial yang benar-benar murni tanpa terpengaruh oleh budaya Asia maupun Mestizo.
Kehidupan sosial pada awal terbentuknya Batavia sangatlah rumit, terdapat geger budaya yang berlangsung cukup lama untuk menentukan seperti apa wajah masyarakat kolonial hingga akhirnya dimenangkan oleh budaya Mestizo.
October 1, 2007
I came to this book by way of Ann Stoler's "Carnal Knowledge and Imperial Power." Stoler highly praises this book, and after reading it, I can understand why.
The Social World of Batavia reveals how European families in the VOC's East Indies were anchored by and interconnected through the female lineage. Boys and young men would be sent back to Europe to "become" European even though they were mixed blood, courtesy of their Asian mothers, while girls and young ladies were kept back in the colony and would be married off to "fresh" incoming European bachelors. Whether a young European man would make it or break it in the colony depended on who he married. In essence, Taylor argues, Batavia at this time was a matrilineal society.
Taylor narrates how intermarriages between European men and Eurasian/Asian women resulted in a hybrid Indies culture. For example, wives and daughters would be seen chewing betel nuts, and slaves followed them around with a spit box (that is not a typo, my friend). Only after the Dutch monarchy took over the East Indies were there efforts to "purify" Europeans' lifestyle and control their their domestic life. (This is where Ann Stoler's book picks up, complete with sexy Foucauldian analysis of Power/Knowledge).
Four star due to originality (the book was published in 1982, long before analysis of the everyday became hip) and for the fresh insights into Indies society.
The Social World of Batavia reveals how European families in the VOC's East Indies were anchored by and interconnected through the female lineage. Boys and young men would be sent back to Europe to "become" European even though they were mixed blood, courtesy of their Asian mothers, while girls and young ladies were kept back in the colony and would be married off to "fresh" incoming European bachelors. Whether a young European man would make it or break it in the colony depended on who he married. In essence, Taylor argues, Batavia at this time was a matrilineal society.
Taylor narrates how intermarriages between European men and Eurasian/Asian women resulted in a hybrid Indies culture. For example, wives and daughters would be seen chewing betel nuts, and slaves followed them around with a spit box (that is not a typo, my friend). Only after the Dutch monarchy took over the East Indies were there efforts to "purify" Europeans' lifestyle and control their their domestic life. (This is where Ann Stoler's book picks up, complete with sexy Foucauldian analysis of Power/Knowledge).
Four star due to originality (the book was published in 1982, long before analysis of the everyday became hip) and for the fresh insights into Indies society.
June 24, 2020
Cukup lama buat namatin ini.
Kesannya, aku terpukau dengan gimana budaya Asia, di sini Indonesia, sedikit banyak ngubah kebiasaan orang-orang eropa. Contoh kecilnya dalam hal menyusui. Banyak ibu-ibu belanda (eropa) yang tadinya gak mau nyusuin anaknya, jadi mau karena asimilasi budaya tersebut (cmiiw ya karena aku baca bagian ini bulan feb lalu haha).
Kesannya, aku terpukau dengan gimana budaya Asia, di sini Indonesia, sedikit banyak ngubah kebiasaan orang-orang eropa. Contoh kecilnya dalam hal menyusui. Banyak ibu-ibu belanda (eropa) yang tadinya gak mau nyusuin anaknya, jadi mau karena asimilasi budaya tersebut (cmiiw ya karena aku baca bagian ini bulan feb lalu haha).
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March 10, 2025Jean Gelman Taylor’s claim in The Social World of Batavia that a matrilineal family structure was adhered to in colonial Indonesia is worthy of some scrutiny. Within the context of the book’s project, it would not be unfair to read this feature as one its central thrusts in its attempt to foreground femininity or the role women played then. She argues that within the Dutch East India Company, “crucial family links were not those between father and son but between a man and his in-laws,” (71) and with women “named sole inheritor of a man's property, widows were sought after for the fortune they brought to a marriage,” (72). Marriage to the right woman then ushered in both economic prosperity and social mobility in the colony. At times though, a portrait of women as acted upon rather than actors themselves emerges. For instance, the decision to be married off rather than marry is evident in how “girls were usually left in Asia, but married Netherlanders. Their final resting place was then determined by their husband's career and disposition,” (45). Even when women are framed to be in positions of relative power, Taylor records a persistently pejorative stigma attached to them. The figure of the nyai for example is turned into the trope of the “seducer of hapless European men by means of potions and magic, and popularly suspect as poisoner of the rival or bride who replaced her.” For all her sexual prowess, it seems that there remained a certain precariousness in being a person ultimately still tied to a tenuous negotiation of individual agency, extending to the very real fate of their offspring as well. In addition to the discrimination still faced by the part-Asian members that are fitted into the European group, a rejected woman would lose “her means of support, and young children might be suddenly bereft of paternal care or left to the uncertain welcome of an immigrant stepmother,” (148). The matrilineal social world that Taylor writes about then is not necessarily one that is characterised as feminine centrality that one might expect.
The evolution in the drawing of in-group and out-group boundaries through cultural markers was also especially interesting. Taylor is convincing in her argument for the tenacity of the mestizo class, honing in on how the betel’s “appearance among the Dutch signal[ed] a mingling of the races and adoption of both the indulgences and the symbols of status of the Asian” and including the believably European outrage at the “custom of women raised in Asia of bathing several times daily,” (41). Even within the category of “European” though, there appears to be a hierarchy in jostling for the integrity of such categories as evidenced with the more concerted attempt to segment the mestizas away from their more native inclinations (“Malay speech, costume, and habits were unwelcome in European elite circles, and slave-owning was increasingly regarded with contempt” 102) with the advent of the British. It is during this British era too that Taylor credits Olivia Raffles, though attention to her is again mediated through a husband as the “Raffles [who] had no precedent, for representatives of the British government in India never attempted to meet elite women” (110) unfortunately of the Stamford variety. Taylor’s ethnographic account thus tries to accentuate how it was a distinctly feminine, colonial-inflected class who played a significant role in shaping these categories and racialised identities even if the social world that they occupied remained obstinately dictated by phallogocentrism.
The evolution in the drawing of in-group and out-group boundaries through cultural markers was also especially interesting. Taylor is convincing in her argument for the tenacity of the mestizo class, honing in on how the betel’s “appearance among the Dutch signal[ed] a mingling of the races and adoption of both the indulgences and the symbols of status of the Asian” and including the believably European outrage at the “custom of women raised in Asia of bathing several times daily,” (41). Even within the category of “European” though, there appears to be a hierarchy in jostling for the integrity of such categories as evidenced with the more concerted attempt to segment the mestizas away from their more native inclinations (“Malay speech, costume, and habits were unwelcome in European elite circles, and slave-owning was increasingly regarded with contempt” 102) with the advent of the British. It is during this British era too that Taylor credits Olivia Raffles, though attention to her is again mediated through a husband as the “Raffles [who] had no precedent, for representatives of the British government in India never attempted to meet elite women” (110) unfortunately of the Stamford variety. Taylor’s ethnographic account thus tries to accentuate how it was a distinctly feminine, colonial-inflected class who played a significant role in shaping these categories and racialised identities even if the social world that they occupied remained obstinately dictated by phallogocentrism.
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April 14, 2020Diss.
September 19, 2025
Read this for academic purpose. Slightly fun
September 1, 2010
Orang 'Belanda', yang menjadi elite masyarakat kolonial selama berabad-abad di Indonesia, ternyata bukanlah suatu masyarakat yang monolitik. Seperti bangsa asing lainnya yang hidup di Nusantara, mereka juga mengalami proses adaptasi, kreolisasi dan bahkan asimilasi dengan masyarakat Indonesia. Hanya berselang beberapa puluh tahun saja sejak kota Batavia didirikan oleh Jan Pieterzoon Coen, telah terbentuk suatu masyarakat berciri Indisch, yang terdiri atas orang 'Belanda' yang lahir dan dibesarkan di Indonesia. Tak sedikit dari antara mereka yang beribu pribumi atau wanita Asia lainnya, umumnya para budak yang diimpor dari koloni-koloni Belanda lain di Asia Selatan. Hal ini terjadi karena kegagalan usaha Coen untuk mendatangkan wanita Belanda dari "keluarga baik-baik" ke Batavia dalam jumlah yang memadai untuk menjadi pasangan para pegawai VOC. Untuk menghindari akibat negatif dari praktek 'pernyaian', kebijakan VOC selanjutnya malah mempromosikan pernikahan legal diantara para pegawainya dan wanita Asia yang dibaptis, dengan tujuan agar terbentuk masyarakat Eurasia yang stabil sebagai pendukung koloni yang setia.
Dalam beberapa generasi saja telah muncul komunitas Mestizo berdarah campuran (tapi berstatus Eropa) yang kemudian menjadi elite penguasa VOC di Indonesia. Suatu hal yang menarik, bahwa banyak dari para Gubernur Jenderal yang memerintah pada abad ke 17 dan 18 lahir atau dibesarkan di Indonesia sebagai anggota komunitas ini. Walaupun kebijakan VOC mendiskriminasi orang Kreol dan Eurasia, namun dengan berbagai cara, termasuk melalui pernikahan strategis, mereka berhasil mencapai puncak kekuasaan kolonial. Hal yang menarik lainnya ialah bahwa masyarakat ini bersifat matrilineal, dimana status sosial dan kekayaan berpindah melalui garis perempuan. Ini juga merupakan efek dari kebijakan anti nepotisme VOC yang membuat anak laki-laki dari masyarakat ini dikirim ke Belanda untuk berkarir disana, sedangkan anak perempuan dipertahankan di Indonesia untuk nantinya menjadi istri pejabat VOC yang karirnya cemerlang.
Pengaruh yang kuat dari pihak perempuan yang berdarah Asia membuat masyarakat Mestizo ini banyak mengadopsi gaya hidup Indonesia, mulai dari kebiasaan mengenakan kebaya, makan sirih, memelihara budak, mandi dua kali sehari, sampai dengan kegemaran bertelanjang kaki dan duduk di tikar. Serangan terhadap gaya hidup yang terlalu 'pribumi' ini beberapa kali dilakukan oleh elite VOC. Sekolah-sekolah yang mengajarkan bahasa dan tatakrama Belanda yang baik dan benar didirikan untuk mendidik anak-anak mereka, namun usaha-usaha ini tidak mengalami kemajuan yang berarti.
Kejayaan kaum Meztizo berlangsung sampai kebangkrutan VOC pada tahun 1799. Gubernur Jenderal berikutnya, Daendels, adalah orang Belanda totok yang langsung dikirim dari Eropa. Demikian juga dengan Raffles, yang berkuasa pada masa Peralihan Pemerintahan Inggris. Raffles mendirikan berbagai institusi seperti koran berbahasa Inggris dan Belanda, klub sosial dan teater untuk 'mengeropakan' mereka. Kebaya dianggap sebagai baju dalam yang tidak sopan dan para perempuan didorong untuk mengikuti teladan Olivia, Nyonya Raffles, untuk mengenakan gaun Eropa. Tempolong ludah dibuang dari acara-acara resmi yang disponsori pemerintah untuk menghilangkan kebiasaan menyirih yang "menjijikkan". Namun seperti usaha-usaha sebelumnya, pemerintah Inggris juga tidak berhasil melakukan perubahan yang berarti. Menurut Taylor, hal ini disebabkan karena singkatnya masa pemerintahan Inggris, dan juga karena (ironisnya) orang Inggris yang datang ke Indonesia sendiri juga membawa kebudayan yang tidak murni Eropa (!). Seperti Belanda di Indonesia, mereka juga telah "terindiakan" sebagai efek dari ratusan tahun kolonisasi Inggris di India, seperti yang diantaranya diungkapkan dalam buku White Mughals: Love and Betrayal in Eighteenth-Century India.
Setelah kembalinya Belanda ke Indonesia, tekanan terhadap kelompok Mestizo bertambah kencang. Para Gubernur Jenderal dikirim langsung dari Belanda dan anggota keluarga Mestizo yang dahulu berpengaruh pada era VOC tidak lagi diterima dalam eselon atas pemerintahan kolonial. Mereka lalu menjadi pengusaha swasta. Kebudayaan Indisch juga mundur dari ruang publik dan hanya dipraktekkan dalam situasi domestik, terutama setelah makin banyak datang imigran Eropa pada abad ke 19 dan 20. Dan akhirnya, kebudayaan ini hilang setelah Indonesia merdeka, dan "hanya dapat hidup di dalam catatan-catatan yang sentimental dan menyentuh hati dari para penulis Tempoe Doeloe".
Dalam beberapa generasi saja telah muncul komunitas Mestizo berdarah campuran (tapi berstatus Eropa) yang kemudian menjadi elite penguasa VOC di Indonesia. Suatu hal yang menarik, bahwa banyak dari para Gubernur Jenderal yang memerintah pada abad ke 17 dan 18 lahir atau dibesarkan di Indonesia sebagai anggota komunitas ini. Walaupun kebijakan VOC mendiskriminasi orang Kreol dan Eurasia, namun dengan berbagai cara, termasuk melalui pernikahan strategis, mereka berhasil mencapai puncak kekuasaan kolonial. Hal yang menarik lainnya ialah bahwa masyarakat ini bersifat matrilineal, dimana status sosial dan kekayaan berpindah melalui garis perempuan. Ini juga merupakan efek dari kebijakan anti nepotisme VOC yang membuat anak laki-laki dari masyarakat ini dikirim ke Belanda untuk berkarir disana, sedangkan anak perempuan dipertahankan di Indonesia untuk nantinya menjadi istri pejabat VOC yang karirnya cemerlang.
Pengaruh yang kuat dari pihak perempuan yang berdarah Asia membuat masyarakat Mestizo ini banyak mengadopsi gaya hidup Indonesia, mulai dari kebiasaan mengenakan kebaya, makan sirih, memelihara budak, mandi dua kali sehari, sampai dengan kegemaran bertelanjang kaki dan duduk di tikar. Serangan terhadap gaya hidup yang terlalu 'pribumi' ini beberapa kali dilakukan oleh elite VOC. Sekolah-sekolah yang mengajarkan bahasa dan tatakrama Belanda yang baik dan benar didirikan untuk mendidik anak-anak mereka, namun usaha-usaha ini tidak mengalami kemajuan yang berarti.
Kejayaan kaum Meztizo berlangsung sampai kebangkrutan VOC pada tahun 1799. Gubernur Jenderal berikutnya, Daendels, adalah orang Belanda totok yang langsung dikirim dari Eropa. Demikian juga dengan Raffles, yang berkuasa pada masa Peralihan Pemerintahan Inggris. Raffles mendirikan berbagai institusi seperti koran berbahasa Inggris dan Belanda, klub sosial dan teater untuk 'mengeropakan' mereka. Kebaya dianggap sebagai baju dalam yang tidak sopan dan para perempuan didorong untuk mengikuti teladan Olivia, Nyonya Raffles, untuk mengenakan gaun Eropa. Tempolong ludah dibuang dari acara-acara resmi yang disponsori pemerintah untuk menghilangkan kebiasaan menyirih yang "menjijikkan". Namun seperti usaha-usaha sebelumnya, pemerintah Inggris juga tidak berhasil melakukan perubahan yang berarti. Menurut Taylor, hal ini disebabkan karena singkatnya masa pemerintahan Inggris, dan juga karena (ironisnya) orang Inggris yang datang ke Indonesia sendiri juga membawa kebudayan yang tidak murni Eropa (!). Seperti Belanda di Indonesia, mereka juga telah "terindiakan" sebagai efek dari ratusan tahun kolonisasi Inggris di India, seperti yang diantaranya diungkapkan dalam buku White Mughals: Love and Betrayal in Eighteenth-Century India.
Setelah kembalinya Belanda ke Indonesia, tekanan terhadap kelompok Mestizo bertambah kencang. Para Gubernur Jenderal dikirim langsung dari Belanda dan anggota keluarga Mestizo yang dahulu berpengaruh pada era VOC tidak lagi diterima dalam eselon atas pemerintahan kolonial. Mereka lalu menjadi pengusaha swasta. Kebudayaan Indisch juga mundur dari ruang publik dan hanya dipraktekkan dalam situasi domestik, terutama setelah makin banyak datang imigran Eropa pada abad ke 19 dan 20. Dan akhirnya, kebudayaan ini hilang setelah Indonesia merdeka, dan "hanya dapat hidup di dalam catatan-catatan yang sentimental dan menyentuh hati dari para penulis Tempoe Doeloe".
August 19, 2013
So what can I say about this book?
Well I think you should really read this. Despite all the info dumping the book is never difficult to read and personally I would have wished for some more information, especially on the 17th century Batavia, but the book spans about 300 years of Batavian history and so there can't be too much detail I guess unless the book gets too big and let's face it, books have to sell themselves as well and unless it's some stupid romance novel most people won't buy big books.
However despite its relative shortness, considered the time span it covers, the book I think gives you a good first glimpse at the complexity of this Mestizo culture that had developed in Batavia since the start of the 17th century and you see by the few examples of different nationalities and ethnicities that the population of Batavia had its roots from people all over Europe and Asia. The strongest influence was of course "Asian" (sadly the immigrant character of Batavia makes it difficult to pinpoint what Asian culture but I think Sundanese and Javanese where the main contributors) but the Mestizos didn't become absorbed for a long time and so Batavia became in many ways a world on its own.
The book shows why certain thinks developed this and that way, mentions the reasons behind politics, for regulations regarding clothing and jewelry, how the ruling Dutch became more and more Asian at first, it gives glimpses into child rearing and even bathing habits. You also get some info on religion, who lived on the area of Batavia first, some example regarding the cultures, race issues and social issues of Batavia. It shows family relations, marriage systems, climbing up and down the social ladder, mentions novels and poetry etc. etc.
Like I said it is a lot but I really can't tell you more because then I would spoil it for you and I think that would severely lessen your reading experience.
But one thing I will say:
For those who still think that when you mix an Asian person with a White person the kids will always look Asian because such traits are allegedly dominant, take a look at the paintings and pictures here and say that again!
Well I think you should really read this. Despite all the info dumping the book is never difficult to read and personally I would have wished for some more information, especially on the 17th century Batavia, but the book spans about 300 years of Batavian history and so there can't be too much detail I guess unless the book gets too big and let's face it, books have to sell themselves as well and unless it's some stupid romance novel most people won't buy big books.
However despite its relative shortness, considered the time span it covers, the book I think gives you a good first glimpse at the complexity of this Mestizo culture that had developed in Batavia since the start of the 17th century and you see by the few examples of different nationalities and ethnicities that the population of Batavia had its roots from people all over Europe and Asia. The strongest influence was of course "Asian" (sadly the immigrant character of Batavia makes it difficult to pinpoint what Asian culture but I think Sundanese and Javanese where the main contributors) but the Mestizos didn't become absorbed for a long time and so Batavia became in many ways a world on its own.
The book shows why certain thinks developed this and that way, mentions the reasons behind politics, for regulations regarding clothing and jewelry, how the ruling Dutch became more and more Asian at first, it gives glimpses into child rearing and even bathing habits. You also get some info on religion, who lived on the area of Batavia first, some example regarding the cultures, race issues and social issues of Batavia. It shows family relations, marriage systems, climbing up and down the social ladder, mentions novels and poetry etc. etc.
Like I said it is a lot but I really can't tell you more because then I would spoil it for you and I think that would severely lessen your reading experience.
But one thing I will say:
For those who still think that when you mix an Asian person with a White person the kids will always look Asian because such traits are allegedly dominant, take a look at the paintings and pictures here and say that again!
January 5, 2016
If there truly was a city that was diverse it was Batavia and had the world paid more attention to this little city in Asia. They would see it is full of cultural life with a rich story. What I loved about this book so much as how Indonesia had a mestizo class that was White and Portuguese and to see how Eurasians evolved and prospered as the colony went from old to new is so cool too.
Taylor's orientalism and Duthophilic behavior in this work just shines out and had I met this man we would have talked for hours about this amazing book. This humble from professor from Wisconsin truly gives us true insight into what life was like in Batavia and other Eurasian Dutch colonies in the East Indies.
A hidden gem and a joy to read! It is on my shelf and will be used for great research and potential! A great book to read and should be in any historiographer or social science collector's possession!
Taylor's orientalism and Duthophilic behavior in this work just shines out and had I met this man we would have talked for hours about this amazing book. This humble from professor from Wisconsin truly gives us true insight into what life was like in Batavia and other Eurasian Dutch colonies in the East Indies.
A hidden gem and a joy to read! It is on my shelf and will be used for great research and potential! A great book to read and should be in any historiographer or social science collector's possession!
January 22, 2010
buku ini bercerita mengenai kehidupan sosial di batavia semenjak kota ini dibuka oleh penjajah Belanda. Awalnya kota ini penduduknya adalah para pedagang, pelaut dan prajurit eropa dimana keberadaan wanita eropa sangat sedikit, kelangkaan wanita ini yang menurut penulis menyebabkan terbentuknya kehidupan sosial koloni sangat berbeda dengan dikampung halamannya di eropa. kelangkaan wanita ini yang menyebabkan pria eropa memilih gundik dari bangsa yang dijajahnya sehingga menghasilkan keturuna campuran yang membuat asimilasi budaya antara budaya lokal dengan eropa sehingga membentuk 2 klasifikasi sosial di batavia yaitu, budaya eropa murni dan mestizo dimana dua belakangan ini sangat berbeda satu sama lain.
Buku ini sangat bagus untuk mengurai kehidupan sosial pada masa itu yang sampai dengan sekarang masih ada pengaruhnya.
Buku ini sangat bagus untuk mengurai kehidupan sosial pada masa itu yang sampai dengan sekarang masih ada pengaruhnya.
May 30, 2012
I didn't intentionally dive into this subject, only read the book for my research on cholera endemic in old Batavia and its role during two unsuccessful sieges of Batavia by Matarams' Sultan.
If I recall correctly, the book contains detailed information on the demographic of old Batavia: governors officials, residents, ethnic composition, etc. The book also detailed the evolution of old Batavia urban planning from a garrison city of indecent-origin worker supplied to support the thriving spice trade into a well-groomed city for living comfortably.
If I recall correctly, the book contains detailed information on the demographic of old Batavia: governors officials, residents, ethnic composition, etc. The book also detailed the evolution of old Batavia urban planning from a garrison city of indecent-origin worker supplied to support the thriving spice trade into a well-groomed city for living comfortably.
March 15, 2013
This was a very good social history in the style of thick description. In particular, she did a very good job explaining her methods as she made her conclusions.
I think the book could have stood to have been longer, though; I would have liked to have seen more context on some of the economic relationships that she discussed, and certainly a bit more on the disease/health environment in Batavia. The number of deaths described at young ages is staggering, but there isn't much detail about the causes.
Still, this was a very good representation of how to do social history well.
I think the book could have stood to have been longer, though; I would have liked to have seen more context on some of the economic relationships that she discussed, and certainly a bit more on the disease/health environment in Batavia. The number of deaths described at young ages is staggering, but there isn't much detail about the causes.
Still, this was a very good representation of how to do social history well.
August 11, 2009
As Chinese Dutch descent, I think this book is very important read to be read to all Indonesians and all indische out there, it gives us insight the social structure of Batavia during dutch colonialism which forces superiority of dutchman over the oriental people, natives, and lastly, the eurasian/indische.
With the resurgence of Indische cultural revival, I think this book should be read by any indische people out there so they could understand their history better.
With the resurgence of Indische cultural revival, I think this book should be read by any indische people out there so they could understand their history better.
March 7, 2016
yang memberi jaminan buku ini harus dibeli adalah provokasi dari nama leonard blusse dan sanjungan michele boin di BKI 1983 yang dikutip dalam sampul buku ini.
dan keduanya tidak salah.
paling tidak, begitulah kesan pertama ketika kali pertama skimming buku ini.
dan keduanya tidak salah.
paling tidak, begitulah kesan pertama ketika kali pertama skimming buku ini.
August 27, 2009
gambaran paling menarik bagi saya adalah kehidupan nyai dan nyonya-nyonya Belanda serta proses percampuran kebudayaan Eropa dan Pribumi yang sayang jika dilewatkan oleh pembaca buku sejarah terutama sejarah kota Jakarta
August 13, 2009
buku terakhir dari series Jakarta tempo dulu yg gw beli... karena paling tebal, jadi gw baca terakhir aja.. padahal ini secara historical malah lebih duluan..
-andri-
-andri-
August 11, 2009
Buku yang amat sangat bagus, memberikan gambaran bagi orang keturunan belanda untuk memahami sejarah nenek moyang mereka di Batavia.
November 22, 2014
962 - 2014
February 6, 2015
Buku yang sangat menarik untuk melihat sisi lain sejarah Indonesia. Telaah selengkapnya baca di blog-ku: http://fahrul-khakim.blogspot.com/201...
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December 25, 2015good
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
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