Trauma and the Last Dutch War in Indonesia, 1945–1949

Cultural Sociology Series Editors Jeffrey C. Alexander Center for Cultural Sociology Yale University New Haven, CT, USA Ron Eyerman Center for Cultural Sociology Yale University New Haven, CT, USA David Inglis Department of Sociology, Philosophy and Anthropology University of Exeter Exeter, Devon, UK Philip Smith Center for Cultural Sociology Yale University New Haven, CT, USA Cultural sociology is widely acknowledged as one of the most vibrant areas of inquiry in the social sciences across the world today. The Palgrave Macmillan Series in Cultural Sociology is dedicated to the proposition that deep meanings make a profound difference in social life. Culture is not simply the glue that holds society together, a crutch for the weak, or a mystifying ideology that conceals power. Nor is it just practical knowledge, dry schemas, or know how. The series demonstrates how shared and circulating patterns of meaning actively and inescapably penetrate the social. Through codes and myths, narratives and icons, rituals and representations, these culture structures drive human action, inspire social movements, direct and build institutions, and so come to shape history. The series takes its lead from the cultural turn in the humanities, but insists on rigorous social science methods and aims at empirical explanations. Contributions engage in thick interpretations but also account for behavioral outcomes. They develop cultural theory but also deploy middle-range tools to challenge reductionist understandings of how the world actually works. In so doing, the books in this series embody the spirit of cultural sociology as an intellectual enterprise. More information about this series at http://www.palgrave.com/gp/series/14945 Ron Eyerman · Giuseppe Sciortino Editors The Cultural Trauma of Decolonization Colonial Returnees in the National Imagination Editors Ron Eyerman Center for Cultural Sociology Yale University New Haven, CT, USA Giuseppe Sciortino Dept Sociologia e Ricerca Sociale Universita degli Studi di Trento Trento, Italy Cultural Sociology ISBN 978-3-030-27024-7 ISBN 978-3-030-27025-4 https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-27025-4 (eBook) © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020 This work is subject to copyright. All rights are solely and exclusively licensed by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed. The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. The publisher, the authors and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, expressed or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made. The publisher remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. Cover illustration: © Orbon Alija/E+/gettyimages This Palgrave Macmillan imprint is published by the registered company Springer Nature Switzerland AG The registered company address is: Gewerbestrasse 11, 6330 Cham, Switzerland SERIES EDITOR PREFACE I hold it true, whate’er befall; I feel it when I sorrow most; ‘Tis better to have loved and lost Than never to have loved at all. Why are these words from Tennyson so often quoted? Written for his requiem elegy for Arthur Henry Hallam, like all great poetry they speak to more than just the particulars of one case. They invoke experiences and choices both universal and common: The reckoning of past with present, and joy with sorrow, and the risks of affective engagement to people, places, things, even life. And so they come to mind, often. Tennyson’s poem speaks with peculiar force to the interrogative thrust of this volume: How was that which was lost experienced? What evaluations, memories and considerations were conjured in thinking things through? Of course decolonization was a triumph for those fighting oppression, seeking autonomy and hungry for the freedoms that only self-determination could bring. Yet for the former rulers at home and in the colonies it was a collective loss of something valuable that could only be deeply reflected upon. Contra what most social theory might predict these subsequent regrets and meditations were not particularly themed on the economic flows of raw materials or the logics of geo-power. Indeed as the editors point out the major powers ‘got over’ these issues surprisingly quickly. Life went on as usual with the same economies and political operators controlling the world in more or less the same pecking v vi SERIES EDITOR PREFACE order. There was even a plus side. Gone were the hassle, stress, embarrassment and expense of holding down a discontented empire. The loss experience was all about meanings and identities. Most obviously the decline of empire during the twentieth Century challenged entrenched visions of national destiny and superiority back in the metropole. Much has been written on this theme over the years. It remains a standard talking point for both second-rate and high-quality commentators, historians and political scientists as they seek to explain somewhat puzzling moments of present-day gunboat diplomacy, or the rise of the far right and hostility to immigration. Images are sometimes invoked of the nation lashing out, attempting to conjure ghosts, pulling up the drawbridge, or living in denial. These generally appear when the expert does not approve of the thing they are explaining. The colonial stain is polluting. It discredits and leads inexorably to the denunciation of what are cast as irrational thoughts, deeds and policies. By drawing upon cultural trauma theory this book helpfully moves beyond such a speculative, moralistic or tendentious substitute for rigorous intellectual inquiry. It engages in a systematic comparative and historical cultural sociology of the ways that colonial decline was understood. The case studies indicate the surprising variety of pathways and multiple structuring contingencies that shaped just how decolonization was managed practically and understood imaginatively in various imperial centers. The postcolonial meanings uncovered in this text are visible and discursive; the sound bites few and far between. The sign on the door might say: No psychobabble required. With nearly all attention going to the colonial center and its accommodations to a new world order, too often forgotten in scholarship are the “villains” of the piece. Colonial settlers tend to be seen today, especially in movies and on radicalized campuses, as exploitative elites living off the fat of the land and the sweat of the colonized body. We can effortlessly conjure images of privileged country club memberships, boorish landowners, and patronizing, benevolent but still racist administrators. It seems hard to really care for this cast of characters or believe they could undergo a “real” cultural trauma. Their discontents might be dismissed as self-indulgent suffering or as a problem of the privileged. But this volume shows the demographic and social composition of the colonists was far more diverse than we might commonly imagine. They did not all live on Easy Street. And perhaps no one else experienced the loss of empire more palpably. The studies presented here display them SERIES EDITOR PREFACE vii feeling betrayed and abandoned. Some fled in terror of lawlessness and reprisals. Others might be bankrupted, their property unsalable. Back in the motherland these people who only half-belonged could easily become stigmatized or a national embarrassment. Often deeply attached to their colonial territories, to farms, businesses and institutions built up over the generations, many had truly loved and lost. Whether we like it or not theirs was a cultural trauma too. Indeed, it is an important one for cultural trauma theory to consider at this particular moment in its own evolution. In recent years the literature on cultural trauma has amply testified to the collective process through which suffering is constructed. This involves narratives, gestures, intellectual work and social organization. None of this is to say that death, violence, injustice and degradation are not real. However, the push has been to uncover the mechanisms through which all these realities have been made socially visible and consequentially relevant. There has been a cost to the choices made. A focus on groups generally considered as victims of history and hierarchy, or on assassinations, atrocities and natural disasters has not helped the constructivist cause of the cultural trauma paradigm. A parallel choice to focus on eventually successful cases rather than on permanently repressed evils or failed mobilization has compounded things. There is a sense of suffering that just needed a voice, that just needed time, and that would eventually bubble to the surface and become known. The truth will out, the lazy reader might conclude, and so real trauma gives birth to cultural trauma, eventually. In this collection, we move away from familiar territory and so help further decouple the ontological reality of suffering from the collective representations through which it becomes known and, also in some ways, experienced. We also winnow away our confounding gut feelings about the worthy and unworthy. Here we have a book that considers those who might be considered by some to have a lesser right to cry, mourn, feel outrage or claim to have experienced injustice. The volume also considers many failed efforts to obtain compensation, or to be formally recognized as disposed victims of history and policy. Even at the time of regime change few had much sympathy or interest in what the erstwhile colonists had to say. They might have been talking but often nobody was really interested, really listening. Some claims never made it off the launchpad. By pushing cultural trauma theory into this new, slightly uncomfortable territory and by looking at failed or ambivalent viii SERIES EDITOR PREFACE trauma many of the studies presented here best display the cultural constructivism and normative neutrality that is at the core of the cultural trauma paradigm. The documentation of claims-making activity is more clearly differentiated out from themes of advocacy and historical witnessing that we find in parallel literatures. The trauma paradigm serves more visibly and accurately as a tool for a generalizing comparative cultural sociology. It is shown to offer a way of explaining and interpreting, not implicitly or unintentionally congratulating, commiserating or cheering on as the scholarly narrative unfolds. We tell our students that the explicans should not become the explicandum. But here is a case that tests the rule: Looking to the cultural trauma of decolonization helps us better understand the essence of cultural trauma theory itself. Oxford, UK July 2019 Philip Smith ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The idea of this volume formed while Giuseppe Sciortino was Willy Brandt Visiting professor at Malmo University, one of the cities Ron Eyerman claims as his own. Many discussions in Malmo paved the way to this project. Subsequently, the idea grew and evolved through two intensely stimulating workshops. The first, held at Yale University’s Center for Cultural Sociology (CCS), was partially funded by the MacMillan Center. The second was hosted by the International Migration Laboratory of the Università di Trento. We would like to acknowledge the generous support afforded by these institutions, which included the exemplary hands on organizing of the secretarial staff and the guiding imagination of Nadine Amalfi. The essays here published were presented in rough form at our first meeting and then, more than a year later, as nearly completed final drafts at the second. We are very grateful for the discussions and critical comments that occurred during these face-to-face meetings and then over the internet as authors and editors shared their ideas. We are grateful to all members of our crew for having accepted to participate in this project. Even more for the scholarly skills and intellectual curiosity they have provided. Their willingness to apply specialized knowledge in new ways and engage in a comparative, interdisciplinary project is an exemplar of the academic ideal. Thank you all. Some colleagues have been quite helpful along the way helping us with ideas, bibliographic references and comments upon our drafts. Among them, we wish to thank Martina Cvajner, Mario Diani, Johanna Esseveld, Nicholas Harney, and Peter Kivisto. Dr. Todd Madigan worked ix x ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS on the final editing as he completed his Ph.D. and graduated from Yale University. Bravo, Todd! We also acknowledge the support given by our editors at Palgrave, Mary Al-Sayed and Linda Braus, as they guided us through the final stages of preparing the manuscript. Mary’s enthusiasm for the project was a constant source of energy. CONTENTS 1 1 Introduction Giuseppe Sciortino and Ron Eyerman 2 Italian Decolonization: Multidirectional Migrations, Multidirectional Memories Pamela Ballinger 27 Japanese Narratives of Decolonization and Repatriation from Manchuria Akiko Hashimoto 57 Trauma and the Last Dutch War in Indonesia, 1945–1949 Gert Oostindie 85 3 4 5 6 Beyond the “Trauma”: Legitimization and Revenge of the “Anciens du Congo” (Belgian Congo 1908–1960) Rosario Giordano 111 Pied-Noir Trauma and Identity in Postcolonial France, 1962–2010 Sung-Eun Choi 137 xi xii 7 8 CONTENTS Trauma and the Portuguese Repatriation: A Confined Collective Identity Rui Pena Pires, Morgane Delaunay and João Peixoto Conclusion Ron Eyerman and Giuseppe Sciortino Index 169 205 229 NOTES ON CONTRIBUTORS Pamela Ballinger is Professor of History and the Fred Cuny Chair in the History of Human Rights at the University of Michigan. She is the author of History in Exile: Memory and Identity at the Borders of the Balkans (Princeton University Press, 2003), La Memoria in Esilio (Veltro Editrice, 2010), and The World Refugees Made: Decolonization and the Foundation of Postwar Italy (Cornell University Press, forthcoming 2020). She has published on the topic of Italian settler returns in journals that include Comparative Studies in Society and History, Journal of Contemporary History, and Journal of Refugee Studies. Sung-Eun Choi is Associate Professor of History at Bentley University in Waltham, Massachusetts. She is the author of Bringing the Settler Colony Home: Decolonization and the French of Algeria, published in 2016 with Palgrave. Morgane Delaunay is a Ph.D. candidate at Université Rennes 2 (ARÈNES) and at ISCTE-IUL with the support of Région Bretagne. She has a Master degree in Contemporary History and International Relations (Université Rennes 2) and also in International Migrations (Université de Poitiers). She is studying the Portuguese repatriated population from the decolonization of Portuguese Africa, comparing its integration process in Portugal with the French case of Pieds-Noirs from Algeria. She is the author of “La question des retornados dans le débat parlementaire portugais 1975–1976” (Portuguese Studies Review, 27, 1, 2019, Summer). xiii xiv NOTES ON CONTRIBUTORS Ron Eyerman is Professor Emeritus at Yale University. He has published many books on cultural trauma including, Cultural Trauma Slavery and the Formation of African American Identity (2001), The Cultural Sociology of Political Assassination (2011), Is This America? Katrina as Cultural Trauma (2015), and Memory, Trauma, and Identity (2019). He divides his time between Malmo and Amsterdam. Rosario Giordano is Professor of the History of Africa, Università della Calabria (Cosenza, Italy). Publications: 2008. Belges et Italiens du Congo-Kinshasa. Récits de vie avant et après l’Indépendance. Paris: L’Harmattan; with B. Jewsiewicki and D. Dibwe Dia Mwembu (ed.). 2010. Lubumbashi 1910–2010. Mémoire d’une ville industrielle. pref. V. Y. Mudimbe. Paris: L’Harmattan; whit E. Quaretta and D. Dibwe dia Mwembu (ed.). 2019. « L’expérience fait la différence ». Dynamiques sociales et représentations en RD Congo et dans la diaspora, postface N. R. Hunt. Paris (in press). Director of the series « Mémoires lieux de savoir » and « La Région des Grands Lacs Africains—Passé et Présent » (Paris, L’Harmattan). Akiko Hashimoto received her B.Sc. from the London School of Economics and Ph.D. in Sociology from Yale University. After working at the United Nations University in Tokyo, she taught Sociology at the University of Pittsburgh for 25 years and is now Visiting Professor of Sociology and Asian Studies at Portland State University. She is author and editor of volumes on cultural sociology and comparative sociology, focused on social constructions of reality in varied cultural settings. Her latest volume is The Long Defeat: Cultural Trauma, Memory and Identity in Japan (Oxford University Press, 2015) which has also been translated into Japanese and Chinese languages. Gert Oostindie is Director of the KITLV/Royal Netherlands Institute of Southeast Asian and Caribbean Studies in Leiden, and Professor of Colonial and Postcolonial History at Leiden University. Among his many publications relevant to this volume is his book, Postcolonial Netherlands. Sixty-Five Years of Forgetting, Commemorating, Silencing (Amsterdam University Press, 2011). João Peixoto is Professor at the School of Economics and Management (ISEG), Universidade de Lisboa, Portugal, and researcher at SOCIUS/ CSG—Research Centre on Economic and Organizational Sociology. He studied sociology at ISCTE, Lisbon, and obtained a Ph.D. in NOTES ON CONTRIBUTORS xv Economic and Organizational Sociology at ISEG. His main research areas are international migration, demography and economic sociology. He has published in international and national journals and he is author and co-author of diverse books, including Migrações e Sustentabilidade Demográfica: Perspetivas de Evolução da Sociedade e Economia Portuguesas (Fundação Francisco Manuel dos Santos, 2017). Rui Pena Pires is Professor at ISCTE, University Institute of Lisbon, Portugal, and researcher at CIES-IUL, Centre for Research and Studies in Sociology. He received his Ph.D. in Sociology from ISCTE. His interests include international migration and sociological theory. He is the author of several papers and books, including “Portuguese emigration today” (in New and Old Routes of Portuguese Emigration, Springer, 2019). Giuseppe Sciortino teaches sociology at the Università di Trento. He has published extensively both on international migration and cultural sociology. He is the author, with Gianfranco Poggi, of Great Minds. Encounters with Social Theory (Stanford UP) and the editor, with Peter Kivisto, of Solidarity, Justice, and Incorporation (Oxford UP).