Bartlett Research Conversations: Feysa Poetry

Contesting Postcolonial Identity: Ethnicity and Heritage in Java’s Port Town of Lasem

Speaker: Feysa Poetry
Supervisors: Professor Murray Fraser and Dr Eva Branscome
Guest panellist: Dr Lauren Lauret from UCL History

Abstract

This thesis examines complex historical and urban evolution of Lasem – an ancient cosmopolitan port town in Java – as a way to explore its connections to global trade, successive transformations due to East-Asian maritime networks, Indian Empires, Javanese kingdoms, Dutch colonialism, and nation-building policies since 1945. Lasem's urban growth is linked to multiculturalism, with a distinct identity formed by diverse groups, notably the Chinese community, whose struggle to fit in postcolonial Indonesia can be observed. It also explores how current residents are shaping an ethnic landscape aligned with inclusivity, despite reconciling their cosmopolitan past with contemporary ideals.

Adopting a postcolonial lens, this thesis offers insights into how colonialism, nationhood, capital distribution, power dynamics, and ethnic segregation have influenced Lasem's cultural heritage and urban identity. This serves as an intriguing case study of how migration, colonialism, and globalization intersect to shape the formation of ethnic enclaves and transnational connections in contemporary cities.

About The Bartlett Research Conversations

The Bartlett School of Architecture’s Research Conversations seminars comprise work-in-progress and upgrade presentations by students undertaking the Architectural Design MPhil/PhD and Architectural and Urban History and Theory MPhil/PhD. All current UCL staff and students are welcome to attend.

Held regularly throughout the academic year, the seminars are attended by the Programme Directors, Professor Sophia Psarra and Dr Nina Vollenbröker; PhD Coordinators, Dr Stamatis Zografos and Dr Stelios Giamarelos; and other PhD supervisors.

Image: A collection of identity, hanging on a wall of a Chinese courtyard house: two signages for a home business, a board listing the names of family living in a household (an obligation to put up in every Chinese house during the New Order regime), a flyer for a local vihara, a distressed poster with Chinese illustration. Image Credit: Feysa Poetry, 2023.