Recently batik, which is a traditional wax-resist dyeing technique, has become synonymous with Indonesia and a cultural icon to represent Indonesia. Compared to the other traditions of Indonesia, Indonesian batik is unique in that it is still worn as daily clothes and has continuously adapted to a r...
Recently batik, which is a traditional wax-resist dyeing technique, has become synonymous with Indonesia and a cultural icon to represent Indonesia. Compared to the other traditions of Indonesia, Indonesian batik is unique in that it is still worn as daily clothes and has continuously adapted to a rapidly changing fashion environment. UNESCO inscribed Indonesian batik on the representative list of the intangible cultural heritage of humanity on the 2nd of October 2009. Indonesian government designated the day(October 2) as the national batik day to raise public awareness in protecting and developing Indonesian batik and has required all citizens to wear batik on the day since 2009.
The aim of this research is to elucidate what factors make it possible for batik to prevail and become a national culture in Indonesia. The approaches for the research are based on consideration of Indonesian batik as a invented tradition, and of nations as cultural products, and of nationalism as a cultural process of collective identity formation.
To make traditional batik, batik makers use a tool called canting, which works much like a fountain pen. So batik makers can express almost everything just as artists can draw whatever he or she wants on canvas with strokes of brush. Although batik used to be practiced only on Java except for a few regions, Batik motifs could represent the whole archipelago. Batik motifs contain landscapes, flora and fauna throughout the archipelago as well as throughout the island of Java. Basically batik is woman-oriented culture, which makes it easy for peoples living on the outer islands to accept batik as their culture without strong resistance. Javaneses believe that batik reaches its peak on Java and take pride in their batik. These factors could be rationales for batik's becoming the national symbol of Indonesia and could enable batik to get several comparative advantages over the other traditions of Indonesia in terms of qualifications and conditions to be a national symbol. The batik's own features(internal factors), however, are not sufficient enough to render batik the national symbol of Indonesia. They are just necessary conditions but not sufficient conditions.
Therefore, it is assumed that there are external factors which have contributed to batik's becoming a national culture. The outside influences have mainly come from the nation-building process. After the independence from the Netherlands, the first president of Indonesia, Soekarno, made every effort to build up the unitary state of Indonesia by building cultural identity of Indonesia. In the course of the nation building, the president used batik as a non-political ideology. The next president Soeharto also took advantage of batik in promoting homogeneity among the citizens. The theoretical framework for the analysis on the external factors is based on Foster’s three overlapping sets of key words(1. imagination, invention, memory, 2. classification, knowledge, regulation, 3. commodification, diffusion, consumption), which explain the process of making national cultures. By comparing the process of batik’s becoming a national culture in Indonesia with Foster’s sets of key words, this research tries to prove that Indonesia’s nation-making has had a great influence on batik’s turning into the spirit of Indonesia from the soul of Java.
Another key finding from the research is that there are two significant phases in Indonesian batik history. Since the elements of culture must be understood in terms of their relationship to a larger, overarching system or structure, batik as national culture should be analyzed on the interrelations between batik and its surroundings such as the specialty of Indonesian society and a series of cultural conflicts between Indonesia and Malaysia. The first phase is the period when Indonesia achieved its independence from the Netherlands and started building a nation-state. The second one is the first decade of 21st century when Indonesia had cultural, political, and territorial conflicts with Malaysia and batik was inscribed on the list of UNESCO.
By way of conclusion, the findings of this research propose that batik has been employed to strengthen national identity by the Javanese elites in the process of nation-building in which batik has been given opportunities to enhance its value and to gain its symbolic meanings to represent Indonesia, so that it has become a deeply ingrained part of national identity and the culture of Indonesia.
Recently batik, which is a traditional wax-resist dyeing technique, has become synonymous with Indonesia and a cultural icon to represent Indonesia. Compared to the other traditions of Indonesia, Indonesian batik is unique in that it is still worn as daily clothes and has continuously adapted to a rapidly changing fashion environment. UNESCO inscribed Indonesian batik on the representative list of the intangible cultural heritage of humanity on the 2nd of October 2009. Indonesian government designated the day(October 2) as the national batik day to raise public awareness in protecting and developing Indonesian batik and has required all citizens to wear batik on the day since 2009.
The aim of this research is to elucidate what factors make it possible for batik to prevail and become a national culture in Indonesia. The approaches for the research are based on consideration of Indonesian batik as a invented tradition, and of nations as cultural products, and of nationalism as a cultural process of collective identity formation.
To make traditional batik, batik makers use a tool called canting, which works much like a fountain pen. So batik makers can express almost everything just as artists can draw whatever he or she wants on canvas with strokes of brush. Although batik used to be practiced only on Java except for a few regions, Batik motifs could represent the whole archipelago. Batik motifs contain landscapes, flora and fauna throughout the archipelago as well as throughout the island of Java. Basically batik is woman-oriented culture, which makes it easy for peoples living on the outer islands to accept batik as their culture without strong resistance. Javaneses believe that batik reaches its peak on Java and take pride in their batik. These factors could be rationales for batik's becoming the national symbol of Indonesia and could enable batik to get several comparative advantages over the other traditions of Indonesia in terms of qualifications and conditions to be a national symbol. The batik's own features(internal factors), however, are not sufficient enough to render batik the national symbol of Indonesia. They are just necessary conditions but not sufficient conditions.
Therefore, it is assumed that there are external factors which have contributed to batik's becoming a national culture. The outside influences have mainly come from the nation-building process. After the independence from the Netherlands, the first president of Indonesia, Soekarno, made every effort to build up the unitary state of Indonesia by building cultural identity of Indonesia. In the course of the nation building, the president used batik as a non-political ideology. The next president Soeharto also took advantage of batik in promoting homogeneity among the citizens. The theoretical framework for the analysis on the external factors is based on Foster’s three overlapping sets of key words(1. imagination, invention, memory, 2. classification, knowledge, regulation, 3. commodification, diffusion, consumption), which explain the process of making national cultures. By comparing the process of batik’s becoming a national culture in Indonesia with Foster’s sets of key words, this research tries to prove that Indonesia’s nation-making has had a great influence on batik’s turning into the spirit of Indonesia from the soul of Java.
Another key finding from the research is that there are two significant phases in Indonesian batik history. Since the elements of culture must be understood in terms of their relationship to a larger, overarching system or structure, batik as national culture should be analyzed on the interrelations between batik and its surroundings such as the specialty of Indonesian society and a series of cultural conflicts between Indonesia and Malaysia. The first phase is the period when Indonesia achieved its independence from the Netherlands and started building a nation-state. The second one is the first decade of 21st century when Indonesia had cultural, political, and territorial conflicts with Malaysia and batik was inscribed on the list of UNESCO.
By way of conclusion, the findings of this research propose that batik has been employed to strengthen national identity by the Javanese elites in the process of nation-building in which batik has been given opportunities to enhance its value and to gain its symbolic meanings to represent Indonesia, so that it has become a deeply ingrained part of national identity and the culture of Indonesia.
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