cultural politics
The unwillingness of the external homelands to act as protector of their frater- nal communities, however, has involved much more than these straightforward strategic considerations. The sheer size of the fraternal communities and the fact that each of them occupies part of the historic homeland of their ethnie has meant that the standing of Mongolia, Laos, and Malaysia as the external home- land of the fraternal community has not been as secure as the standing of com- parable external homelands in Europe. The Mongols in China, the Lao in Thai- land, and the Malays in Indonesia have all had some reason to see themselves not just as minorities but as sophisticated exemplars of their ethnie. To the ex- tent that these communities appeared to preserve their cultural identity and to thrive economically, the legitimacy of the smaller independent states came into question. On the other hand, when minorities in the larger countries felt them- selves oppressed or deculturated, the legitimacy of the independent states as the sole bearers of their respective national cultures was reinforced. When the in- dependent states languished as economic backwaters, the arguments in favor of the fraternal communities staying in the larger state seemed stronger. Whereas the global trend in the twentieth century was to support national self-determi- nation within smaller and smaller units, the economic trend was the reverse: there was a strong economic preference for larger political units and for in- creasing economic integration between states and regions. Economists consis- tently dismissed independence movements as economically counter-productive and cast doubt on the capacity of small independent states to deliver prosperi- ty to their peoples.
The erosion of distinctive cultural identities as a result of the homogenizing effects of the state and of commerce was one of the striking features of the twen- tieth century, and has continued into the twenty-first century. All cultural iden- tities are subject to these pressures, but minorities are especially vulnerable, and the fear of the fraternal communities in all these cases was of absorption into the dominant culture of the state which ruled them. This fear was strongest amongst the Mongols, perhaps because of China’s long tradition of imposing its culture on non-Chinese peoples within its borders and because of the sharp contrast between traditional Mongol herding culture and China’s urban and agricultural cultures.24 In Indonesia, the fear of “Javanization,” the imposition of the culture of the Javanese as the largest ethnic group, has been a persistent theme in inter-regional relations, though the extent to which there was true Ja- vanization is open to debate. What was seen as Javanization in non-Javanese regions was often a kind of manufactured quasi-Indic culture devised to sup- port the authoritarian New Order of President Suharto,25 rather than wholesale
cultural politicsThe unwillingness of the external homelands to act as protector of their frater- nal communities, however, has involved much more than these straightforward strategic considerations. The sheer size of the fraternal communities and the fact that each of them occupies part of the historic homeland of their ethnie has meant that the standing of Mongolia, Laos, and Malaysia as the external home- land of the fraternal community has not been as secure as the standing of com- parable external homelands in Europe. The Mongols in China, the Lao in Thai- land, and the Malays in Indonesia have all had some reason to see themselves not just as minorities but as sophisticated exemplars of their ethnie. To the ex- tent that these communities appeared to preserve their cultural identity and to thrive economically, the legitimacy of the smaller independent states came into question. On the other hand, when minorities in the larger countries felt them- selves oppressed or deculturated, the legitimacy of the independent states as the sole bearers of their respective national cultures was reinforced. When the in- dependent states languished as economic backwaters, the arguments in favor of the fraternal communities staying in the larger state seemed stronger. Whereas the global trend in the twentieth century was to support national self-determi- nation within smaller and smaller units, the economic trend was the reverse: there was a strong economic preference for larger political units and for in- creasing economic integration between states and regions. Economists consis- tently dismissed independence movements as economically counter-productive and cast doubt on the capacity of small independent states to deliver prosperi- ty to their peoples.The erosion of distinctive cultural identities as a result of the homogenizing effects of the state and of commerce was one of the striking features of the twen- tieth century, and has continued into the twenty-first century. All cultural iden- tities are subject to these pressures, but minorities are especially vulnerable, and the fear of the fraternal communities in all these cases was of absorption into the dominant culture of the state which ruled them. This fear was strongest amongst the Mongols, perhaps because of China’s long tradition of imposing its culture on non-Chinese peoples within its borders and because of the sharp contrast between traditional Mongol herding culture and China’s urban and agricultural cultures.24 In Indonesia, the fear of “Javanization,” the imposition of the culture of the Javanese as the largest ethnic group, has been a persistent theme in inter-regional relations, though the extent to which there was true Ja- vanization is open to debate. What was seen as Javanization in non-Javanese regions was often a kind of manufactured quasi-Indic culture devised to sup- port the authoritarian New Order of President Suharto,25 rather than wholesale
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