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Defining (Multiple) Selves: Reflections On Fieldwork In Jakarta, Chang Yau Hoon
Defining (Multiple) Selves: Reflections On Fieldwork In Jakarta, Chang Yau Hoon
Chang Yau HOON
The 'Self' in late-modernity is never singular but multiplies across different discourses, practices and positions. It is constructed through difference. It is only through a relation to the 'Other' that the 'Self' can be defined. This paper endeavours to map the endless negotiations of my 'Self' as male Australian academic of Chinese descent, a Malaysian citizen, a Bruneian resident, and an Indonesian specialist, over a period of fieldwork in Jakarta in 2004. It discusses how I defined my multiple 'Selves' to different individuals and communities, how they in turn defined me, and how these constructions were always shifting. Depending on …