Beyond Bali: Subaltern Citizens and Post-Colonial Intimacy

This ethnography explores how Balinese citizens produce postcolonial intimacy-a complex interaction of claims to proximity and mutuality between themselves and the Dutch under colonialism that continues today. Such claims, Ana Dragojlovic explains, are crucial for the diasporic reconfiguration of kebalian, or Balinese-ness, a concept that encompasses the personal, social, and cultural complexities involved in Balinese identity in Dutch postcolonial society. This identity enables Balinese migrants to see themselves as carriers of unique cultural traditions both promoted by and in disagreement with Dutch cultural values.

Ana Dragojlovic is a lecturer in Gender Studies at the University of Melbourne, Australia. She is an anthropologist working at the intersections of mobility, post-colonial and critical race studies, feminist and queer theory, and masculinity studies. She is currently working on a project that focuses on therapy cultures, particularly as they related to historical violence with interests in affect, embodiment, and subjectivity. Her regional specialisation reflects her interest in diasporas and empires and includes Indonesia, the Netherlands, Dutch East-Indies and Afro-Asian connections (particularly in relation to the Afro-Caribbean).