Mocking while working with problematic representations: The irony of ethnographic sensibility in Indonesia

Abstract

In this essay, I contemplate the value of ethnography by reflecting on my experience and that of other anthropology-trained individuals who engage with public socio-ecological issues in Indonesia. While these issues are portrayed as urgent and are packaged with established representations of people and communities, ethnographic engagement produces representations that are at odds with them. Nevertheless, anthropology-trained individuals in Indonesia have no way to address these issues other than to work with institutions that produce the problematic representations, and in doing so, inadvertently contribute to their reproduction. Furthermore, the academic anthropology ecosystem does not support the exhaustive exploration of these issues. Eventually, the sensibility generated by the practice of ethnography becomes more of a latent sensibility, which is critical of the predominant representations. It evokes internal conflict and a sense of irony, which most of the time cannot be expressed or practically addressed.