Premium
Monarchism, national identity and social representations of history in I ndonesia: Intersections of the local and national in the s ultanates of Y ogyakarta and S urakarta
Author(s) -
Hakim Moh Abdul,
Liu James H.,
Isler Laina,
Woodward Mark R.
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
asian journal of social psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.5
H-Index - 49
eISSN - 1467-839X
pISSN - 1367-2223
DOI - 10.1111/ajsp.12109
Subject(s) - national identity , monarchy , identity (music) , power (physics) , democracy , politics , gender studies , superordinate goals , sociology , political science , social psychology , psychology , law , physics , quantum mechanics , acoustics
In the young state of I ndonesia, old local authorities like sultanates have reasserted themselves. This reemergence of localized authority does not necessarily conflict with nation building. Survey research among adult samples ( N = 399) in the neighbouring sultanates of Y ogyakarta and S urakarta found that social representations of history were implicated in the relationship between monarchism and national identity. In Y ogyakarta (but not S urakarta), a positive intersection between local and national representations of history was found: events and people associated with the sultanate were also regarded as instrumental to the birth of the nation. In Y ogyakarta, support for the sultanate was higher than in S urakarta: respondents argued that Y ogyakarta had the culture and history required to justify status as a special autonomous region. In Y ogyakarta but not S urakarta, monarchism was positively related to national identity and trust in national democratic political institutions. The intersection between local and national representations of history, especially concerning the instrumentality of the local monarchy in giving birth to the nation in Y ogyakarta, created historical continuity/positive intersectionality where the superordinate nation and the local monarchy are networked in a system of power and meaning that lends trust in democratic institutions from monarchism, and strengthens national identity.