Spectral Presences of Si Pai : Begoña Aretxaga's Cipayo and Uncanny Experiences of Si Pai in Aceh 2008

This essay explores the spectral presence of Si Pai , a colonial figure from the Ottoman Empire, during postconflict research in Aceh, Indonesia. I found the uncanny in the emergences over time of the spectral presence of Si Pai , linked to the presence of my friend Begoña Aretxaga, who had written about cipayo in a book we dedicated to her memory. The meanings of Si Pai are analyzed, using Bakhtin's writing on the history of language and Aretxaga's analysis drawing on Abraham and Torok. The meanings of sipahi flow across centuries of Ottoman and Persian and colonial military histories, and through webs of emotion and experiences of violence, where soldiers employed or enslaved by Empires, including those from afar, British and Dutch, wreak havoc on civilian life, plundering and committing evil, before finding their way in Aceh. Research in postconflict Aceh provides the ethnographic core; yet, this essay weaves a tale of the uncanny through a journey of anthropological and historical inquiry and uncanny appearances.