Indo Fieldwork

Result of the Week: Siblings and Hegemony

2008-07-30T18:41:00.018+07:00

In the “West,” while people usually enjoy bossing their cute little 65 year-old siblings around, they also tend to try and maintain some of the younglings’ dignity, pretending to give “advice” rather than orders. Here it seems to be different. A friend in Yogya, for example, finds it necessary to boss a (fully grown) younger sister around, refers to her as "dik" (pronounced de’, and short for "

Random Assortment

2008-07-12T14:04:00.003+07:00

- Viewed in the Pluit district of Jakarta: “Warung H. Tupac Shakur”A warung is a food stall, and H. stands for Haji, one who has performed the pilgrimage to Mecca (Hajj). I didn’t actually know Tupac Shakur was a Haji; nor that he was still alive; nor that that he had a food stall in Pluit. You learn something every day.- What

Lake Rivalries & Bus Accessories

2008-07-07T21:17:00.024+07:00

Who hasn't wondered, at one point or another, where to find the best "bus accessories?" Well, look no further.In my last stay in Padang. I had just begun the experiments and was mostly just trying to keep procedures methodologically-legit amid what felt like minor logistical chaos. Luckily, a couple of friends from Jakarta showed up on a Saturday, rented a car, and suggested I take a night off

Jakarta City Blues

2008-06-20T12:35:00.003+07:00

I’m back in Jakarta after a real vacation (meaning a couple of weeks in which one doesn't do any tangible work, but gets to feel uncharacteristically OK about it.) It amazes me how quickly one can adjust to a different environment. Being home and seeing family and friends seemed so natural, that I almost forgot I live in Southeast Asia.

Hallelujah

2008-06-19T00:17:00.003+07:00

There was only one television channel available when I grew up (we couldn't quite seem to get Jordan, for some reason), so there was very little NBA basketball available. Basically, we'd get some highlights during the year and digests of the finals. When I first started watching as a boy, I really only knew of two teams from two cities I wouldn't even visit for a couple of decades. It's not easy

The meaning of life

2008-05-26T22:38:00.018+07:00

Now what? Experiments are finally done and I have that mixed feeling I used to get after barely surviving some big exam: the sighed relief of a job finally done and a renewed appreciation of the aimless, meaningless oddity that is human existence. What am I supposed to wake up for now? Luckily, the answer to that question is very clear: Jakarta is exactly 12 time-zones away from, say, Boston or

Result of the Week: Women are nicer

2008-04-23T18:06:00.013+07:00

It is one of the noble duties of social science to quantitatively prove the obvious. In the Ultimatum Game, subjects are asked to divide a sum of money between themselves and a partner. The partner then has a choice: they can accept the proposed division, in which case it’s carried out (and the players really get the money), or they can reject it, in which case both players get nothing. Last week

First Results Are In

2008-03-29T16:05:00.028+07:00

After months of preparations in Indonesia and - let’s just say - “more than months” before Indonesia, the pilot is finished. I now have my revised procedures and far-more-educated guesses as to what might work, and I even have my first set of real, original, methodologically defensible (?) data to analyze. It’s an odd feeling: uplifting, exciting, but also a little anti-climactic.It’s my dataset;

Sleep, Padang and Beluga Whales

2008-03-08T00:10:00.013+07:00

"Blah, blah, blah. Blah. Cliche 1, cliche 2, sports cliche No. 4 and sports cliche No. 7," Jefferson said. "We didn't do a very good job. We didn't give 110 percent. We've got to give it all we got. We've got to leave it all on the court, and we didn't do that." New Jersey Nets forward Richard Jefferson, as quoted by ESPN ---The main two events of the week were between midnight and 10am,

12 years

2008-03-03T19:56:00.003+07:00

It’s always odd to be on the other side of the world when things flare up in the Middle East. Gaza, Sderot and now Ashkelon are the latest focal points, and it doesn’t look good. It’s also odd because 12 years ago, this week, the violence hit very close when a good friend was killed in a bombing. Like most recent years – except for last – I missed the memorial service. While it was a terrible

Padang

2008-02-24T16:33:00.050+07:00

I returned from Padang a few days ago, to the shocking realization that Jakarta feels like (3rd or 4th) home to me at the moment. Padang is, well, different. It’s right on the beach and surrounded by mountains, but most of all, people just aren’t Javanese.Javanese (and Sundanese, the people of West Java) are extremely polite, with intricate rules as to what people will say to each other. “No”,

Marcus

2008-02-10T17:09:00.000+07:00

1. Yogya “Ah… born in Jerusalem?” This was, more or less, the first thing we heard upon arrival in Indonesia, when I was 11 and the Soeharto-era immigration officer looked through our passports. A couple of weeks ago I heard it again, this time accompanied by a big smile from a dean at an Islamic university. I was touring a few departments soliciting permission and assistance in

Death of a Dictator

2008-01-28T21:00:00.000+07:00

After a couple of weeks of anticipation, it happened: Soeharto died yesterday around noon and was brought back to the family house on the famous Cendana street in Jakarta. It’s been a very interesting couple of days here, although I'm mostly just watching, a bit confused and doubtful I'm really capable of understanding what's going on in people's minds.Soeharto ruled Indonesia for 32 years, the

Tereza

2008-01-19T18:20:00.000+07:00

When I left for Indonesia, I knew I’d miss tap-water tooth-brushing, but it seemed like a fair trade for being rid of the perennial questions “so why Indonesia?” My answers about it would go something like: “Well, it’s the fourth largest country in the world. No, really. Really! The U.S. is third, Indonesia is fourth. Honestly…”Or: “It has the largest Muslim population in the world. Seriously.

Jakarta "Barry" Obama

2008-01-06T23:59:00.001+07:00

One thing is certain, if “Barry Obama” wins the presidency, the U.S. image over here will change overnight. It’ll probably change everywhere, including in America itself, but more than one person here has commented about his Indonesian connection, and what an Obama victory would mean to people. Obama spent four years as a child here, with his mother and stepfather (an Indonesian). It really is

Rain and Elections

2007-12-29T22:19:00.000+07:00

Padang stands. The tsunami I was warned about never happened, but floods in Padang actually swept away more than 200 houses this week, so maybe "superstition" was premature. The rains have been heavy in many parts of the country and in Central Java a mudslide claimed the lives of more than a hundred people.I can’t quite decide whether this is just normal "rainy season" or whether the past few

Holy Night

2007-12-21T20:40:00.000+07:00

Here’s what a (English speaking) voice from Jakarta sounds like. And here’s a voice from Guernica (for a political science flavor), a Hebrew speaker from Yehud, and saving best for last, and in honor of C&J’s return from West Africa, an Ewe speaker from Accra, Ghana.--The highlight of this week was a rather sleepless night in honor of Idul Adha (Arabic “Eid ul-Adha”), the “Big Eid”,

Volcanoes, alcohol and cigarettes

2007-12-15T18:47:00.000+07:00

I’m planning to start research in Padang in February, but my contact there just informed me that there may not be a Padang in February. He just returned and shared what is now common knowledge over there (reported on the local news as well): on December 23rd, a 10 meter tsunami will hit the city (which lies at sea level, on the coast of Sumatra). Everybody knows this and everyone thinks he’s

"Where you going?!"

2007-12-07T16:35:00.000+07:00

Most common first question from strangers: “Hello Mister! Where you going?!”For a long time (well, still, sometimes) I answered that question, not always delighted to have to share my daily plans with random people. But then I discovered it wasn’t actually a question at all. It’s just a translation of “Mau ke mana?” (lit: “To where you want?”), the local version of “How’s it going?” or “What’s de

Overcoming Coordination Problems

2007-11-30T16:42:00.000+07:00

1. Spending too much time in my kost revising pilot behavioral-game protocols for translation has made me see strategic situations everywhere (this is what first year grad school felt like; not a fond memory). It's also given me time to observe this guy from my balcony: Volunteer traffic directors are very common in Jakarta (and elsewhere in Indonesia), solving two major problems in one go:

Notice the makup on the bride and groom

2007-11-28T00:49:00.000+07:00

A telling fact about Indonesian ceremonies is that people tend to dress in the traditional attire of their hometown, no matter where the ceremony is. I like that.I was invited to a wedding in Jakarta that took place in the parliament building (it was just hired, no special connection, I was told). The event itself is basically a reception; the actual wedding takes place in a small circle of

A Religious Thanksgiving

2007-11-23T18:21:00.001+07:00

No Thanksgiving in San Diego for me this weekend. Sate replaced turkey and a local restaurant took the place of Rico's burritos in Del Mar. Still, Thanksgiving Day was actually pretty fruitful workwise and gave me an amusing view of the religious complexity of this place. There are six official religions in Indonesia: Islam, Protestantism, Catholicism, Hinduism, Buddhism and Confucianism (

Pisherman’s Wharf

2007-11-15T11:38:00.000+07:00

I’ve succumbed to the blog plague. It seems like the only manageable way to regularly update on my whereabouts, for those interested in these things. I’ll try and keep it shortish, but I’m not promising much.This inaugural post is blagged from my new "kost" (a dorm room of sorts with a hotel feel to it) in prime Jakarta location beside some auto-body shops and a crowd of parked motorbikes. The