Pointy Shoes and Pith Helmets : Dress and Identity Construction in Ambon From 1850 to 1942

In Pointy Shoes and Pith Helmets Marianne Hulsbosch uses extensive research and firsthand accounts to describe intricate dress and adornment systems of the Ambonese people from the Central Maluku Islands of Indonesia, during the last century of Dutch colonial rule. This book explores identity construction through an analysis of clothing during the last century of Dutch colonial rule in the central Moluccan islands of Indonesia. It addresses a gap in knowledge about dress and adornment in the main island of Ambon. It outlines the presence of Europeans in the eastern corner of the Indonesian archipelago since the sixteenth century when they secured trading routes of the fabled spices nutmeg, pepper and mace. Initially the Portuguese, and during the seventeenth century the Dutch, managed to establish a monopoly on the growing and purchase of cloves. The central Moluccan islands, and in particular Ambon, became one of the main trading posts. The Ambonese people occupied a special place in Dutch colonial times, and their unique social, political and religious position was registered on their bodies through specific items of clothing and dress combinations. Western superiority over local Ambonese was emphasised through technological advancement, religious sobriety, social sophistication, economic dominance and superior technologies of dress and body maintenance. This enforced a visual separation in appearance between the Ambonese and Europeans. Colonialism fostered a strong desire among indigenous Ambonese to nurture ethnic ideals of identity and in doing so both Ambonese and colonists continuously redefined position and class through clothing and adornment Drawing on extensive research, Hulsbosch explores dress and adornment of the Ambonese people of the Central Maluku Islands, in Indonesia, during the last century of Dutch colonial rule. She demonstrates how visual identity formation is a lived experience and an active, constant innovation that is not only a response to society, but simultaneously drives and shapes society. This long overdue text documents sartorial expression of the colonizer (the Dutch) and the colonized (the Ambonese) and investigates previously ignored history of indigenous and Western women living in a colonial context. This book is a visual feast designed and written to appeal to scholars and the general public alike. Kitlv Includes Bibliographical References (pages [231]-236)