Haley Andonian<\/p>\n
Origins<\/p>\n
November 7, 2017<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Igniting Change: In Search of the \u201cOrigins\u201d of National Identity in Indonesia<\/em><\/p>\n Arount van der Meer<\/p>\n <\/p>\n I found Professor van der Meer\u2019s use of imagery throughout his lecture extremely helpful and beneficial to his argument.\u00a0 The first image he presented was that of the oil lamp that Soemarsono used to describe the Javanese situation.\u00a0 The image of the oil lamp and the understanding of its parts helped connect the foreign and novel messages being conveyed to the relatable and familiar object of the oil lamp.\u00a0 Images are often useful in this way because, perhaps by connecting the novel to the familial, one can relate back to original thoughts, understandings, and feelings.<\/p>\n The other image that Professor can der Meer used was that of an onion.\u00a0 In describing Soemarsono\u2019s identity, he described an onion with many layers. Each layer is crucial to his identity, and to get to his true core every layer must be peeled back and considered.\u00a0 However, I believe that it is very rare and extremely difficult for most to acknowledge their true and full identity.\u00a0 Soemarsono does not deny any of his layers and rather embraces them all, but I highly doubt that most could say the same about themselves.<\/p>\n Origins are so crucial to one\u2019s sense of self and outward presentation of identity, yet many people are not entirely open about who they are and where they come from.\u00a0 Even with close friends, peers and colleagues, people tend to refrain from disclosing a full sense of identity, refrain from revealing all of the layers of their onion, and rather pick and choose who knows what about their identity.\u00a0 Alone and separated from a family history known by others, one has the power to create the identity he or she wants to portray.\u00a0 However, in a situation such as a small town or a reputable family, one loses the ability to shape their own history and is rather tied down by their origins.\u00a0 Thus, origins can tether one to a certain identity if known by others, but can be either partly entirely irrelevant to shaping identity depending on how much of one\u2019s origins are known by the public.<\/p>\n Whereas Soemarsono was completely open with his origins, such as his Hindu beliefs and his Buddhist past, others can choose to disguise their origins behind lies or simple failure to acknowledge pieces of identity such as religion, nationality, personal experiences, and family history.\u00a0 I found it a shocking realization to compare Soemarsono\u2019s openness to the at least semi-disguise most others hide behind.\u00a0 Most people refrain from sharing at least some part of their origin story with others for a variety of reasons, from fear to simple shyness.\u00a0 It is interesting to consider how different relationships and society at large would be if everyone were as open as Soemarsono about their origins.\u00a0 Perhaps people would better understand and respect each other, or perhaps such an open society would leave people more vulnerable to attack, stereotypes, and criticism.\u00a0 Regardless, the image of the onion is a valuable one to consider when thinking about origins and identity.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Haley Andonian Origins November 7, 2017 Igniting Change: In Search of the \u201cOrigins\u201d of National Identity in Indonesia Arount van der Meer I found Professor van der Meer\u2019s use of imagery throughout his lecture extremely helpful and beneficial to his argument.\u00a0 The first image he presented was that of the oil lamp that […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6470,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[378099],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/st132origins\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/628"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/st132origins\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/st132origins\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/st132origins\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6470"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/st132origins\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=628"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/st132origins\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/628\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":629,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/st132origins\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/628\/revisions\/629"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/st132origins\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=628"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/st132origins\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=628"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/st132origins\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=628"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}