Cultural Identity and Hybridity among Indonesian Chinese in Post-Reform Palembang, Indonesia

Abstract

This study analyzes the hybridity of cultural identity among Indonesian Chinese in Palembang's multicultural social context following the 1998 Reformasi era. The Reformasi era has opened broader space for expressing Chinese culture after it previously faced various social and political restrictions. These conditions have created space to reconstruct, negotiate, and adapt identity at the intersection of Chinese culture, Palembang Malay culture, religious values, and Indonesian national identity. This study uses a qualitative case study approach. The researcher collected data through in-depth interviews with 11 informants, participatory observation, and documentation in various social and cultural spaces in Palembang. The researcher analyzed the data through interactive data reduction, presentation, coding, theme development, and conclusion drawing. This study uses Homi K. Bhabha’s perspective on cultural hybridity, enriched by Stuart Hall’s concept of cultural identity, to understand identity negotiation and formation within a dynamic social context. The findings indicate that the Indonesian Chinese community in Palembang's post-Reform era has a fluid, dynamic, hybrid cultural identity. This hybridity is reflected in cultural practices, language use, family traditions, social relations, religious expressions, and participation in multicultural public spaces. This study does not aim to establish a new theoretical framework on hybridity, but to expand and contextualize Homi K. Bhabha’s concept of cultural hybridity and Stuart Hall’s concept of cultural identity through the empirical experiences of the Indonesian Chinese community at the local level. This study shows that identity hybridity forms through interaction, negotiation, adaptation, and reinterpretation of cultural references within a specific social space (the third space), illustrating how hybridity operates in Indonesia’s multicultural society. This process shows that Chinese identity is not supplanted by local identity but evolves through a dynamic relationship among cultural heritage, social experiences, and national identity. This study underscores the importance of recognizing plural identities in a multicultural society.