Photographing Chinese Indonesian Communities: Memory and Social Change in Post-conflict Aceh

Aceh is a unique region of Indonesia. In addition to being the site of a nearly three-decade-long conflict between GAM (Gerakan Aceh Merdeka) and the Indonesian state, it is also a special autonomous territory where sharia law is enforced. This political climate has cast a shadow over the province’s multicultural reality, relegating ethnoreligious minorities to a subservient position and restricting their religious and cultural expression. This paper explores the experiences and recollections of the Chinese Indonesians or Tionghoa in Aceh (Acehnese Chinese), who comprise less than one percent of the Acehnese population and are an often-forgotten component of Aceh’s diversity. Through employing hybrid methods of go-along and photography, the memories as well as social and cultural experiences of the Acehnese Chinese are visualised and analysed in relation to their sociopolitical environment. The paper argues that the Acehnese Chinese’s sense of belonging in different parts of Aceh can be determined by the degree of visibility or invisibility of their identity, the bargaining power in heritage preservation, and cultural performances in the public realm, as documented in and by photographs.