Session Name: Modes of Engagement in Urbanising India and Indonesia from the Vantage Point of Peripheral Settlements and Local Communities
4 - The House, the Mosque, and the Kampung: Autoconstruction in the Spatial Production of Heritage in Kampung Peneleh, Surabaya
Thursday, August 1, 2024
09:00 – 10:45 (GMT+7)
Presentation Abstract The role of local actors in constructing their own neighborhoods and communities have been subjects of discussions on spatial production in cities of the Global South. In this paper, we examine the extent to which the local politics of heritage speak to the concept of peripheral urbanization. Specifically, we study the material and social impacts of heritage discourse in Kampung Peneleh, Surabaya, by focusing on two case studies in the neighborhood: a mosque (Masjid Jami Peneleh) and a local museum (Rumah Tjokro). The Masjid Jami is an iconic religious structure, yet the local leaders have consistently denied the municipal government’s efforts to include this mosque in the official heritage registration. One of the reasons was related to the second case study, Rumah Tjokro, which had become an official heritage building earlier, but the eventual museumification of the house had resulted in lesser flexibility for the residents of Kampung Peneleh to utilize the building for communal activities. At the same time, such limitations do not completely eradicate possibilities of negotiations and local groups’ efforts to reclaim the space. Through the cases of Masjid Jami Peneleh and Rumah Tjokro, we explore political and cultural contestations in the involvement of government entities from the national to the neighborhood level, by examining narratives and claims pertaining to heritage practices in Kampung Peneleh. We uncover the instability of legality and regulation forms, and a large amount of improvisation, experimentation, and contestation, altering the interactions among everyday residents to state agents.
Co-Author 1 Ikhsan Rosyid Mujahidul Anwari, Universitas Airlangga
Co-Author 2 Muhamad Rohman Obet, Universitas Airlangga
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