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ABSTRACT
Changes in situations of mobility as a result of violent conflict and displacement pose major challenges to the maintenance, mobilisation and restoration of family ties across national boundaries. Sustaining these relationships through which personal and group identities are embedded and resources for survival are provided can be emotionally and materially taxing while living in exile. This is particularly so when poor relations are perpetuated as a result of unattended and deeply rooted conflict. This paper illustrates the ways legacy of mistrust manifest in diaspora persons’ im/mobility in relation to their moral community ‘back home’. It considers the case of East Timorese Meto diasporic families against the background of widespread impunity that featured the end of the Indonesian state’s occupation of Timor-Leste, which resulted in serious disruptions of cultural and kinship ties. It starts by discussing their mobility context to elucidate the emerging narratives and strategies people employed to negotiate issues of identity and belonging. In particular, the paper reveals the emotion work of translocal mobility through the flows of material, circulating words of good deeds and physical presence, aimed at the repair and strengthening of relationships after dividing conflict.
Acknowledgments
This paper draws on fifteen months of fieldwork in Oecussi (Timor-Leste) and Kefamenanu (Indonesia), conducted mainly in 2010 and 2011 (with a follow-up visit in 2015). I am indebted to all the individuals and families who participated in this study. I would also like to thank Birgit Bräuchler and one anonymous reviewer for their valuable feedback and support. Likewise, my colleagues at the anthropology institute, Freie Universität Berlin, helped strengthen the paper’s arguments. This includes Thomas Stodulka, Olaf Zenker, Jonas Bens, and, especially, my fellows at the political and legal anthropology colloquium. Finally, I thank Jeff Lim for enabling the publication of this paper in its present form.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.
Notes
1. The Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste is the official name of the country. I use the term ‘East Timorese’ in this paper to indicate its inhabitants and as the adjective form. Interviews were mainly conducted in the Indonesian (I.) and Uab Meto (M.) languages. Terms given throughout are indicated respectively.
2. Arisan is an Indonesian term for a rotating savings system where members meet at regular intervals. Aside from its function as a local microfinance scheme, arisan is also a social gathering where members come together to enjoy each other’s company.
3. The use of the term ‘diaspora’ follows the notion’s revival in academic discourse to describe ‘deterritorialised’ or ‘transnational’ populations. The notion is used in this paper as a means of capturing some of the cultural and social meanings of multi-locality (Vertovec & Cohen, Citation1999, p. xiii).
4. The present boundaries between (Indonesian) West Timor and Timor-Leste refer to the colonial border treaty between the Dutch and Portuguese, finalised in 1913. Certain locations, however, remain to be negotiated (see International Crisis Group [ICG], Citation2010).
5. This is in contrast to the CAVR’s widely commended community reconciliation process (CRP) that helped reintegrate perpetrators of ‘less-serious crimes’ back into society (for a critical review of the CRP see Kent, Citation2004; Pigou, Citation2004).
6. Adat (or lisan in Tetum, the lingua franca in Timor-Leste, or alat in Meto) is an expression used throughout Indonesia, and to some extent Timor-Leste, for particular sets of traditions and customary law that govern the way of life of specific groups of people (see Bräuchler, Citation2017).
7. All names used here are pseudonyms.
8. This idea of connectedness, of being part of the same border community, underpinned local ‘cross-border reconciliation initiatives’ that preceded the CAVR’s CRP in Oecussi. Dialogues between Oecussi leaders and traditional leaders in West Timor were facilitated at the border to secure the return of 6500 refugees (reported in 2002) that still remained in West Timor. The success of the program, however, was limited due to the conflicting expectations put upon by pro-autonomy, militia and refugee camp leaders (which held influence among the refugee population) and by survivors or families of victims of serious crimes (personal communication with Arnold Suny, 2011).
9. Cross border permits (or pas lintas batas [PLB] in Indonesian) are based on a bilateral agreement between Indonesia and Timor-Leste signed in June 2003, governing ‘traditional border crossings’ and ‘regulated market’. This applies only for permanent citizens living along the border (within 10 kilometres of distance) and allows traditional societies at the borderlands of the two nation states to visit each other and engage in traditional activities, such as adat ceremonies, sports and international trade.
10. Amounting to 90 USD with the exchange rate of 9000 IDR to 1 USD as of April 2011.