In the name of Fatimah: the emancipation of the Hadramis in the Dutch East Indies

Abstract

In the 1930s an increasing number of nationalistically oriented movements and parties in the Dutch East Indies started to stage dramas at special events and festive occasions, such as a congress, an anniversary, and other days of remembrance. They were aimed at adding lustre to a meeting, to entertain the audience, to propagate ideals, to bring up societal questions, to furnish information, and to promote emancipation. It was a kind of educational theatre that was directed at underlining the signature of the organisation and re-enforcing the identity of its members. Such events became popular among the Indonesians and the Asian minorities, such as the Chinese and Hadhramis, who were politically and socially separately organized, in full accordance with the official division of the population into Europeans, Vreemde Oosterlingen (Foreign Orientals), and Indonesians.