Torture and Peacebuilding in Indonesia: The Case of Papua (Routledge Contemporary Southeast Asia Series)

This book analyses state-sponsored torture and peacebuilding in Indonesia. It focuses on the case study of Papua, which provides a thought-provoking example of the intricacy and complexity of building peace amidst enduring conflict and violence. The author examines complex power relations that have constructed the gruesome picture of the fifty-year practice of torture in Papua as well as the ongoing Papuan peacebuilding movements that resist domineering power of the Indonesian state over Papuans. Conceptualising 'theatres of torture and peace', the book argues that torture in Papua is performed as public and theatrical brutality of the Indonesian state in order to communicate its policy of terror towards Papuans - it is not meant for extracting information, gaining confessions or exacting punishment. A Torture Dataset is provided, codifying evidence from a broad range of cases, collected through sensitive interviews. In examining the data, the author crafts a new, more holistic framework for analyzing cases of torture and employs an interdisciplinary approach integrating three different theories: Foucault's theory of governmentality and sovereignty, Kristeva's theory of abjection and Metz's theory of memoria passionis (the memory of suffering). By piecing together these theories and firmly grounding them in empirical findings, the author establishes a new understanding of torture as 'public theatre' as well as proffers a new perspective of strengthening the existing Papuan peacebuilding framework of Papua Land of Peace. The book will be of interest to academics working on Southeast Asian Studies, Peace and Conflict Studies, Transitional Justice, Peacebuilding, Human Rights and Anthropology of Violence.

• | Author: Budi Hernawan
• | Publisher: Routledge
• | Publication Date: Nov 01, 2017
• | Number of Pages: 236 pages
• | Language: English
• | Binding: Hardcover
• | ISBN-10: 1138184969
• | ISBN-13: 9781138184961