Performing Power

Performing Power is a sophisticated, nuanced, and beautifully written contribution to the historical scholarship on colonialism in Indonesia, demonstrating the richness and diversity among Indonesians debating competing notions of civil and human rights, morality, piety, modernity, agency, and an emerging national identity.

~Susie Protschky, Deakin University, KNHG/BMGN

Arnout van der Meer's book seeks to address the lacuna and makes an important contribution to our understanding of the novel aspects of European colonialism in Indonesia, especially in Java. Van der Meer examines how Dutch power was built and maintained through language, clothing, customs, etiquette, status symbols, sitting positions, physical gestures, postures, food consumption, architecture, and urban planning.

~The Unversity of British Columbia

The books focus on material culture and quotidian realities is its biggest strength as the vivid and fine-grained descriptions make for engagining reading.

~Sojourn