Tuning In: Darimana?

The book Tuning in: Darimana? revolves around a collection of 70 tapes with voices of Indonesian-Chinese women–an audio archive which finds its origins 40 years ago in Jakarta, Indonesia. When revisiting these tapes made by Tineke E. Jansen between 1980 and 1995, the act of attentive listening to the oral accounts of women’s experiences is central: Audio-recording allows “herstories” to be played back. It gives them that quasi-permanent quality which discerning listeners need, in order to fully grasp the meaning of voices, stories and emotions of the past. On Tineke’s audio recordings, Indonesian-Chinese women talk about their migration to the Netherlands in the ’50s and ’60s, about family, upbringing, and their experience with racism. How do we understand these recordings, which have remained hidden in the home archive until recently? Tamara Hartman speaks with Tineke, who shares her views on oral history, Black feminism in the Netherlands, and migration. Their conversation is framed by two archival texts which draw on the recorded stories: A reprint of an article published in feminist magazine Lover (1991) and a text that was once orally presented, but never published, titled Herlina Yang Tercinta (1994). Both texts derive from the collection of transcripts, notes, academic papers and pictures that are part of the archive. The book is a testament to one of the first attempts to tune in to Indonesian-Chinese women’s voices that rarely surface in public discourse.

Indonesian-Chinese family members in their first home in the Netherlands in 1969, Source: Personal Archive Tineke E. Jansen.

Cover of Lover, Literatuur Overzicht voor de Vrouwenbeweging, vol. 20, no. 2, 1993.

Article “‘Ik voel me niet Chinees, totdat ik in de spiegel kijk.’ Indonesisch-Chinese vrouwen in Nederland.” [I don't feel Chinese until I look myself in the mirror. Indonesian-Chinese Women in the Netherlands] by Tineke E. Jansen, published in Lover, Literatuur Overzicht voor de Vrouwenbeweging, vol. 20, no. 2, 1993, pp. 90–97. Source: Collection of the International Archive for the Women’s Movement (IAV), Amsterdam: Atria, Institute on Gender Equality and Women’s History