Abstract

This article examines how the traumatic experiences of previous Indo-European or Indische generations shape future generations’ intergenerational family dynamics and practices within home environments. By analysing life story interviews with Indo-Europeans from the first, second and third generation within twenty-one families, we illustrate how intergenerational hauntings are embodied, expressed and negotiated among various generations within home environments. The Indo-European diaspora has multi-generational ‘mixed’ Dutch-Indonesian ancestry and collective memories of the colonial Dutch East Indies, the Japanese occupation of Indonesia during the Second World War, the Indonesian National Revolution, and families’ subsequent repatriation to the Netherlands. Shaped by their alleged success in having silently assimilated in the Netherlands, public narratives often neglect Indo-Europeans’ daily realities and histories. We argue that personal and collective histories of war violence, racialized violence and displacement are deeply ingrained in Indo-European intergenerational and gendered family dynamics and practices in home environments. These intergenerational hauntings are imbued in both presence and absence in the various atmospheres and social and physical spaces of home.

摘要

本文探讨了以前印欧语系或印度语系的创伤经历如何几代人塑造了后代在家庭环境中的代际家庭动态和实践。通过分析对 21 个家庭中第一代、第二代和第三代印欧人的生活故事访谈，我们说明了代际困扰是如何在家庭环境中的不同代人之间体现、表达和协商的。印欧侨民拥有多代“混合”荷兰-印度尼西亚血统，以及对荷属东印度群岛殖民地、二战期间日本对印度尼西亚的占领、印度尼西亚民族革命以及随后被遣返回荷兰的家庭的集体记忆. 由于他们据称成功地在荷兰默默地同化，公共叙述经常忽视印欧人的日常现实和历史。我们认为，战争暴力、种族暴力和流离失所的个人和集体历史在印欧人的代际和性别家庭动态以及家庭环境中的实践中根深蒂固。这些代代相传的困扰在家庭的各种氛围以及社交和物理空间中都充满了存在和缺席。