ABSTRACT
The essays in this section are put together under the theme of “global economy, urbanization and social change.” Readers however will notice that they deal with a variety of subject matters characterized by the disciplines within which they are embedded. They are nevertheless linked together, discursively, by their shared interest in humanistic approaches, and perhaps more importantly, in their profound interest in issues facing Indonesia today. All of their concerns are related to Indonesia even though some of the cases look foreign or transnational (such as code-switching in French language or epistemology in economics). They are also characteristically urban as represented explicitly in some case studies, but in most cases the urban is an implicit framework of thought. We don’t see much a discussion on agricultural or rural Indonesia, but we see a strong interest in social dynamics especially those that are related to the social and technological change associated with the city life.
All the essays indicate that Indonesia is worlding for much of its existence. Finally, it is more appropriate than before to say that the percentage of the population living in cities is greater than ever. The country is encountering an urban generation that recognizes the full potential of the city as the crucible of social change, the locus of whatever is dynamic, and the playground of the global economy as well as the site for state disciplinary practices. The essays collected here could be said as representing such an urban generation. They are written by scholars interested in modernity and cosmopolitanism of Indonesia which they seek to preserve and develop in their scholarship.
