ABSTRACT
This chapter takes up the volume’s overall project of developing a dynamic and processual theorization of ownership and appropriation by analysing the experiences of Indonesian schoolchildren who dreamed of representing their province in a national debating tournament. In doing so, they actively competed to be appropriated as figureheads that would be emblematic of both the aspirations and the achievement potential of their home region: the newly formed province of Kepri, 1 which encompasses approximately 3,200 islands in the waters between Sumatra and Borneo, just to the south of Singapore. Although it had been fervently wished for, it rapidly transpired that the appropriation was transacted in bad faith by both the children and their province. This leads me to argue for the crucial role of human subjectivity in determining both the dynamics and the trajectory of the appropriative relationship. Such a recognition not only enhances our understanding of this specific case, but also carries broader significance for any anthropological study of the appropriation of people.
