ABSTRACT
The Malay-Indonesian term rantau, meaning “shoreline” or “riverbank,” serves as the basis for a complex of terms related to specific forms of temporary movement and place-making in island Southeast Asia and beyond. This chapter explores the genealogy and derivatives of rantau within their Indonesian context, reflects on the terms’ proximity to, yet distinction from, terms like migration, home, and diaspora commonly used in English, and imagines how these concepts might function in contemporary understandings of historical Afro-Asian connections. As the chapter highlights, rantau draws our attention to the importance of the environment, in this case coasts and rivers, in both driving and conceptualizing social and cultural processes.
