Hadhrami Cultural Identity in Bafagih’s Fatimah

Abstract

—Indonesia is a multiethnic country with diverse and rich cultures. The Hadhrami people belong to the second largest minority group who came to Indonesia through diaspora. The Hadhrami people’s assimilation was best facilitated through religion [1]. Another form of assimilation was interracial marriages, which gave resulted in mixed-race offspring ( Peranakan/Muwallad ). Certainly, interracial marriages engendered issues related to cultural identity. A portion of the Muwallad population choose to preserve native Hadhramaut culture inherited from their ancestors, but another portion of the Muwallad opt to adopt the cultures and traditions of their birthplace, Indonesia. There are many examples of this social reality in Indonesian literature, including Fatimah (1938) [2], a drama written by Hadhrami author Hoesin Bafagih. This research aims to elaborate on the discussions pertaining to intergenerational differences of Muwallad identity in Fatimah. Textual analysis, particularly the method of close reading, was applied during this research. In addition, concepts of representation and cultural identity [3], [4] are applied in analyzing the text. The research concludes that the drama reveals generational differences in Hadhrami descendants’ understanding and practice of cultural identity. Hadhrami people are heterogenous while being both inclusive and exclusive, and this heterogeneity is not entirely anchored by age. Instead of portraying Hadhrami youth as an inclusive group, Fatimah’ s inclusivity can be more clearly found in the portrayal of the older Hadhrami group.