In-betweenness: Exploring the narrative of being and belonging of Malukan in the Netherlands

This research paper explored how Malukan in the Netherlands positioned themselves in Dutch society with special attention to gender, race, religion, and the Malukan’s ancestor struggle in the Netherlands. I used the autoethnography method, so I, as a brown Muslim woman researcher from Indonesia living and studying in the Netherlands, was actively involved with my embodied experience, reflection, and subjectivity in this research. The key topics are discussed with the analysis tools of the coloniality of power and intersectionality. Through this lens, we found three main findings: (1) the first is about identity—which showed that the identification process of Malukan in the Netherlands because of their gender, race, religion, and ancestor struggle, both individual and collective, is complex and takes a long journey; (2) is about exploring Malukan's “in-betweenness” position, which results from a complex identification in a world with borders and exclusion, thanks to colonialism, (3) is about exploring the homemaking of Malukan in the Netherlands, which showed that food, hospitality, and relationships are the key points for their definition of home.