Detailed Content
Indonesia Etc.: The Pearls Left by the Gods is a social observation work on Indonesia written by British journalist Elizabeth Pisani, translated by Tan Jiayu, and published by Shanghai SDX Joint Publishing Company in 2019. The author served as a correspondent for Reuters and The Economist in Indonesia, worked with the Indonesian Ministry of Health, and has traveled extensively across the Indonesian archipelago. Using her travel experiences as a thread, she weaves together Indonesia's colonial history, political system, ethnic relations, religious identity, bureaucracy, and everyday culture, presenting a far more complex picture of this archipelago nation than the typical "Bali tourist destination."
Indonesia is the world's largest archipelagic country, consisting of 13,500 islands, home to 360 ethnic groups speaking 719 languages. It not only possesses abundant natural resources but is also a country of unparalleled cultural diversity and heterogeneity. Indonesia has long suffered from colonial exploitation and conflict and war, bearing a complex colonial experience and a arduous process of modernization. Combined with the multi-ethnic, multi-lingual, and multi-religious characteristics resulting from its geography, understanding it is exceptionally difficult. Elizabeth Pisani traveled throughout the Indonesian islands as a foreign correspondent and later as an AIDS epidemiologist, deeply observing and comprehending this mysterious, ever-changing country at the fascinating crossroads of modernity and tradition. She provides an in-depth analysis of Indonesia's modern history, political system, ethnic and religious identity, rigid bureaucracy, and traditional "viscous" culture, gradually piecing together fragments of her travels into a complete portrait of Indonesia.