The ethnographic data for this research was collected in 2013, in Jakarta, the centre of national television production as well as the centre of Sindhi community life. To examine the relationships of the Sindhi community with society at large and the state through media production I mainly relied on the methods developed in media
anthropology. In-depth interviews, group discussions, participation in the production meetings, and ethnographic field observation of people, spaces (offices and film sets) and events (press-conferences, community celebrations, award ceremonies) constituted the main sources of my ethnographic research. I also made use of various promotional materials produced by the production houses, press-releases or news updates on the corporate internet sites. These "self-reflective" materials (Caldwell 2008:1) helped me to grasp the views of the owners of production houses about themselves, the industry and power relationships within it. It should be mentioned that unlike Hollywood and even Bollywood, the Indonesian media industry is rather "stingy" and produces a very small amount of such materials. Even the websites of most production companies in
2013 were usually "under construction" with very little information available for the public.
In-depth, semi-structured interviews were an invaluable source of information about how people talk about themselves and others, and what kinds of real or imagined barriers they have to deal with at work and during their leisure time. Interviews were also the main source of information on how the sinetron production industry was
established and run during the research period. To get a comprehensive picture of social relations formed in the media production industry I talked to media practitioners
occupying different positions in the industry. I interviewed gaffers and producers, heads of TV stations and junior program acquisition managers, drivers and writers, media observers (academics, bloggers, media activists), state officials regulating television content (Lembaga Sensor Film (LSF), the State Censorship Body) and members of various media institutions controlling and monitoring the television industry (Komisi
Peniyaran Indonesia (KPI), or Indonesian Broadcasting Commission, and AC Nielsen).
Other groups of interviewees comprised Sindhi community members, who were not directly involved in media production, as well as non-Sindhi Indians living in Indonesia permanently or temporarily (expatriate Indians). The interviews with the latter group helped me to get a sense of how the Sindhi community positions itself within the local Indian communities and, more broadly, Indonesian society. The views of Sindhi community members of media practices helped me to see the business of national television production from different angles. Data obtained through semi-structured interviews were complemented by participant observation during various community- organised events, such as the Miss India Indonesia beauty pageant, weddings, and fashion shows, as well as celebrations of pan-Indian festivals.
My personal identity markers played a particularly important role during my fieldwork. As a Caucasian Russian "single" female researcher representing Australian academia, living in a very expensive residential complex, I found many doors were open to me.14 At the same time due to certain stereotypes attributed to these identities, importantly not separately, but always in conjunction (white female, Russian female, single female), it was sometimes difficult for me to gain access to certain people or
14 I was perceived as single because my family (husband and two children) did not join me
localities. For example, as a "white" woman I could easily gain access to most of the exclusive media events (press-conferences, promo events) just because of my skin colour and gender. At the same time being a "single" Caucasian woman was often a limitation in several practical matters. For instance, I found that my attendance at late night sinetron shootings sent the wrong messages to my respondents. Meanwhile, my upper-class identity (due to my expensive accommodation and skin colour) combined with Australian residency helped me build rapport with local Sindhis, for whom economic wealth and English proficiency are among the main markers of one's worth. They also facilitated my access to the wealthy expatriate Indian community. As for non- Sindhis, in particular media practitioners, my identity as a "Russian researcher" was most valuable. By virtue of being Russian, I was assumed to be highly knowledgeable of the rich literary and cinematographic traditions of Russia. Overall, self-ethnography was another source of data on power relations in Indonesia shaped around race and ethnicity and its intersection with class and gender.
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The thesis is divided into two main parts. The first part (chapters One, Two and Three) provides historical and cultural background on the Sindhi community in
Indonesia to prepare readers for the main discussion on the relationships between Indonesian Sindhis, society and nation-state as they unfold and develop within the production culture of national television. As very little is known about the Sindhi community in Indonesia's past and present, this background is necessary to understand the discussion that follows. The second part (chapters Four, Five and Six) goes on to analyse the television industry from the 1990s to the early 2010s and examines the role of ethnic imagery in shaping relationships within the national television industry.
Chapter One starts with the description of migration and settlement of the Sindhis in the period between the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, and then covers the experiences of Sindhis during the revolutionary period and the Sukarno and Suharto eras. It moves on to a discussion of how, despite the prevalence of anti-foreign sentiments in colonial and post-colonial Indonesia, Sindhis have retained a privileged position in Indonesian society throughout the twentieth century. I pay particular attention to the key role of the Gandhi Memorial School in securing for Sindhis this privileged position in Indonesia.
Chapter Two gives a sense of the Sindhi community in Jakarta during the main research period (1990s–2013). It discusses the identity and the main practices used by Indonesian Sindhis to reproduce themselves as members of a distinct global community of Sindhi traders. I argue that despite the gradual loss of several important cultural markers, such as Sindhi language and Hindu religion, "Sindhi-ness" remains an
important identity and continues to have a direct impact on many aspects of the personal and community life of those Jakartans who can and want to trace their origins to the Sindh region. I focus on three main aspects that Sindhis see as the core of their identity: business/trade activities; social hierarchy within the community based on occupational distinctions; and gender ideology of the Sindhi community in terms of expectations based on sex that Sindhis impose on community members.
Chapter Three is transitional and pursues two objectives. First it provides a historical account of the first steps of Sindhis in Indonesian media industries. It presents new historical data on the involvement of Sindhis in film distribution and production, and discusses the impact of Sindhi community involvement on the development of the local film industry. Second, the chapter examines the reasons behind the successful entrance of Sindhis into the business of content production for national television. I present a brief analysis of the political economy in the historical moment of the industry when commercial television began in Indonesia. I argue that in the late 1980s Sindhis were the only producers who could rely on well-functioning, ethnic and kinship-based systems to manage capital and human resources to run television production. These systems as well as a combination of external factors, which weakened competitors, allowed Sindhis to pioneer the emerging field of content production for commercial television and dominate it in the following decades.
Chapters Four, Five and Six constitute the core of my thesis. Chapter Four examines how ethnic imagery features at the so-called "industry level" (Lotz 2009). I argue that the commercial television industry developed due to the interplay of several distinct economic forces. In other words, it did not develop according to some general, universal economic determinants. Adopting the argument of Yanagisako (2002) that desires and sentiments constitute the forces of production along with physical means and techniques, I examine how the sense of "corporacy" (Falzon 2004) among Sindhi businessmen as well as the priority given by Sindhis to self-employment and
supervision of business over its growth have shaped the development of commercial television content in the industry.
Chapter Five comes down to the level of social relationships formed within the
sinetron production houses. I argue that in the period between the 1990s and the early 2010s ethnic imagery was the main factor that defined the distribution of symbolic and material capital within production houses. I pay particular attention to the fact that the social hierarchy is built on ethnic imagery constituted by two different cultural
frameworks and historical experiences. One is based on the Sindhi occupational
distinction rooted in the caste system of South Asia, while another can be traced back to the Indonesian colonial experience.
Chapter Six adds the category of ethnicised gender to the analysis and looks at the experiences of Sindhi women in the sinetron production industry. The presentation of previously unreported data on the involvement of Sindhi women in Indonesian
sinetron production provides the basis for a critique of the existing frameworks which have been used to discuss the position of women in media and, more generally, cultural production in Indonesia. I argue, that despite significant contributions to the scholarship on contemporary Indonesia, the existing scholarly approaches to gender and ethnicity in Indonesian media do not challenge, but, on the contrary, reproduce the nationalistic and patriarchal social order.
Finally, the Conclusion returns to the main theme of the thesis. It sums up the experiences of Sindhi ethnic community in media production and draws conclusions about the complexities of ethnic politics in Indonesia. I also discuss the nature of the most recent changes in the community and in media production, and suggest directions for future research.