Dutch Totok couple wearing Dutch traditional clothing on New Year's Day 1926

Totok is an Indonesian term of Javanese origin, used in Indonesia to refer to recent migrants of Arab, Chinese or European origins.[1][2][3][4] In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries it was popularised among colonists in Batavia, who initially coined the term to describe the foreign born and new immigrants of "pure blood" – as opposed to people of mixed indigenous and foreign descent, such as the Peranakan Arabs, Chinese or Europeans (the latter being better known as the Indo people).[3][5][4]

When more pure-blooded Arabs, Chinese and Dutchmen were born in the East Indies, the term gained significance in describing those of exclusive or almost exclusive foreign ancestry.[1][3][4]

'Peranakan' is the antonym of 'Totok', the former meaning simply 'descendants' (of mixed roots), and the latter meaning 'pure'.[4][6]

Chinese were divided into Thanh people (like Totok) and Minh Huong (mixed Chinese Vietnamese like Peranakan) in 1829 by Emperor Minh Mang of the Nguyen dynasty.[7]

Notable Dutch Totoks and descendants

Totok father with Indo wife and children and Indigenous nanny

See also

References

Citations

  1. ^ a b Ulbe Bosma & Remco Raben (2008). Being "Dutch" in the Indies: A History of Creolisation and Empire, 1500–1920 (11 April 1996 ed.). National University of Singapore Press. pp. 186–286. ISBN 978-0-89680-261-2.
  2. ^ Charles A. Coppel, "Diaspora and hybridity: Peranakan Chinese culture in Indonesia", in Routledge Handbook of the Chinese Diaspora, edited by Chee-Beng Tan, pp. 346-347
  3. ^ a b c Mobini-Kesheh, Natalie (1999). The Hadrami Awakening: Community and Identity in the Netherlands East Indies, 1900-1942. Singapore: SEAP Publications. ISBN 978-0-87727-727-9. Retrieved 3 December 2019.
  4. ^ a b c d Rush, James R. (2007). Opium to Java: Revenue Farming and Chinese Enterprise in Colonial Indonesia, 1860-1910. Sheffield: Equinox Publishing. ISBN 978-979-3780-49-8. Retrieved 3 December 2019.
  5. ^ Willems, Wim "Tjalie Robinson; Biografie van een Indo-schrijver" Chapter: Een Totok als vader (Publisher: Bert Bakker, 2008) p. 45 ISBN 9789035133099.
  6. ^ Tan, Mely G. (2008) (in English and Indonesian), Etnis Tionghoa di Indonesia: Kumpulan Tulisan [Ethnic Chinese in Indonesia: Collected Writings] (Jakarta: Yayasan Obor Indonesia, 2008) ISBN 978-979-461-689-5 p. 1
  7. ^ Tran, Khanh (1997). "8 Ethnic Chinese in Vietnam and Their Identity". In Suryadinata, Leo (ed.). Ethnic Chinese as Southeast Asians. Institute of Southeast Asian Studies. p. 272. ISBN 9813055502. Until 1829 their children were considered to be Chinese, but later they were regarded as Vietnamese and were ... to reside in Vietnam.10 The preferential treatment for Chinese immigrants and naturalization exercise under Nguyen rules ...
  8. ^ Rubber by Madelon Szekely-Lulofs on DBNL website.
  9. ^ Koelie by Madelon Szekely-Lulofs on DBNL website.

Bibliography

External links

Dutch diaspora
Ethnic groups in Indonesia by region
Terms for Europeans
Categories