Social Construction of Papua’s Indigenous People (OAP) Regarding the Unitary State of the Republic of Indonesia
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.70610/iare.v4i1.1112Keywords:
Indigenous Papuans, NKRI, Phenomenology, Social ConstructionAbstract
In the discourse on the modern nation-state, citizenship can no longer be understood merely as a formal and final legal status. The purpose of this study is to explore the construction of the meaning of the Unitary State of the Republic of Indonesia (NKRI) in the daily life experiences of indigenous Papuans (OAP), highlighting the ambivalence between the finality of state law and the subjective experiences of citizens. This research method uses a qualitative approach, applying phenomenological-hermeneutic methods. Data were collected through in-depth interviews, participant observation, and document analysis in various regions of Papua, including Jayapura City, Jayapura Regency, Keerom Regency, Manokwari Regency, Jayawijaya Regency, and Merauke Regency. The results show that the meaning of NKRI for indigenous Papuans is situational, historical, and relational. NKRI emerges paradoxically: as an administrative structure and national symbol that is followed procedurally, but often does not resonate affectively. The processes of externalization, objectivation, and internalization of the state give rise to conflicting meanings that are negotiated daily through social practices, symbols, and bodily experiences. This ambivalence influences the experience of citizenship, signaling the state's emotionally fragile legitimacy despite its legal validity. These findings emphasize that nationalism and citizenship are not final identities, but rather processes of meaning that are continually negotiated. This research contributes to academic understanding by broadening the understanding of citizenship as it manifests in postcolonial and conflict-ridden contexts, and by emphasizing the importance of recognizing citizens' subjective experiences in constructing state legitimacy.
References
Afifuddin, & Saebani, B. A. (2018). Qualitative research methodology. CV Pustaka Setia.
Ahmad, A. (2019). Revisiting Fanon: Colonial psychology and the politics of identity. Routledge.
Alexander, A. (2002). Participatory regional planning. Educational Center.
Aliansi Masyarakat Adat Nusantara. (2022). Report on agrarian conflicts of indigenous communities in Papua. AMAN.
Alua, A. (2021). Papua and the emotional numbness of indigenous communities. S&K Press.
Alua, A. A. (2006). West Papua from Lap to Lap: A chronological overview. Presidium of the Papua Council & STFT Fajar Timur.
Amnesty International. (2022). Indonesia: Human rights violations in Papua. Amnesty International.
Anderson, B. (2018). Imagined communities: Reflections on the origin and spread of nationalism (Rev. ed.). Verso.
Anderson, B., & Webb, J. (2021). Indigenous politics and autonomy in Melanesia. Pacific Affairs Press.
Aspinall, E., & Berger, M. T. (2019). The Papua conflict and Indonesian democracy. Journal of Contemporary Asia, 49(3), 1–20.
Aspinall, E., & McGibbon, R. (2021). Conflict, identity, and the limits of Indonesian nationalism in Papua. Journal of Contemporary Asia, 51(4), 521–540. https://doi.org/10.1080/00472336.2021.1894569
Bates, T. R. (2021). Gramsci and the theory of hegemony. Routledge.
Berenschot, W., & van Klinken, G. (2020). In search of middle Indonesia. Bijdragen tot de Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde, 176(4), 523–550.
Berger, P. L., & Luckmann, T. (2020). The social construction of reality (Anniversary ed.). Penguin Books.
Bungin, B. (2006). Sociology of communication. Kencana.
Butt, S., & Lindsey, T. (2020). Indonesian law. Oxford University Press.
Davis, L. (2019). Reconciliation, recognition, and indigenous rights. Oxford University Press.
Elmslie, J., & Webb-Gannon, C. (2021). Morning star rising: The politics of decolonization in West Papua. University of Hawai‘i Press.
Escobar, A. (2020). Pluriversal politics: The real and the possible. Duke University Press.
Finlay, L. (2019). Unfolding the phenomenological research process. Qualitative Research in Psychology, 16(2), 163–179.
Finlay, L. (2021). Phenomenology for therapists: Researching the lived world. Wiley-Blackwell.
Foucault, M. (2020). Power: Essential works of Foucault 1954–1984. Penguin.
Fraser, N. (2019). Justice interruptions: Critical reflections on recognition and redistribution. Polity Press.
Fukuyama, F. (2018). Identity: The demand for dignity and the politics of resentment. Farrar, Straus and Giroux.
Giay, B. (2020). Memoria passionis Papua: Memory, identity, and suffering. Deiyai Press.
Habermas, J. (2019). The lure of technocracy. Polity Press.
Honneth, A. (2019). Recognition: A chapter in the history of European ideas. Cambridge University Press.
Human Rights Watch. (2020). “There’s no place safe for us”: Unlawful killings, displacement, and trauma in Papua. HRW.
Isin, E. F. (2019). Citizenship in flux. Subjectivity, 12(1), 1–15. https://doi.org/10.1057/s41286-018-00064-1
James, E. (2022). Ambivalence and belonging in contested citizenship. Citizenship Studies, 26(5), 612–628. https://doi.org/10.1080/13621025.2022.2057891
Katharina, R. (2019). Menakar capaian otonomi khusus Papua. Jurnal Penelitian Politik, 16(2), 213–229.
Kirsch, S. (2019). Engaged anthropology and indigenous land struggles. Current Anthropology, 60(4), 479–502. https://doi.org/10.1086/704234
Kirsch, S. (2021). Engaged anthropology and the politics of recognition. Current Anthropology, 62(3), 329–348. https://doi.org/10.1086/714012
Kirksey, E. (2019). Freedom in entangled worlds: West Papua and the architecture of global power. Duke University Press.
Kymlicka, W. (2020). Multicultural citizenship within multinational states. Ethnicities, 20(2), 323–343. https://doi.org/10.1177/1468796819889466
Lefebvre, H. (2021). The production of space (Reprint ed.). Blackwell.
Li, T. M. (2020). Land’s end: Capitalist relations on an indigenous frontier. Duke University Press.
Mbembe, A. (2020). Necropolitics (2nd ed.). Duke University Press.
McGibbon, R. (2019). Pluralism, nationalism and conflict in eastern Indonesia. Asian Studies Review, 43(3), 389–405. https://doi.org/10.1080/10357823.2019.1626784
McGibbon, R. (2020). Secessionist challenges in Indonesia: Papua and the dilemmas of citizenship. Asian Journal of Political Science, 28(1), 1–18. https://doi.org/10.1080/02185377.2020.1719143
Munro, J. (2020). Environmental belonging and indigenous cosmologies in Papua. Routledge.
Olick, J. K., & Vinitzky-Seroussi, V. (2020). The collective memory reader. Oxford University Press.
Scott, J. C. (2020). Seeing like a state: How certain schemes to improve the human condition have failed (Reprint ed.). Yale University Press.
Taylor, C. (2020). The politics of recognition. Harvard University Press.
Tebay, N., & Rumansara, E. (2020). Civil society and dialogue in Papua. Asian Journal of Peacebuilding, 8(1), 77–95.
United Nations Human Rights Council. (2022). Situation of human rights in Papua and West Papua. UNHRC.
Van Manen, M. (2019). Phenomenology of practice. Routledge.
Widjojo, M. S. (2019). Papua and the limits of political inclusion. Journal of Current Southeast Asian Affairs, 38(3), 301–320.
Widjojo, M. S., Widjojo, S., & Pamungkas, C. (2021). Papua road map revisited. LIPI Press.
Yiftachel, O. (2020). Citizenship, power, and recognition. Polity Press.
Zahavi, D. (2019). Phenomenology: The basics. Routledge.
Astuti, N. B., Rahman, M. F., & Rustam, R. (2023). The implementation of participatory leadership style in micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs). Journal of Integrated Agribusiness, 5(2), 34-46. https://doi.org/10.33019/jia.v5i2.3965
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2026 Udin Ramazakir
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
License: CC BY-SA 4.0 (Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License)
MoU 
