26 April '07

Being ‘Arab’ in ‘the Jawa’ – Domesticity and Otherness among Hadhrami Sayyids in Singapore, Palembang and Surabaya
by Imran Bin Tajudeen

The domestic architecture and neighbourhoods of Hadhrami Sayyids in three port-cities of ‘the Jawa’ or Malay World, Singapore, Palembang and Surabaya, can be read as constructions of ‘Arab’ domestic cultures variously situated between two modes – domesticity and otherness. Their juxtaposition provides insights into the variegated hybrid positions of ‘Arabness’ in each port-city. The enunciation of ‘Arab’ identity was largely a gentle ‘differentiation-within-assimilation’ that translated each local Jawi culture to emphasise piety and authority. Immense wealth from early 20th century enterprises, however, generated a new, crisp exclusivity marked by opulence and grandeur, which returning Hadhramis also brought home to Hadhramaut, Yemen.