Tuning In: Darimana?

The book Tuning in: Darimana? revolves around a collection of 70 tapes with voices of Indonesian-Chinese women—an audio archive which finds its origins 40 years ago in Jakarta, Indonesia. When revisiting these tapes made by Tineke E. Jansen between 1980 and 1995, the act of attentive listening to the oral accounts of women’s experiences is central: Audio-recording allows “herstories” to be played back. On Tineke’s audio recordings, Indonesian-Chinese women talk about their migration to the Netherlands in the ’50s and ’60s, about family, upbringing, and their experience with racism. Tamara Hartman speaks with Tineke, who shares her views on oral history, Black feminism in the Netherlands, and migration. Their conversation is framed by two archival texts which draw on the recorded stories: A reprint of an article published in feminist magazine LOVER (1991) and a text that was once orally presented, but never published, titled “Herlina Yang Tercinta” (1994). Both texts derive from the collection of transcripts, notes, academic papers and pictures that are part of the archive. The book is a testament to one of the first attempts to tune in to Indonesian-Chinese women’s voices that rarely surface in public discourse.