The Living Symbol of Song in West Papua: A Soul Force to be Reckoned With Author(s): Julian Smythe Source: Indonesia , No. 95 (April 2013), pp. 73-91 Published by: Southeast Asia Program Publications at Cornell University Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.5728/indonesia.95.0073 JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact
[email protected]. Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at https://about.jstor.org/terms Southeast Asia Program Publications at Cornell University is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Indonesia This content downloaded from 130.56.64.29 on Sat, 02 Nov 2019 23:53:36 UTC All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms THE LIVING SYMBOL OF SONG IN WEST PAPUA: A SOUL FORCE TO BE RECKONED WITH Julian Smythe1 Introduction “I am Papua (aku Papua),” three-year-old Dietrich Malenua 2 sings on his grandmother’s porch in Papua, Indonesia. He is singing the hit song of Papuan musician Edo Kondologit, “Aku Papua,” and in his song, he carries a Papuan identity often threatened in Indonesia’s easternmost province of Papua.3 I will argue here that, in the midst of poverty, continued violence, and racial segregation in Papua, song has served and continues to serve as a lived symbol of collective identity through which liberation is daily practiced in the Land of Papua.