Ethnicity and social relations in Indonesian television production houses

Abstract

In Indonesia the industry producing the most popular commercial TV programmes, known assinetron, is largely dominated by Indonesians of Indian (Sindhi) origin. This article examines social relations within thesinetronproduction houses and argues that between the 1990s and the early 2010s the distribution of symbolic and material capital depended on ethnicity, as it was imagined and constituted by two rather different cultural frameworks and historical experiences. One is based on the occupational distinction, rooted in the South Asian caste system, while the other can be traced back to ethnic classifications in colonial Indonesia.