Spatial Contestation of Indo Europeesch Verbond and Japanese Internment Camp in Kesilir Plantation Village 1920s

Abstract

Kesilir Village, in the southern tip of Banyuwangi, opened as a plantation area in 1920s by Indo Europeesch Verbond (Indo-European Community). Ironically, in the early period of Japanese occupation (1942-1943), the village was converted into an internment camp for Europeans in Java, including the Indo-Dutch community. Interrupted by two ruling regimes and local plantation workers in the colonial era, Kesilir has become a node of the social dynamics of people from various backgrounds. Specters of histories, memories, and the traumas of during colonial era haunted the physical and mental space of the residents, blending with the social spaces up to this day. This study investigates the village’s spatial structure and architectural intervention of two colonial regimes, extending from the opening of the IEV plantation in 1920s until when it was used for internment camp under Japanese occupation in 1943. The main objective of this study is to reconstruct the architectural history of the Kesilir Village by understanding the relationship between environment, built structure, and social dynamics that occurred in the past, through analyzing archival records, spatial structures, and memories. The study of regional morphology is used in this study to dissect maps, notes, sketches, and physical traces that can still be found. Field documentation and archive elicitation were also carried out to capture collective memories that still remain.