Kopi Susu:

an ideal cultural community in which to explore ethnographic methods

Franka Rang Gerda Danielsson Hani Mahmoud Michael Molnar

UCSSCANT11 Introduction to Anthropology Dr. Mary Bouquet University College Utrecht 1 December 2011

Kopi Susu

Introduction Kopi Susu is a cultural caf in Lombok, a neighborhood known for the multitude of different cultures it harbors. We chose to conduct our anthropological research at Kopi Susu because it united the two areas we were interested in: consumption and ethnic diversity. We wanted to look at the nature of the caf and what function it has in Lombok. The works we found from other scholars were not specifically geared to cultural cafs, so instead we used literature that was specified in broader areas (i.e. cafes) and could be applied to this caf in order to answer our research question: How does Kopi Susu function as not only a caf, but a cultural community center for the inhabitants of Lombok? To answer this question we made use of several pieces of literature focusing on various areas. Franka used an article about a British neighborhood caf (Laurier et al., 2001), which was especially helpful in suggesting methods to study the caf. She will mainly be focusing on the history of Kopi Susu and its overall aim. Hani used the same article, in addition to a book called The Participatory Museum (Simon, 2010). He will attempt to identify what contributes to Kopi Susus nature as a cultural community center, as opposed to a mere caf. Gerda found an article on diversity and its meaning in an ethnic community in Washington D.C. by Gabriella Modan called Mango Fufu Kimchi Yucca: The Depolarization of Diversity in Washington, D.C. Discourse. She will pursue the question: In what way does Kopi Susu represent diversity in Lombok? Finally, Mike was interested in how Kopi Susu's aims affect the experience of a typical customer, and make it unique. To research this he drew on the methodology and observations in the article by Laurier et al., as well as an article about the performance of staff in a restaurant (Crang, 1994).! During the research we employed several well-known ethnographic methods, which were also described in the article by Laurier et al. The most important was participant observation (Kottak 2004: 325); we went to the caf quite often, spoke to the staff members, and participated in several events, including a GPS-tour through Lombok, a documentary night, and a spiritual dinner. In addition, we also made many notes, while carefully paying attention to sitting arrangements, music and interactions between the people in the caf. Very useful was the interview that we had with one of the heads of the caf, Endie van Binsbergen (officially the bar coordinator). It was not hard to collect all this information, because a caf is a very public and relaxed location, where you can just sit down without raising any suspicion. The crew was also very helpful, friendly and open, which made finding a way in a lot easier. History While Im writing this, Im sitting in the right back corner of a caf, just beside the bar. My nose is enjoying the delicious smell of the soup theyre serving today, Linzen-Kerrie, and my ears are full with a lot of different sounds: soft music, scraps of conversation, a mother cooing to her baby, the scraping of chairs, the clatter of cups and cutlery, the door opening and closing again. Its a harmonic clamour that is quite typical for a normal neighbourhood caf. Except, when you look more carefully, you realise, and feel, that this is not just a normal neighbourhood caf: the music is somehow a bit exotic, the men sitting behind me are actually speaking Arabic and the soup tastes very Indonesian. This is not just a caf; this is Kopi Susu, a world of wonders. Kopi Susu is a cultural daytime caf (Dutch: cultureel dagcaf) that serves as a meeting place for many different people and also is the centre of activity in a multitude of projects, workshops, events and gatherings. Although Kopi Susu is involved in so many activities, its not trying to make a big profit, as is eventually the aim other cafs that have been described in anthropological researches (Laurier et al., 2001; Colotelo et al., n.d.); on the contrary: almost all of the events that go on here in the caf are for free and most of the organizers are volunteers. Whats more, Endie, a lead employee, explicitly refused to listen to the suggestions of how to make a bigger profit than her friends made. But, if its not the aim of Kopi Susu to make a big profit, what is its aim then? Why was the caf founded and what is it trying to accomplish? To answer these intriguing questions, well have to take a look at the history of this place and see what influenced and shaped it.

Kopi Susu

Before caf Kopi Susu opened its doors in 2009, the building had already been used for several purposes. It opened as a De Gruyter store, a sort of luxery grocery store that sold the products Holland imported from their colonies. When De Gruyter closed, it was turned into a shoe store. The beautiful wall tableaus, which served to create a feeling of luxury in De Gruyter, were covered with wooden panels. After the shoe shop closed and the panels were removed, a caf started that matched the tableaus perfectly: Museum Caf Lombok. In 2000, this caf was opened by a group of people who lived in the neighbourhood and by Stichting Oud Lombok, an organisation that is active in Lombok. Especially involved was a man, called Peter Hagenaar, who is sometimes also referred to as the Major of Lombok (interview with Endie, Appendix C). It was their aim to provide more information about the history of this multicultural neighbourhood and to stimulate contact between the members of this multicultural community. Therefore, tours through Lombok, discussions and exhibitions were organized. Unfortunately, due to financial problems, Museum Caf Lombok was forced to close its doors in June 2008. In an interview with Endie van Binsbergen, the bar coordinator and seemingly one of the leading forces in the caf, we were told how one of Endies friends, Mikkie Roos, wanted to start a cultural caf and asked Endie to participate. Endie agreed and came up with the name: Kopi Susu. She was beaming when she told us about how she came up with the name, and, to be honest, I cannot blame her. Kopi Susu means coffee with milk in Indonesian. However, the term was also used for children from one dark and one white parent. The name was so highly applicable to the caf because: 1) Mikkie, the founder of the caf, was Kopi Susu: half Dutch, half Indonesian. 2) The caf would be in a neighbourhood where a mixture of people from different ethnicities lives. In this sense, the whole of Lombok is Kopi Susu. 3) Whats more, the caf itself was supposed to be Kopi Susu, a place where people from different cultures would mix. 4) Finally, the caf would be, of course, serving Kopi Susu. In short, the name was just right. Although the name cultural caf Kopi Susu might sound similar to the concept of the Museum Caf, Endie was quite clear about the differences between the two. The most important difference was, according to her, that Museum Caf Lombok was subsidized. This meant that the caf didnt have to focus as much on making money, but it also meant that sometimes the town would make decisions about what they could or couldnt do. Kopi Susu does have to focus on making enough money, but this is certainly not their main priority, and they have all the freedom they want. However, Endie told us about some other differences as well. In the Museum Caf, most of the employees were first and second generation immigrants and most of the customers were their friends and family. As a result there were few Dutch people visiting the caf. When Kopi Susu was opened, this changed. Mikkie and Endie wanted it to be a Dutch caf with multicultural influences and open to everyone. Therefore, they also put some Dutch drinks and snacks on the menu, and Dutch employees were hired as well. Now, I can say both from my own experience and from what Endie told me, that the caf is bristling with activity, and loved by foreign and Dutch people alike. So, instead of trying to make loads of money, the owners of Kopi Susu tried to create a place where people from different nationalities would come and would be able to meet. Although other cafs also try to create a meeting place (Laurier et al., 2001; Colotelo et al., n.d.), its still their aim to make money. This is for example obvious in the fact that in some of these cafs its not allowed to occupy a table when you havent ordered anything yet, while in Kopi Susu youre allowed to sit for hours without ordering anything; Endie explains this simply: It just looks good, doesnt it? People sitting in your caf. Besides, Kopi Susu organizes or welcomes a lot of different activities that more actively bring people together in a recreational, educational and/or social setting. Concluding, we might say that Kopi Susu is a cultural caf that tries to create an environment in which people from all backgrounds can meet. The appropriate atmosphere is consciously created and enhanced by organizing and harbouring activities that also serve to entertain and/or educate people. In Kopi Susu, money is merely necessity to keep the caf going, but no aim in itself. Although initiating interactions in a multicultural society might seem rather easy, it is actually a complicated network of activities and projects that are of great importance for the character of the caf. It is therefore necessary to take a closer look at that side of Kopi Susu.

Kopi Susu

Community Simply as a caf that is located in a multicultural area of Utrecht, Kopi Susu can offer many insights regarding ethnicity and culture. However, Kopi Susu is not just an ordinary caf, so we must examine Kopi Susus nature as a cultural institution. In doing so, I hoped to discover how and to what extent a cultural center can influence intercultural interactions in a multicultural environment, like Lombok. Before Kopi Susus impact on the community can be determined and analyzed, it is essential to examine and discuss the specifics of what Kopi Susu does to become an effective cultural center for Lombok. Indeed, Kopi Susu self-proclaims on its website that it is a meeting place for residents with the additional provision of a social and cultural program (Kopi Susu). Thus, we must now ask ourselves what makes this true. In order to determine what makes Kopi Susu so much more than a mere caf, it was necessary to first consult the literature in order to determine how such a problem can be approached and what defines the type of place that Kopi Susu aspires to bea cultural institution and community meeting point. Due to the unique nature of Kopi Susu, it was not easy to find directly relevant literature. However, it was easy to find prior work on Kopi Susus two aspects separately the caf side and the museum side. Nina Simons book, The Participatory Museum, discusses methods and results of individuals increased participation in cultural institutions like Museums. This book is relevant to Kopi Susu, because it can help us understand the importance of Kopi Susu as a cultural institution, rather than just a caf. Simon inspired me to really delve into how the residents of Lombok participate in Kopi Susus cultural activities, and how their participation shapes/reflects multicultural interactions. She define[s] a participatory cultural institution as a place where visitors can create, share, and connect with each other around content (Simon 2010: ii). Kopi Susu certainly thinks of itself as a participatory cultural institution, so we must determine if it actually is by observing the degree to which customers create, share, and connect with each other around content. Of course Simon was referring mainly to the content of museums (i.e. artifacts, pictures, etc.); however, we can extend her idea of content to encompass both Kopi Susus traditional, museum-like content, and its more abstract, intangible content. While observing the content of Kopi Susu as a cultural community center, we found that customers do not create, share, and connect with each other around the museum-like content. A simple perusal of the website and/or a brief look around Kopi Susu reveals a plethora of such content. The tangible, museum-like content consists of wallpaper (Appendix B), photo exhibitions, and tile panel murals. The wallpaper and photo exhibitions both change regularly (monthly-quarterly) and are both designed/created by locals. The photos are presented in a highly effective, aesthetically pleasing installation that consists of framed photos with individual lights illuminating each of them (Appendix B). Even more stunning are the tile tableaus that line the entire upper half of the caf walls. Altogether, this content is highly appreciated by the customers for its contribution to the rooms atmosphere, but people do not seem to directly connect with each other over the content. This is evident due to the fact that nobody with whom we spoke wanted to discuss this content in depth we used the method of triangulation to begin a conversation about the tiles, but people simply acknowledged their presence and beauty then were reminded of something more important to say. This indicates that: first, triangulation is an effective method for discovering new information; second, Kopi Susus strictly museum aspects do not contribute a noticeable amount to its nature as a cultural community center. Although customers do not bond considerably over Kopi Susus tangible content, they clearly bonded over its intangible content, which comes in the form of a variety of activities. These intimate bonds that were created are what make Kopi Susu a true and effective cultural community center. There are too many of the aforementioned activities to discuss here, but some notable ones include GPS tours, massages, spiritual workshops, rehabilitation workshops, movie nights, and dinners. Many of these activities are not organized solely by Kopi Susu, but by collaboration between Kopi Susu and other organizations. Kopi Susu correctly asserts on their website that they are a collaboration with several groups and initiatives (Kopi Susu). Two volunteer organizations,

Kopi Susu

Kopi Malam and SBWU, are particularly involved with Kopi Susu and hold many regular events. The level of intimacy created by such events was especially evident at a weekly dinner organized by SBWU (a spiritual organization), where everyone (regardless of their ethnicity or whether they had ever met) squeezed around a small table to eat. Such an occurrence would surely not occur in a normal caf. Even more intriguing is the degree to which Kopi Susu has merged with the organizations that work through it. For example, volunteers from SBWU came several hours before the beginning of dinner. They did not have much to prepare, but they chatted in a very friendly manner with Kopi Susu employees until right before dinner time, when the employees left and the volunteers stood behind the counter and managed both the dinner and the cafs customers simultaneously. A normal caf (which is also a business) would surely not let anyone but its employees behind the counter. Thus, it is apparent that the many activities at Kopi Susu together forge profound relationships between everyone involvedworkers, volunteers, customers, and participants. These relationships are manifested in the interactions between the people at Kopi Susuinteractions that are unique to cultural community centers and unseen in regular cafes. In Simons words, visitors surely do create, share, and connect with each other around content, albeit an untraditional form of content (activities). We have now established that Kopi Susu is not a museum in the traditional sense, but it is also certainly not a normal caf. By examining an ethnography of a caf, we can use certain elements of cafes to contrast Kopi Susu form cafes, and in the process we can further prove Kopi Susus true nature as a cultural community meeting point. While studying a caf, anthropologist Eric Laurier noted the importance of producing informality when attempting to create a sense of community in a caf. Ironically, he speaks of producing informality as a strictly organized process with an orderly nature and finely nuanced methods forproduction (Laurier). He equates producing formality with producing informality, which is somewhat paradoxical, because informality should seemingly not have to be formally produced. Laurier allows us to see that Kopi Susu is not a normal caf, because it does not need to attempt to create this often false sense of informality. This is a direct result of the sense of community (characterized by the intimate bonds among community members) that is created by the aforementioned activities. Stated differently, Kopi Susu already possesses informality, because of its nature as a community center/meeting point, so it does not have to create it artificially, as most cafes do. This informality can be witnessed by means of simple observation of the caf, and also by participant observation, which is manifested specifically in our situation in the process of becoming a regular. Laurier values this process when conducting his ethnography: we learnt a great deal about the life of our caf by becoming regulars, thereby following the ordinary paths through which a person becomes a regular and finding ourselves with the particular rights and obligations that go along with this mundane identity (Laurier). Due to a lack of time, the main challenge while conducting this researchwe were unable to become true regulars. However, in the process we were still able to observe many instances of natural informality that contributes to and results from the sense of community at Kopi Susu. This informality was most evident in employee-employee and employee-customer interactions. Both interactions were quite similar, and both seemed genuine and intimate. This is apparent from the moment someone enters the door and greets (or is greeted by) the employees. I dont speak Dutch, and yet I could still tell that the greeting was very informal and friendly. In addition, workers sit around the bar (occasionally grooving to music) with customers and other workers, leaving nobody behind the counter. In a traditional caf setting, the barista rarely leaves the counter unmanned. However, in Kopi Susu, workers even eat with customerssomething that would appear quite unprofessional at a regular caf. This is considered too informal to be done at a regular caf, even one that strives to possess an informal demeanor, because it is not congruent with a business standards, and nearly every caf is first a business before a caf. Kopi Susu, on the other hand, is a community center before a business, so this level of informality is natural. Even the tables arrangement encourages/reflects a community atmosphere: the square tables are meant for 2, but they are all joined to make rectangular tables for 4. This, in addition to the presence of a back room and meeting room (Appendix B) embody the presence of community center-like facilities. Overall,

Kopi Susu activities, unforced informality, community center-like facilities, and a sense of community prove the nature of Kopi Susu as a cultural community center first, and a caf/business second.

Diversity Above, we depicted Kopi Susu as a cultural community center. However, we focused on the community aspect, rather than the cultural aspect. The latter will now be discussed through the lens of diversity. This part of they essay is focused on answering the question; in what way does KopiSusu represent diversity in Lombok? It is applying discourses around the concept of identity as defined by Modan (2008), but using it in a new context. The linguistic part of Modans article is not used but instead the focus will be on how the local community of Lombok and its diversity is being portrayed. This research is made comparative by contrasting the diversity of Lombok by Kopi Susu with a GPS tour available at the caf, which is owned by LivingDoc (a company specialized in GPS tours). The essay focuses on three of eight definitions of diversity given by Modan in her article; diversity as social justice, diversity as commodified resource and diversity as an experience. Diversity as social justice In her article, Modan (2008) describes how people moving to the ethnic community of Mount Pleasant, Washington D.C., during the 1970s and 80s were often socially aware and making a home there was often equally a political statement and a commitment to integration (p. 203). Further down on the page she elaborates this the view of diversity to being about political and social justice. This diversity was about protecting the rights of all the members of the community indifferent of ethnicity and class. When visiting Kopi Susu we noticed that there was often a lot of staff behind the counter. At times there was even more staff behind the counter than customers sitting by the tables. When interviewing the manager of Kopi Susu, Endie van Binsbergen, she told us about their cooperation with the Gids(government organization helping unemployed individuals back on the labor market) and how they are letting unemployed people from the Gids come in to get work experience at the caf. Another example of their dedication to social diversity is the meeting and dinner organized by Stichting Beschermende Woonvormen Utrecht (SBWU), and hosted by Kopi Susu every Monday. SBWU is an organization that helps people with psychiatric and abuse problems. There is also a political awareness. Opposite the bathroom there is a large table with flyers from the organizations mentioned, local masseurs, cultural events but also posters from the occupy movement and the political cultural centrum ACU. One Friday every month there is also a film night at Kopi Susu with the theme Social Change Around the World. The film presented on the 25 November showed the disasters created by capitalism around the world and called for political change. The GPS tour Lombok is a tour of the neighborhood, which one can access from Kopi Susu at the cost of 10 euro. It is a product of the company Living Doc, a one-man company with multiple GPS tours. The tour uses videos with information on the colonial history of the Netherlands but also includes a restaurant, an artwork and a musical performance, which all also relates to colonialism. The tour does not include any activities for social justice or promote social justice in Lombok. Diversity as commodified resource In her article, Modan (2008) describes how diversity can be portrayed as an object in itself, an entity that can be bought and sold. She gives the example of the products and services available for sale and cultural events to experience (p. 206). Modan gives an example of how diversity as an object can be used to benefit the community, by describing the sales of a bilingual calendars depicting children of mixed ethnicities was sold to finance youth programs, but says that a lot of times it shifts to an individual interest (p. 206). It can be argued that the diversity of Lombok has been commodified, or objectified, by Kopi Susu as they are using it as a theme. Kopi Susu takes its name from the Indonesian term for coffee

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with milk, which also means "of mixed descent(Kopi Susu, 2009, section on Kopi Susu). It is a local caf where the visitors reflect the blended character of Lombok. Diversity is also evident in the products and services available for sale and in the cultural events to experience (Modan, 2008, p. 206). On the menu we find Dutch apple pie, Indonesian Nasi kuning, French quiche. The music in the background mixes tunes from all over the world (Appendix A). Middle Eastern music, American rock and eastern European klezmer to just mention a few. The cultural activities available reflect both Dutch culture and various other cultures from around the world. It can be argued that this commodification of Lombok is of benefit for the community at large (Modan 2008, p. 206). It does so socially, as has already been discussed. It does so culturally by opening its doors to local activity groups and organizing free events. And it does so economically by enabling local business like masseurs, the GPS tour and more to operate from the caf. The GPS tour also has the diversity of Lombok as its object. A difference is that it has no real function for the community as it does not contribute to it socially, culturally or economically. It is a tour that can be experienced by individuals which, according to Peter Dubois (owner of LivingDoc) and Kopi Susu staff, are mainly older Dutch tourists. It doesnt promote local businesses or groups, and the profit goes to the owner. It can therefore be claimed that GPS Lombok promotes Lombok as a commodity that benefits individuals. Kopi Susu on the other hand commodifies Lombok but in a way that benefits Lombok community socially, culturally and economically. Diversity as an experience Diversity seen as an experience is a way to depoliticize diversity according to Modan (2008). By claiming that being culturally diverse is to be culturally exciting, it detaches it from social and political aspects. She uses the example of a newer and richer resident in Mount Pleasant arguing that one can be rich and culturally exciting and poor and boring (p. 212). It can be claimed that the GPS tour in some ways is depolitizating the diversity of Lombok, although in a different way. The initiative of the tour was made by a Dutch governmental organization called Kosmopolis. When visiting the website, among all the information in Dutch, I could see a sign in English advertising a conference called Super-diversity in Dynamic Cities(Kosmopolis, 2007). When translating information about Kosmopolis I found that they are neighborhood oriented and that interculturaliteit or interculturality is an essential element in all their projects (section on Informatie). A term also used by Endie van Binsbergen. When walking around Lombok with the headphones in my ears and the GPS device in my hand, I felt very detached from the local people passing me by. It was about an individual experience, focused on historical colonial street names, not Lombok as a community. It was solely a cultural experience. The GPS tour is a commodified way of looking at the diversity of Lombok, which has diversity as its end and does not aim to contribute to the community. It does not take up social justice as its cause and instead focuses on diversity as an experience. Kopi Susu on the other hand commodifies diversity as a means to an end, which is to make the community of Lombok a better place. It also employs social justice to include all members of the community. The diversity we found in Kopi Susu, is different from the one we found presented by the GPS tour Lombok. At Kopi Susu the mix of black coffee and white milk doesnt just represent a mix of cultures, but also a support for the community. Kopi Susu has a function in maintaining Lomboks diversity culturally, socially and economically. Aims As seen above, the name Kopi Susu is a metaphor for diversity. Thus, I hoped to explore how Kopi Susu achieves its cultural aims, focusing on the customers point of view. In an interview, Endie told us one of the main aims was to promote an inter-cultural, not multi-cultural, atmosphere where people from different backgrounds freely intermingled. Indeed one of the problems with Caf Museum Lombok, as she had seen it, was that it was too much of an exclusive venue for ethnic minorities.

Kopi Susu

In this sense, Kopi Susu extends the property of a caf as observed by Habermas (1996) as being a place of equals where status is disregarded altogether and takes it further. Diversity is not so much celebrated, as ignored. Reflective of this is how Kopi Susu seemingly, both in its roles as caf and cultural centre, caters for as many tastes as possible. From its diverse food menu with dishes from different areas (Appendix A), to its child's area with books and toys, to the wide range of activities they host regularly like mediation workshops and cultural events. This is indeed manifested in the range of customers we observed. Being open a large part of the day (usually 11 hours) also helps the clientele to be varied. In the mornings we observed mostly older people from ethnic minorities, usually retired and from the local area, who would almost always be daily regulars. In the afternoons this changed; there were more families and more (ethnically) Dutch people, students and the occasional worker on a lunch break. The attendees of the Friday night Kopi Malam cultural events were almost all students. Events such as these that take place in Kopi Susu are popular. The ones we joined were all well attended, and crucially, highly inclusive, welcoming anyone who wished to take part. One man told us how one day recently he was in the caf with his young baby while a meditation workshop was taking place. The baby had been crying all day, but on hearing the mantras being chanted upstairs, went quiet. Since then, the man has taken his baby to the meditation workshop every week. It is this spontaneity and openness that, we realised, is central to the Kopi Susu experience. In his ethnography of a restaurant, Crang (1994) asserts, the code of behaviour [in such a location] serves to preserve and produce the sense of place in which it was implemented. At face value, Kopi Susu disproves this adage. Customer experience is almost defined by the lack of demands placed on them in terms of 'how to behave' and by the apparent lack of procedure in the normal routines of a caf. Food and drink can be ordered either at the counter or by first taking a seat, then attracting the attention of a staff member and relating to them the order, all the while with them staying where they are and not coming over. The caf lacks an electronic cash register, and orders are scribbled down on post-it notes, at the time of ordering or from the collective memory of the staff member and customer when the time has come to pay. This latter is never forced or even politely encouraged by the staff, and we observed many customers (including ourselves) present for a number of hours, with the ones staying longest usually students taking advantage of the free Wi-Fi to get some work done. One such customer told us they'd even recently brought their parents there when they came to visit, as it was nicer than their own room and they knew it would be a good place to spend the afternoon and catch up. In reality of course, all of this lack of structure serves to cultivate an atmosphere in Kopi Susu, which to the customers is salient. On one occasion customers moved two tables together to make a bigger table. We thought they knew this was allowed from previous experience, but they later told us it was their first visit. From the management point of view, this atmosphere is deliberate. Service will always be slow, Endie told us, and many is the time a suited businessman has come expecting a hasty coffee and bite in his lunch hour. With no hint of remorse, said Endie, they come to the wrong place. However, contrary to Creng's assertion that an informal ambience is created on the part of the staff only through scripting, (Creng, 1994) in Kopi Susu the staff relax when not busy, reading newspapers or chatting with regulars. Of course, for the customer this does a lot to create such an atmosphere. Perhaps the ideology of Kopi Susu becomes internalized by the staff, and they get taken in by the ambience as much as the customers do. This ideology is similar to Lefebvre's Right to the City, in that it aims to make an inclusive urban space where people are not categorized according to the same standards as outside, and also where people are encouraged to use the space as they see fit (Lefebvre, 1991). In Kopi Susu this latter point would be seen in its role as a host of community activities, but also how, to a relatively large extent, the caf experience is unprescribed and under the control of the customer. It may not always be able to overcome the tendency for people in a public space to keep to their own group, but it certainly provides the perfect opportunity for intermixing. One story we heard from a staff member happened on Christmas Eve. There was a free meal at the caf for the choir

Kopi Susu

who had just performed nearby, and halfway through an elderly Moroccan gentleman came in. Never having celebrated Christmas himself, and perhaps due to his advancing years, he was initially confused and asked a staff member what was going on. On hearing the answer, he declared, Merry Christmas! and went off to eat and socialise. Conclusion When considering the overarching research question, What role does Kopi Susu have for the local people of Lombok?, we found several relevant points. First of all, it seems that Kopi Susu is not just a caf, since it is not trying to make money; it is there for the people of Lombok, and money is just a necessity. Kopi Susu aims toward more interaction between the locals, and provides the perfect location for this interaction. It functions as a meeting point and a community center. This is manifested in its activities/events, unforced informality, and facilities. Not only is Kopi Susu a caf, museum, and meeting point, but it is specifically a cultural community center due to the diversity within and around it. This diversity is embraced and encouraged by the employees and especially by the management at Kopi Susu. Such a positive approach to diversity is an essential element for a caf in a multicultural place like Lombok, and it is this approach that renders Kopi Susu as an even more useful cultural institution/community center to locals. Our research highlighted some of the aspects of a cultural caf, but to gain a true understanding a much longer research would be necessary. Specifically, we would need more extended interaction (i.e. via interviews) with the customers and the locals (including those that avoid the caf). This would provide us with a better understanding of the locals perspective, rather than the employees perspective, which we focused on here because the employees were generally more easily approachable in the given time frame. Our methods of pure observation, participant observation (in the activities), and interviewing were quite effective, but should be done more thoroughly if given more time. A complete ethnography of this topic would surely contribute to knowledge of the subject, because the subject is not well researched. Literature, like that in our bibliography, of cafes and cultural centers is readily available. However, the combination of the two is rare. By studying Kopi Susu, we were able to observe an extraordinary mix of consumption, culture, and community, which gave us insights into how an institution can involve the locals around it. Consumption was particularly difficult to study in the given time frame, so it is a topic that, given the chance in the future, we would like to further address. Despite the lack of time, we have learned a lot during the process of this project. One of the important lessons was simply to spend a lot of time at Kopi Susu. Just like Malinowski had to spend a lot of time at the Trobriand Island to discover the importance of Kula, so did we to see interesting patterns in the culture of Kopi Susu. Another important lesson was to be strategic and have a methodology once these interesting patterns had been discovered: making lists of music played or maps of tables where people were sitting, taking part in activities and applying participant observation, but also discovering the history and motifs by conducting interviews. In synthesizing this information that we gathered, we observed that Kopi Susu was founded, above all, on the ideal of being a place for multi-cultural interactions in a multi-cultural neighbourhood. It is the promotion of this above profit-making which makes Kopi Susu a unique place to be a customer. Informality is seen on every level, beyond that which would be seen in a more commercially-minded establishment. It manifests in the laissez-faire (but not neglectful) approach to service, and the relaxed attitude of the staff in general. The caf maintains a friendly and inclusive atmosphere, being careful not to bias its outward impression towards encouraging one particular group to frequent the caf more than others, and hosting a wide range of activities, which undoubtedly bring an even broader range of people there. To the local people of Lombok, it certainly serves as everything it intends to be; a meeting place with a relaxed atmosphere, and one in which they may even meet new people. Kopi Susu transcends beyond the status of caf, and transforms into an intercultural stage for a lot of cross-cultural and cross-societal interactions that prove to be mind widening, helpful, and socially important for everyone involved.

Kopi Susu 10 Bibliography A. Sujoldzic: Ways of Belonging in a Multicultural City, Coll. Antropol. 33 (2009) 4: 13351348 Colotelo, C., Marza, C., Mosneagu, A.M., Munteanu, C., Munteau, P., Preda, I., Plecadite, C., Nagy., R (n.d.). Anthropology of Pubs: the Identity Role of a Pub. National School of Political Science and Administration. Crang, P. Its showtime: on the workplace geographies of display in a restaurant in South East England. Environment and Planning D: Society and Space 12 (1994): 675-704. Habermas, Jurgen. The Structural Transformation of the Public Sphere, An Inquiry into a Category of Bourgeois Society. Trans. Burger, Thomas Lawrence, Frederick. Oxford: Polity Press, 1989. Henri Lefebvre, 1940, The Production of Space Oxford: Blackwell Kottak, C., 2004, Anthropology: The Exploration of Human Diversity, 10th ed. Boston: McGraw Hill Kopi Susu. (2009). Kopi Susu. Available: http://kopisusu.nl/. Last accessed 27th Nov 2011. Kosmopolis. (2007). Kosmopolis Utrecht. Available: http://www.kosmopolisutrecht.nl/. Last accessed 28th Nov 2011. Laurier, E., Whyte, A., Buckner, K. (2001). An Ethnography of a Neighbourhood Caf: informality, table arrangements and background noise. Journal of Mundane Behaviour, 2(2). Modan, M: Mango Fufu Kimchi Yucca: The Depoliticization of "Diversity"in Washington, D.C. Discourse, City and Society, 22(2008)2: 188 - 221 Museum Caf Lombok. (2009). Museum Caf Lombok. Available: http://www.museumcafelombok.nl/. Last accessed 26th Nov 2011 Peter Dubois. (2010). GPS tour Lombok. Available: http://www.livingdoc.nl/. Last accessed 27th Nov 2011 Simon, N. (2010). The Participatory Museum. Museum 2.0.

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Kopi Susu 12 Music 2.30 4.30 (28/11): - Elvis - Middle Eastern music - When Johnny comes marching in (American country/folk) - African music - Tracy Chapman - Flamenco guitar tune - Middle Eastern music with guitar and violin - Guitar and bongo drum - Jazz experimental - Slower, eastern European music (?). folky sounding with violin - Middle Eastern music - Keyboard based music with cowbell from South America (Spanish lyrics) - Klezmer (Jewish gypsy music) - Slower klezmer tune with saxophone (more jazz sounding) - French old folk music - Slower tune with clarinet - Middle eastern music - Rock music in English - Ballad in unidentifiable language - Ballad in Spanish - French jazz (woman with seductive voice) - The Decemberists, pop in English - Sonic Youth, experimental rock music - Latino American tunes, samba Appendix C: Interview notes Notes of the interview with Endie van Binsbergen, the bar coordinator of Kopi Susu conducted by Michael Molnar and Franka Rang. 25 November 2011 at Kopi Susu Who founded Museum Caf Lombok? Peter Hagenaar played a key role in the establishment of MCL. He was also called the Major of Lombok, although he denied this himself. He was also involved in other projects in Lombok. What were the reasons to start this caf? There are people from many different ethnicities living in Lombok. They wanted to create a place where these people could meet each other and learn about each others cultures. What was the museum aspect of this caf? When people ask this question, the answer is normally: Lombok is the museum, we are the caf. Did Museum Caf Lombok have any specific goals? It was supposed to be a place where people from different backgrounds could meet and learn about Lombok, and about each others cultures as well. Why did Museum Caf Lombok close? Due to financial problems they couldnt come around anymore.

Kopi Susu 13 What are the differences between MCL and Kopi Susu? Most important difference: MCL was subsidized by the town. This meant that it didnt have to focus as much on earning money, but sometimes they were told: you cannot do this, or you have to do that. Kopi Susu doesnt get any subsidising, so it has to work harder to earn money. However, they can do whatever they want. Another difference was the fact that MCL was run by first and second generation immigrants, without much Dutch influences in the caf itself. Therefore, most of the everyday customers were friends and family of the employees, and the caf didnt seem that appealing to Dutch people. When Kopi Susu opened, they changed this: they also hired Dutch employees, put Dutch drinks and snacks on the menu (hot chocolate and apple pie). They wanted to be a Dutch caf with multicultural influences that was open to people from all backgrounds. Kopi Susu is a Dutch caf with an Indonesian history. Who started Kopi Susu? Kopi Susu is a project of organization Het Werktuig. It was founded in 2009, mainly by Mikkie Roos, a friend of Endie. She saw that the MCL closed and that the building had become available. She proposed the project and asked Endie to help her. Endie, who was at that time in Indonesia, agreed and came up with the name Kopi Susu, that was suitable for various reasons. Mikkie Roos was Kopi Susu, the neighbourhood is Kopi Susu, the caf is Kopi Susu, and they serve Kopi Susu. What are the goals of Kopi Susu? Kopi Susu wants to be a place where everyone can come and interact with each other. It tries to create a relaxed and welcoming atmosphere, without any hurry: a sort of living room effect. How do you try to realize these goals? The staff is relaxed towards the customers. When somebody sits down with his/her laptop at the biggest and best table, orders one cup of coffee, and then sits there for hours, he/she wont be asked to leave. Only when its getting busy, this person will be asked to move to a different table, or to the backside of the caf. Everyone is really relaxed as well, but if you want speedy service: dont go to Kopi Susu. They dont have all the equipment, materials, machines and staff to make everything go as fast as in other cafs. Sometimes a group of businessmen comes in and demands 12 bowls of soup: Ah, okay, that is nice. But, eeeh, we can only heat two at a time, so it might take twenty minutes Therefore, if you want to eat with a group of people, it is wise to make a reservation. Unfortunately, creating a laid-back and relaxed atmosphere in the caf during opening hours requires a lot of preparation. Everything has to be completely in order so there is room to be a bit more loose. This also involves keeping in mind which activities take place at which times. For example, when Ohlijf (the massage practice) is using the office upstairs to do their massages, Endie cannot go up to send an important email; she will just have to wait until theyre done. However, the efforts pay off. The ambiance is indeed very relaxed and open and this somehow makes all kind of things possible. For example, last year on Christmas eve, Kopi Susu prepared a dinner for all the people who had helped out during the mass. There was a lot of free food, and anyone who wanted could just join. This resulted in a Muslim man walking in saying that he was all alone at home and asking whether he could join, and what was actually going on. Of course he was welcome. Than later, a rich Russian couple walked by the caf, and because they were a bit lost and cold they came in. They were invited to join the dinner and they did. At the end they gave Kopi Susu 20 euros as a tip, and Endie asked if they knew how much money that was. They said: Yes. You showed us the Christmas spirit, now we show it to you. What kind of projects does Kopi Susu organize?

Kopi Susu 14 There is Kopi Malam: a different event on every Friday evening. Every last Friday of the month there is a movie. Kopi Malam is not organized by the staff of Kopi Susu. It is all organized by volunteers, who just walk in and start arranging all their stuff. Its a nice event and every time different sorts of people turn up. These people often come a bit earlier to have a coffee and hang around after the event has ended. Ohlijf is a massage practice that uses the upper floor of Kopi Susu. Again, it is not organized by Kopi Susu, but it just hires their space on certain evenings. People who come to Ohlijf also often stay for a drink. In cooperation with an institution called Gids, Kopi Susu helps people who have been unemployed for a long period of time to start working again. These people just work in the caf, and are trained and helped by the staff. Its not a secret, but most customers of Kopi Susu dont know this, because it might create uncomfortable situations. Every Monday, there are workshops in Kopi Susu, called Zinneprikkels. The workshops are for everyone, but also focuses on people that are rehabilitating after a drug or alcohol addiction. Zinneprikkels is a partner of Kopi Susu. When there are financial problems, e.g. the dishwasher suddenly breaks down, they help out. In exchange for that they get the Mondays on which they can do their workshops. There is a GPS-tour available that starts in Kopi Susu and guides the participants through Lombok. It tells about the history of Lombok and colonialism. This tour was originally made by a man called Peter Duboy in corporation with a organisation called Linken Leggen Lombok. It was created independent from Kopi Susu, but the caf seemed to be the perfect starting point. Kopi Susu liked the project and agreed on providing the participants with the headsets and GPS-machine. Although it was supposed to be a six-month project, Kopi Susu liked it so much that they said they would like to keep it permanently. They liked it so much, because people from all over the Netherlands came especially to do this tour. Many elderly couples took the tour, but also tourists. Who are involved in these projects? The employees of the caf, volunteers, and people from the organizations. Do many people in Lombok know Kopi Susu? Yes, everyone knows it. Who comes to Kopi Susu? Depends which time of the day it is. In the morning a lot of pensioners form the elderly home from the neighbourhood come to have a cup of coffee. Theres often this group of Moroccan/Turkish people coming to have their morning cup of coffee. Also some couples with young children come. In the afternoon there is a lunch rush, in which a lot of people drop by to have their lunch. Sometimes hasty businessmen make the mistake of thinking to have a quick bite at Kopi Susu. In the evening some of the morning people come back. However, Kopi Susu has a licence that only allows them to stay open until 10 pm. So people who would like to have a drink in the evening often dont go to Kopi Susu, because they want to sit down and stay as long as theyd like. There are also a lot of students coming to the caf, either to study, have a drinks with friends, to attend one of the activities or to bring their parents. There are many students who live in small shacks and when their parents, or grand parents come to visit them, they like to bring them to Kopi Susu: its representable, affordable, and comfortable. What kinds of people come to the different activities? Depends on the activity. Kopi Malam, for example, has attracted a lot of different audiences. Sometimes the caf is filled with a lot of students and other times it are totally different people. Do you try to promote the caf? In which ways?

Kopi Susu 15 We have a website and Facebook and the girls who work in the caf have recently started Twitter. Email interview with Peter Dubois, Living Doc. 1. For whom has the tour been made? Is it intended for people living in Lombok or tourists? --both tourists (Dutch one-day visitors to the city); and people living in the Neighborhood and Utrecht. 2. How many people are doing the GPS tour on a weekly basis? --not so many, in the summer season about ten every month, in winter season about 5 per month. Sometimes a school group with about 100 students, mostly in September during some days. 3. For how long has the GPS tour of Lombok been existing? --Summer 2009 4. Did you notice any trends in popularity during the time it has been available? --It was shortly popular again when we introduced (in may 2010) the iPhone app. 5. Do you know what kind of people that are actually doing the GPS tour? --We don't register that. I know some examples: some people i spoke with were visitors from outside Utrecht, some have been from Groningen for example. Some were from the neighborhood. In my believe are those both representative for the whole group of visitors. 5. What is your motivation for creating the GPS tour? --GPS tour Lombok was an assignment from www.kosmopolis.nl 6. What were your reasons for the themes of the videos? --see answer 5. !