by Janny Scott
185 “Whenever villagers have a problem”: Ibid., 533.
185 “There are numerous stories of kerises rattling about”: Dunham, “Women’s Work in Village Industries on Java,” 41.
187 In the acknowledgments: Dunham, unpublished dissertation, vii–viii.
193 In a haunting scene: Obama, Dreams from My Father, 94–96.
CHAPTER SEVEN. COMMUNITY ORGANIZING
The account of Ann’s years in Semarang and her work on the Provincial Development Project is based on interviews with Clare Blenkinsop, Alice Dewey, Carl Dutto, Don Flickinger, Bruce Harker, Ann Hawkins, Richard Holloway, Sidney Jones, Dick Patten, Nancy Peluso, John Raintree, Jerry Mark Silverman, Maya Soetoro-Ng, Kadi Warner, and Glen Williams. For the brief history of early credit programs, I also drew on The Microfinance Revolution: Lessons from Indonesia by Marguerite S. Robinson and on Progress with Profits: The Development of Rural Banking in Indonesia by Richard H. Patten and Jay K. Rosengard. The final paragraph, about the Ford Foundation, is based on documents in the Ford Foundation archives.
209 “they believed that poor village women”: Letter from Ann Sutoro to Hanna Papanek, July 2, 1981.
211 one-third of the 486 units: Robinson, The Microfinance Revolution: Lessons from Indonesia, 115–118; Patten and Rosengard, Progress with Profits, 22–30.
212 providing not only capital but training: Ibid., 31–35.
215 “Many hours of my childhood”: Maya Soetoro-Ng, foreword to S. Ann Dunham, Surviving Against the Odds: Village Industry in Indonesia, ix.
216 “would be superb”: Memorandum to the File from Sidney Jones, March 10, 1980, PA 800-0893, Ford Foundation Archives.
CHAPTER EIGHT. THE FOUNDATION
This chapter draws heavily on information from grant files in the Ford Foundation archives. In addition, I had access to some of Ann Sutoro’s personal papers, field notes, and correspondence from this period. I’ve also relied on interviews with Terry Bigalke, Halimah Brugger, Bill Carmichael, Carol Colfer, Bill Collier, Alice Dewey, Michael Dove, Jim Fox, Adrienne Germain, Ann Hawkins, Rens Heringa, Richard Holloway, Kay Ikranagara, Tim Jessup, Sidney Jones, Tom Kessinger, David Korten, Frances Korten, David McCauley, Georgia McCauley, John McGlynn, Paschetta Sarmidi, Adi Sasono, Suzanne Siskel, Maya Soetoro-Ng, Saraswati Sunindyo, Julia Suryakusuma, Frank Thomas, Pete Vayda, Yang Suwan, and Mary Zurbuchen. Some information on the history of the Ford office in Jakarta came from Celebrating Indonesia: Fifty Years with the Ford Foundation 1953–2003, published by the Ford Foundation in 2003.
220 “Life in the bubble”: Interview with Mary Zurbuchen, September 30, 2008.
225 William Carmichael, Ford’s vice president: “Recommendation for Grant Action,” April 18, 1985, PA 800-0893, Ford Foundation Archives, 4–5.
226 Ann wrote in 1981 to Carol Colfer: Letter from Ann Sutoro to Carol Colfer, February 2, 1981, PA 800-0893, Ford Foundation Archives.
227 “With all this complexity”: Memorandum to the files from Ann D. Sutoro, November 3, 1981, PA 800-0893, Ford Foundation Archives.
228 “a country of ‘smiling’ or gentle oppression”: Memorandum to participants, Delhi Conference on Women’s Programming, from Ann Dunham Soetoro, April 18, 1982, PA 809-0878, Ford Foundation Archives.
230 “our best reference on the condition”: Memorandum to the files from Ann D. Sutoro, March 16, 1984, PA 835-0145, Ford Foundation Archives, 2.
231 “Okay, sport”: Interview with Sidney Jones, July 1, 2009.
231 “How do you think she felt?”: Interview with Saraswati Sunindyo, February 17, 2009.
231 “a lonely witness for secular humanism”: Obama, Dreams from My Father, 50.
231 her chin trembles: Ibid., 126.
231 “the unreflective heart of her youth”: Ibid., 124.
231 “helping women buy a sewing machine”: Ibid., xi.
253 “looked like a black ball surrounded by a brilliant white light”: Ward Keeler, “Sharp Rays: Javanese Responses to a Solar Eclipse,” Indonesia, 46 (October 1988), 91–101.
259 helped shift the government’s focus: Memorandum to the files from Mary S. Zurbuchen, October 29, 1998, PA 800-0893, Ford Foundation Archives, 6.
CHAPTER NINE. “SURVIVING AND THRIVING AGAINST ALL ODDS”
Material in this chapter came from interviews with Jim Boomgard, Alice Dewey, Michael Dove, Ralph Dunham, Ben Finney, Jim Fox, Rens Heringa, Dick Hook, Mary Houghton, John Hunt, Don Johnston, Nina Nayar, Barack Obama, Dick Patten, Sarah Patten, Marguerite Robinson, Sabaruddin, Maya Soetoro-Ng, Garrett and Bronwen Solyom, Eric Stone, Made Suarjana, Julia Suryakusuma, Trisulo, Sonny Trisulo, and Yang Suwan. In connection with Bank Rakyat Indonesia, I spoke with Sulaiman Arif Arianto, Kamardy Arief, Ch. Oktiva Susi E., Cut Indriani, Sriwiyono Joyomartono, Agus Rachmadi, Slamet Riyadi,Tomy Sugianto, Flora Sugondo, and Widayanti and Retno Wijayanti. I also drew on personal papers and field notes of Ann Dunham’s, her letters to Dewey and Suryakusuma, her reports to the bank, her unpublished dissertation, and her curriculum vitae.
263 helped make up the difference: Interview with Maya Soetoro-Ng.
265 “spir. develop (ilmu batin)”: This appears to refer to spiritual development. Ilmu batin is an Indonesian phrase referring to esoteric learning or mysticism.
267 Madelyn would rent a hotel room: Interview with Adi Sasono, January 22, 2009.
269 first credit project for women and artisan-caste members: Ann Dunham, curriculum vitae, 1993.
269 In the Punjab: Dunham, “Peasant Blacksmithing in Indonesia: Surviving and Thriving Against All Odds,” 877–879.
272 “in many ways the most spiritually awakened person”: Obama, The Audacity of Hope, 205.
273 Though Ann had been led to believe: Interviews with Alice Dewey.
274 a rate of 120,000 a month: James J. Fox, “Banking on the People: The Creation of General Rural Credit in Indonesia,” in Sandy Toussaint and Jim Taylor, eds., Applied Anthropology in Australasia (Perth: University of Western Australia Press, 1999).
276 “probably the single largest and most successful credit program”: For the history of the microfinance program of Bank Rakyat Indonesia, I have relied on The Microfinance Revolution, vol. 2: Lessons from Indonesia, by Marguerite S. Robinson; “Banking on the People,” by James J. Fox; and Progress with Profits: The Development of Rural Banking in Indonesia, by Richard H. Patten and Jay K. Rosengard. Additional information came from a long interview with Kamardy Arief, the former chief executive officer of Bank Rakyat Indonesia.
277 115,000 loans a month: James J. Boomgard and Kenneth J. Angell, “Bank Rakyat Indonesia’s Unit Desa System: Achievements and Replicability,” in Maria Otero and Elisabeth Rhyne, eds., The New World of Microenterprise Finance: Building Healthy Financial Institutions for the Poor (West Hartford, CT: Kumarian Press, 1994).
277 helped the bank weather the crisis: Richard H. Patten, Jay K. Rosengard, and Don E. Johnston Jr., “Microfinance Success Amidst Macroeconomic Failure: The Experience of Bank Rakyat Indonesia During the East Asian Crisis,” World Development, 29, no. 6 (2001), 1057–1069.
277 more than four thousand microbanking outlets: Interview with Sulaiman Arif Arianto, managing director, Bank Rakyat Indonesia, January 14, 2009.
278 “the finest development worker”: Interview with Mary Houghton, November 14, 2008.
282 “a little of his magical power had managed to rub off”: Dunham, unpublished dissertation, 285.
293 “is one of the richest ethnographic studies”: Michael R. Dove, Anthropological Quarterly, 83, no. 2 (Spring 2010), 449–454.
CHAPTER TEN. MANHATTAN CHILL
This chapter is based largely on interviews with Niki Armacost, Nancy Barry, Brinley Bruton, Donald Creedon, Susan Davis, Sri R. Dwianto, Ruth Goodwin Groen, Dewiany Gunawan, Sarita Gupta, Bruce Harker, Mary Houghton, Don Johnston, Celina Kawas, Dinny Jusuf, Wanjiku Kibui, Nina Nayar, Brigitta Rahayoe, Barbara Shortle, Maya Soetoro-Ng, Garrett and Bronwen Solyom, Made Suarjana, Monica Tanuhandaru, Kellee Tsai, Pete Vay
da, and Lawrence Yanovitch. I also had access to some of Ann Dunham’s correspondence and personal papers dating from this period. Amy Rosmarin made available to me a videotape of a professional presentation made by Ann.
311 microfinance institutions were reaching only a tiny fraction: What’s New in Women’s World Banking, 2, no. 2 (May 1994).
317 “I am now going further into credit card debt”: Memo from Ann Dunham Sutoro to Nancy Barry, September 8, 1993.
322 “except the D and C, which I postponed”: Letter from Ann Sutoro to Barbara E. Shortle, July 18, 1995.
CHAPTER ELEVEN. COMING HOME
This chapter relies on interviews with James Boomgard, Gillie Brown, Alice Dewey, Michael Dove, Bruce Harker, Ann Hawkins, Rens Heringa, Don Johnston, Georgia McCauley, Ferne Mele, Nina Nayar, Mayling Oey-Gardiner, Dick Patten, Arlene Payne, Jon Payne, Nancy Peluso, Slamet Riyadi, Sabaruddin, Barbara Shortle, Maya Soetoro-Ng, Garrett and Bronwen Solyom, Made Suarjana, Julia Suryakusuma, Tanya Torres, Pete Vayda, and Yang Suwan. I also had access to some of Ann Dunham’s personal papers and correspondence.
344 biggest mistake he made: Scott Fornek, “Stanley Ann Dunham: ‘Most Generous Spirit,’ ” Chicago Sun Times, Sept. 9, 2007. In response to a question from me, President Obama, through a spokesman on Dec. 16, 2010, confirmed the Sun-Times account and said he had last spoken with his mother several days before her death.
EPILOGUE
This epilogue includes material from conversations with Gillie Brown, Nancy Cooper, John Hunt, Nina Nayar, President Obama, Maya Soetoro-Ng, Sumarni, Kellee Tsai, Djaka Waluja, and Linda Wylie.
350 approximately nine thousand copies: Interview with Peter Osnos, former publisher of Times Books, March 2, 2008.
350 in paperback the following year: Interview with Philip Turner, former editor in chief of Kodansha Globe, March 4, 2008.
352 “best in me I owe to her”: Obama, Dreams from My Father, xii.
Bibliography
Bresnan, John. At Home Abroad: A Memoir of the Ford Foundation in Indonesia, 1953–1973. Jakarta: Equinox, 2006.
Dewey, Alice G. Peasant Marketing in Java. New York: Free Press of Glencoe, 1962.
Dunham, S. Ann. Peasant Blacksmithing in Indonesia: Surviving and Thriving Against All Odds. Honolulu: University of Hawai‘i, 1992.
Dunham, S. Ann. Surviving Against the Odds: Village Industry in Indonesia. Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2009.
Ford Foundation. Celebrating Indonesia: Fifty Years with the Ford Foundation 1953–2003. New York: Ford Foundation, 2003.
Hutton, Peter, and Hans Hoefer. Guide to Java. Hong Kong: Apa Productions, 1974.
Koentjaraningrat. Javanese Culture. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1985.
Miner, Craig. Kansas: The History of the Sunflower State, 1854–2000. Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 2002.
Obama, Barack. The Audacity of Hope. New York: Crown, 2006.
———. Dreams from My Father. New York: Three Rivers Press, 1995.
Patten, Richard H., and Jay K. Rosengard. Progress with Profits: The Development of Rural Banking in Indonesia. San Francisco: ICS Press for the International Center for Economic Growth and the Harvard Institute for International Development, 1991.
Price, Jay M. El Dorado: Legacy of an Oil Boom. Charleston, SC: Arcadia, 2005.
Robinson, Marguerite S. The Microfinance Revolution, vol. 2: Lessons from Indonesia. Washington, DC: The World Bank, 2002.
Schwarz, Adam. A Nation in Waiting: Indonesia’s Search for Stability. Oxford: Westview Press, 2000.
Solyom, Garrett, and Bronwen Solyom. The World of the Javanese Keris. Honolulu: Asian Arts Press, 1988.
Vickers, Adrian. A History of Modern Indonesia. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press, 2005.
A Note on Photos
Over the past three years, people surprised me repeatedly with photographs of Ann Dunham. There was the photo of Ann, at forty-four, on a Manhattan rooftop—the photo that left me wondering about her in the first place. There was the photo of Ann, in a borrowed sarong and kebaya, at the University of Hawai‘i at age twenty-one. Over a dish of crisp fried cow’s lung in a Jakarta restaurant in 2009, Samardal Manan pulled out a black-and-white snapshot dating back to 1969. When I met Bill Byers, he showed me a photo, of Ann in a dashiki, which he had held on to for thirty-five years. Classmates, colleagues, field assistants, a driver, a professor, protégées, family members, and friends unearthed images in old albums, stuffed in envelopes, bent at the corners. Ann kept photos, too. For years, she documented in photographs as well as writing the working lives of the blacksmiths and other craftspeople she studied. She took her camera on field trips with teams of younger colleagues to places like Sulawesi and Bali. Some of those pictures became part of her dissertation. After her death, many were kept by her close friends. Some of the images in this book were made public during the 2008 presidential campaign by Obama for America, the campaign organization. But most were made available to me by family members and friends of Ann Dunham, some of whom chose not to be credited by name.
PHOTO CREDITS
Page 27: Courtesy Margaret McCurry Wolf
Page 54: Linnet Dunden Botkin
Page 61; photo insert page 5: Polaris
Pages 94, 144, 145; photo insert page 2, middle: AP Photo/Obama for America
Page 98: Gerald and Sylvia Krausse
Page 135: AP Photo/Obama Presidential Campaign
Page 141: Bill Byers
Pages 164, 166: Nancy Peluso
Page 247: Collection of Julia Suryakusuma, reproduced with permission of Julia Suryakusuma
Stanley Ann Dunham
Stanley, Stanley Ann, and Madelyn, Yellowstone National Park, summer 1947
With Barack
At Borobudur, early 1970s
During her fieldwork in Kajar, 1977 or 1978
Barack (right) with Maya and her nanny, 1970
Barack (right) with Lolo (left), Lolo’s mother (center), and members of Lolo’s family
Holding Maya, with Lolo’s mother (left) and Madelyn Dunham (right) in Jakarta, August 1970
With Barack at the Punahou School commencement, 1979
With Barack and friends, Manhattan, summer 1987
In the field, late 1980s or early 1990s
On the island of Lombok, early 1990s
In the field
At Barack and Michelle’s wedding, October 1992