Solidarity and ‘social jealousy’: emotions and affect in Indonesian host society’s situated encounters with refugees

This article approaches the reception of refugees in Indonesia as an assemblage (agencement) that places a multiplicity of relations among bodies, things, ideas, social institutions and emotions at the locus of the study. Refugees’ indefinite ‘transit’ in Indonesia triggers situated encounters with local residents and institutions that contribute to the flow of affect within the assemblage. This article highlights situated encounters that elicit many emotions, expressed using common themes of solidarity and ‘social jealousy’. These themes came up in observations, conversations and interviews with host societies in Indonesia during a multi-sited study in 2018–2019. I argue that emotions of solidarity and ‘social jealousy’ act to enable and motivate host societies to help refugees, while simultaneously limiting how much help refugees are allowed to expect or feel entitled to, thus contributing to the ordering of territories within the assemblage.