Sites: Reconstruction and resident relationships with Majapahit heritage

This chapter analyzes resident relationships with Majapahit sites in Trowulan. Our argument, taken from the first chapter and following on from its application to artifacts in the fifth chapter, is that the physical-relational dimensions of Majapahit heritage sites, and indeed all heritage sites, are best comprehended through focusing on the configuration of heritage with its environment. Majapahit sites in Trowulan consist of both locally regulated sites and sites reconstructed at great cost during the Suharto era that have greater state regulation. We compare the history, regulation and uses of different sites in both categories using the concept of territory to analyze spatial controls and focusing on the different ways in which sites have been maintained and managed. The simplistic division of state-run, reconstructed monumental sites and resident-run and maintained community sites in Trowulan blurs when we look at the practices of residents and officials, as did the political division of Islam-secular and the historical division of Islamic-Greater Indian civilizations that generally structure analyses of Indonesian heritage management. We do not argue that these divisions are unimportant for heritage sites; rather the diverse ways in which they are important are revealed through analyses of the configuration of movements to ensure that these heritage sites endure.