Surveying East Timorese Tertiary Student Attitudes to National Identity: 2002–2007

Abstract

This article examines post-independence debates over national identity in East Timor, presenting the findings of a longitudinal survey (carried out in Dili in 2002 and 2007) of East Timorese tertiary student attitudes to national identity. The findings suggest that a younger generation of East Timorese partially contest the ‘official‘ linguistic and cultural affiliations of the nation-state, while supporting other ‘official’ narratives of national history. In so doing, the findings highlight the difficult cultural legacies of consecutive colonial occupations. The paper also examines significant changes in these youth attitudes since independence, including a significant increase in the acceptance of the co-official status of the Portuguese language in the tertiary student demographic over the five-year period.