Paper short abstract:

The paper will discuss on an issue of economies of ethnicity arisen by anthropologist, Eriksen (in Carrier, 2005). One phenomenon of such issue in Indonesia is ethnic entrepreneurs in the way in which ethnic identity is articulated in doing business in the context of urban culture.

Paper long abstract:

The paper deals with picture of ethnic entrepreneurs in Indonesia that is substantiated by field research done in two Sumatran cities in 2011. Two main research questions were of how ethnic entrepreneurs specifically express their ethnic identity in doing business? What entrepreneurialism do they mean in involving business in the urban context? Three main concepts emphasized in the paper are ethnic identity, entrepreneurialism and urban culture. Type of enterprises studied was small scale and the actors are focused on service and goods sellers. The paper explains, firstly, ethnic entrepreneurs who are regarded as socio economic agents who doing their enterprise by articulating dynamically ethnic identity. It is articulated through name of enterprise that is obviously referring ethnic attributes, language used and typical commodities they sell. Secondly, entrepreneurialism that is a kind of business tenet was studied by exploring some variables e.g. internal motivation, vision of doing business and basic knowledge to choose type of enterprise. Lastly, urban culture is regarded as actual context of doing business. It was analysed as a threating as well as encouraging business realms for agents. In sum, ethnic entrepreneurs in Indonesia may picture type of indigenous market agents who develop a kind of indigenous entrepreneurialism through ethnic-based enterprises with their interface to urban culture. Therefore, understanding ethnic entrepreneurs in Indonesia is one of ways to comprehend the interplay of ethnic identity, entrepreneurialism and urban culture.