自19世紀末至20世紀早期，荷屬東印度（the Netherlands-Indies）華人（ethnic Chinese）之身份認同（identities）開始發生變化。隨著民族主義（nationalism）在亞洲的興起，基於種族（ethnic）或文化視角之身份認同的概念逐漸被基於國族（national）視角的身份認同所取代。而這留給生活在荷屬東印度的華人三個主要的選擇：與荷蘭人（Dutch）更緊密地往來互動；與中國國族認同（Chinese national identity）更緊密地聯繫在一起；或／及以本土為導向（indigenous oriented），而此則在1932年之後被標示為傾向印尼（pro-Indonesian）。對於大多數的荷屬東印度華人而言，這項選擇並不是那麼簡單，尤其是在印尼、荷蘭和中華民族（Chinese nation）之概念彼此相互影響的情形下。這些複雜的主要身份認同之間的相互作用使得荷屬東印度的華人重新思考其在荷屬東印度究竟是誰。本文主要探討在19世紀晚期至20世紀早期的亞洲民族主義傳播中，生活於荷屬東印度的普通華人所面臨之困境。本文首先回顧了對於1945年印尼獨立之前荷屬東印度華人的相關學術研究。接著，本文指出了學者們對於華人身份認同以及對於華人不同分類之討論觀點間的差異，進而釐清1900年至1928年間荷屬東印度華人身份認同的分類，而這可以從兩個角度來分析：一個是從不被個人所掌控之外部觀點（an external point of view），另一個則是從個人選擇範圍內之內部觀點（an internal point of view）。在外部因素的標籤下，本文指出了荷屬東印度政府、中國政府們乃至印尼本土民族主義者（indigenous Indonesian nationalists）所制定的政策。而這些政策解釋了其對於荷屬東印度華人及其身份認同形成之影響。本文也表明這當中受華人個人所控制的個人選擇之內部因素，並且此可由荷屬東印度華人的反應及其所做之決定觀察到，而它反應出個人對當時變化中之社會的回應。本文的結論是：荷屬東印度華人處境的複雜性在個人選擇上產生了無數的情況和複雜性。儘管使用像是土生華人（peranakan）和新客（totok/singkeh）之類的術語（terms），呈現出荷屬東印度華人的概括性的圖像，而此在很大程度上支持了現有的學術研究。但此種術語不僅意義甚微，甚至不利於對荷屬東印度華人身份認同之深入了解。

By the end of the 19th century until well into the early 20th century, the identities of the ethnic Chinese population in the Netherlands-Indies had started to change. The concept of one’s identity seen from an ethnic or cultural perspective was gradually subdued under an identity based on national perspectives as nationalism began to grow in Asia. This left three main options open to the ethnic Chinese people living in the Netherlands-Indies: to be more closely associated with the Dutch, to be more closely associated with the Chinese national identity or/and to be indigenous oriented which would after 1932 be labeled as pro-Indonesian. For most people of Chinese ethnicity in the Netherlands-Indies, the choice was not that straightforward and many people were under the influence of a combination of the Indonesian, Dutch and Chinese nation concepts. These interactions between these complex popular identities complicated the process for the ethnic Chinese in the Netherlands-Indies to reconsider who they were in the Netherlands-Indies. The thesis examines the dilemma for the ordinary ethnically Chinese person living in the Netherlands-Indies who suddenly was caught up in the events of spreading nationalism in the late 19th and early 20th century in Asia. The thesis starts with a literature review of academic work on the ethnic Chinese living in the Netherlands-Indies before Indonesian independence of 1945. The work then discerns discrepancies between the views of the scholars discussed regarding the identities and the different categories that the ethnic Chinese were labeled under. This thesis then clarifies the identity categorization of the ethnic Chinese in the Netherlands-Indies in the era 1900-1928. This is explained through an analysis from two perspectives: an external point of view outside of the control of the individual and also an internal point of view inside the range of personal choices of the individual. Under the label of external factors, the thesis points out the policies that were made by the Netherlands-Indies government, by the Chinese governments and even indigenous Indonesian nationalists. It explains the impact these had on the ethnic Chinese people in the Netherlands-Indies and their identity formation. The thesis also shows that there were also internal factors of individual choice that were under the control of the ethnic Chinese and can be discerned from the reactions and decisions made by the ethnic Chinese people in the Netherlands-Indies. It points out how these show the individual responses to the changing society of the era. The thesis concludes that the complexity of the situation of the ethnic Chinese in the Netherlands-Indies created a myriad of situations and complexities of individual choices that despite largely supporting existing scholarly literature, render a generalizing picture of the ethnic Chinese in the Netherlands-Indies based on terms such as peranakan and totok/singkeh moot and even detrimental to a solid understanding of the identities of the ethnic Chinese in the Netherlands-Indies.

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