Imagined Lasem's Manuscripts: A Mapping of Actors and Paradoxes in the Case of Museum Islam Nusantara

When manuscripts enters into the interest of common work of preservation, it is reimagined as something sovereign: imagined manuscripts. Using literature study and field study methods, this research is structured to map the actors and paradoxes that arise about the “imagined Lasem’s manuscripts” in the case of the Museum Islam Nusantara. Actor refers to parties actively involved in the joint work of manuscripts preservation. The network of relationships between actors is formed based on three things, namely interest, power, and sentiment. The results showed that each actor has his own interpretive truth according to his interests. However, power is not the sole factor that determines the success of manuscript preservation. Furthermore, the relationship of each truth presented by a number of individual actors creates paradoxes in terms of policy, management and institutions, and resources.