The fact that there is no trace of these encampments in the colonial his- toriography of Sumatra’s East Coast—or in more recent histories—merits reflection. Colonial historiography arguably followed the administrative maps that demarcated Aceh from Deli and that distinguished what was feared to be a belligerent “Islamic stronghold” from a region of intensive capitalist venture. But these distinctions made for purpose of governance were not maintained in practice.

Ann Laura Stoler, Along the Archival Grain_ E…, loc. 1096