Abstract: The constitution of the Democratic Republic of East Timor provides that the state “shall maintain privileged ties with the countries whose official language is Portuguese” (s8), and further (s13), that Portuguese will share official language status with the indigenous language Tetum. This paper examines debates over language policy and cultural heritage in the newly independent nation of East Timor, using the findings of a survey investigating Timorese students' attitudes toward national identity. It discusses aspects of an intergenerational conflict over the choice of Portuguese as the co-official language, and wider debates over the meanings of East Timorese identity and cultural heritage. Findings of a survey of East Timorese tertiary students (Dili, August 2002) are presented, along with some personal interviews with East Timorese political figures and young people. The findings suggest that a younger generation of East Timorese conceive of national identity in ways which partially contest these “official” cultural affiliations of the new nation-state, while strongly supporting other core narratives of national identity and history. In so doing, they highlight the difficult legacy of cultural division in the wake of consecutive colonial eras, and, more broadly, the way mixed cultural identifications may inform divergent understandings of citizenship and national identity.

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