Indonesia Council Digest - February 2024
Hi everyone
Indonesians lined up all over the world, including in downtown Adelaide, to cast their votes.
It is great to be back after a bit of a break over the new year – and what a week to be back, with all eyes on Indonesia. I will leave it to the experts to analyse the results of the election, and the process; check out at the latest Talking Indonesia podcast (with co-hosts Jemma Purdey, Lis Kramer, Jacqui Baker and Tito Ambyo), for example, and this insightful analysis for New Mandala by Sana Jaffrey and Eve Warburton about the Prabowo landslide. As proud supporters of academic freedom of expression, we will continue to keep a close eye on developments in Indonesia in the week and months to come.
I was lucky to spend some time in Adelaide in January, where I joined a large cohort of Australia Awards fellows from Southeast Asia, who are spending six weeks at Flinders University for a short course on ‘Maritime Cultural Heritage: Protection, Conservation, Tourism, and Management,’, including a field school to Mount Dutton Bay.
With the Indonesian AA Fellows, plus PhD candidates Zainab Tahir and Nia Ridwan.
Summer break wasn’t all selfies in the garden though. By now you should have received our recent correspondence regarding the introduction of paid membership. We hope you will consider signing up and helping to grow Indonesia Council. A special shout-out to our very first official member, Colin Brown – we love your enthusiasm!
Related to this, I am delighted to share that Dr Elly Kent has agreed to take on the role of Indonesia Council Treasurer. This is a really important role for us as Indonesia Council moves toward a paid membership model, and I am incredibly grateful to Elly for stepping up. Elly brings with her a stack of experience at the Asian Studies Association of Australia and New Mandala, and she has also just taken on a new role as Lecturer in Indonesian Studies at the Australian National University (congrats!). Elly’s research focuses on contemporary and historical art, design and cultural practices in Southeast Asia, and especially in Indonesia – read more about her in the Meet our Members section.
We’ve also had a website refresh. You can now find our past monthly newsletters on the website, plus our current and previous featured members (what a gorgeous gallery – it’s becoming quite the who’s who). Thank you to my colleague Simon for such fantastic work in updating the website. We’re lucky to have Simon’s help for now, but would love to have a dedicated Indonesia Council Digital Engagement Editor going forward so if that sounds like something you’re interested in helping out with, please be in touch. As always, you can reach us on: iclistdata@gmail.com
What’s happening
We’re thrilled to announce that Dr Aditia Gunawan will deliver the keynote address for Indonesia Council at the Asian Studies Association of Australia conference in Perth, 1-4 July 2024, on the topic of “Exploring Indonesia’s Cultural Heritage through its Ancient Manuscript Traditions.” Dr Gunawan is a librarian at the National Library of Indonesia, specialising in Sundanese, Old Sundanese and Old Javanese texts and manuscripts, and has a PhD from the École Pratique des Hautes Études, Paris. We’re so looking forward to hosting him in Perth, and would especially like to thank ASAA for their financial support towards his visit.
In other exciting news, we can officially announce that University of Melbourne will be hosting ICOC 2025! Huge thanks to Kate McGregor, Edwin Jurriens, Ken Setiawan and colleagues – we are looking forward to supporting the conference in every possible way.
Other cool stuff
Murdoch University Indonesia PhD Scholarship: Murdoch University is offering a PhD scholarship (worth up to $249,000) to an international scholar of exceptional talent to undertake doctoral research that will contribute to further strengthening the links between Australia and Indonesia and to building peace and prosperity in the Indo-Pacific region. The PhD project will be hosted by the Indo-Pacific Research Centre (IPRC, formerly the Asia Research Centre) and supported by the disciplines of the School of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences at Murdoch University. The PhD project must align with the research priorities of the IPRC. The objective of the IPRC is to address the challenges faced by countries in the region: these challenges can be broadly political, socio-cultural or environmental. Applications are open until 31 July 2024.
Dr Jane Ahlstrand and Dr Indra Saefullah (both lecturers in Indonesian Studies at the University of New England, which is, as they point out, one of the last remaining Australian universities teaching Indonesian) have launched Indonesia Unedited, a series of open and honest conversations about Indonesia – the country, the language and the culture. Episode One is available on YouTube, in which Jane and Indra discuss the place of Indonesian studies in multicultural Australia – what motivates people to learn Indonesian? How popular is it? How have political, social and environmental events affected this? It makes for a really interesting discussion. Well done Jane and Indra and please let us know when the next episode is out!
Click to explore
One of my favourite artists, Jumaadi, is opening a new collaborative exhibition next month at Bundanon Trust. Tales of Land and Sea runs from 2 March – 16 June 2024, and brings together three distinct projects exploring storytelling, mythological narratives, migration and the diasporic experience. Together, the exhibitions explore cross-generational experiences of migration and the movement of people and goods across the sea. Drawing from both personal narratives and Eastern mythologies, these works highlight age-old themes of longing, displacement, cultural connection and belonging.
Jumaadi, Malaikat I [Angel I], 2019, Acrylic on buffalo hide]
Elsewhere, 16albermarle project space is opening a new exhibition titled Gotong Royong: Community spirit in contemporary southeast Asian art. The exhibition runs from 24 February to 6 April and is curated by Ellya Gunawan. According the gallery, Gotong Royong “explores and celebrates the enduring cultural concept of ‘gotong royong,’ a term rooted in ancient customs of the Malay Archipelago, where collaborative efforts symbolise the collective spirit of cultural identity. Derived from the Javanese words gotong (“work”) and royong (“together”), the term traces its origins to age-old customs where individuals collaborated in communal efforts, fulfilling social obligations within their community.” The exhibition presents diverse artworks from eight contemporary artists from Indonesia, Malaysia, and Thailand.
Mangku Muriati, Cremation ceremony during pandemic 19, 2021, traditional watercolour on canvas, 81 x 125 cm
For much of 2023, Dr Siobhan Campbell worked with the Australian Museum on a large collection of Balinese textiles, donated by Dr John Yu. This acquisition, Colours of the rainbow: Exuberant Balinese fashion, has now been officially announced.
Still in Bali, a recent episode of Background Briefing looks at the “Balinese villagers taking on Russian-backed developers.”
Finally, if you’re in Perth this week, I will be speaking at the University of Western Australia at 3pm, Thursday 22 February as part of their archaeology seminar series, on the topic of “Treasured or Treasure? Valuing maritime heritage in Indonesia.” There’s no web link but drop me an email if you want the details (iclistdata@gmail.com).
Call for papers
The Asian Studies Association of Australia has extended an open invitation to write for their blog, Asian Currents, which aims to connect Australia’s academic experts on Asia with journalists, policymakers, business people, artists, and other educators. If you’re keen to share some research, or have an idea or project that lends itself to a short blog, please consider writing for Asian Currents: you can read the publications guidelines here. We’d be happy to brainstorm ideas with you, or you can get in touch with editor Natasha Naidu via the link above.
The 4th annual AIFIS-MSU (American Institute for Indonesian Studies – Michigan State University) Conference will run from 18 – 22 June, with proposal submissions closing on 7 March 2024. The conference continues to highlight and celebrate the growing and evolving academic study of Indonesia, as it aims to expand research dissemination and collaboration by connecting Indonesian scholars with international colleagues in a bilingual and virtual format. This year’s theme is Indonesia Ascendant? (their question mark, not mine) and you can find out more here.
Universitas Islam Internasional Indonesia has a few opportunities on offer at the moment, including a writing competition and a Scholar-in-Residence program. The writing competition closes 29 February; visit here for further details of the rules and rewards. They are also inviting PhD holders to be a Scholar-in-Residence, with applications due 26 February. If you have any questions, please email: education@uiii.ac.id.
Publications
The English edition of Belgian historian David Van Reybrouck’s book Revolusi is finally out. It’s been described as “a monumental research effort” culminating in a “superb history of the struggle for independence after three centuries of Dutch colonial rule.” Jump onto Amazon to pre-order yours, or better still hit up your local bookstore.
Dr. Erica M. Larson has published her book, Ethics of Belonging: Education Religion and Politics in Manado Indonesia, with the University of Hawai'i Press. This publication “investigates the dynamics of ethical deliberation about religious coexistence,” and marks a “substantial contribution to our understanding of Indonesia's socio-political landscape.” Find out more here.
PhD candidate Nava Nuraniyah wrote this analysis for New Mandala on Indonesian Islamists’ pragmatic pivot in 2024, in which she looks at how hardliners are adapting to electoral realities—and state restraints—in mobilising for capres Anies Baswedan. Also on New Mandala is this interesting article on Indonesian queer histories as solace and resistance by Kirsten Kamphuis.
