SSEAC Stories

Indonesia is home to one of the world’s largest Chinese-descended populations. Their historical impact is often measured in economic terms but was equally important in the realm of language and literature. The majority of Chinese-Indonesians originally spoke Southern Min dialects, better known in Southeast Asia as “Hokkien”. They also quickly gained knowledge of Malay, the lingua franca of Indonesia and beyond. It was in Java’s vernacular Malay variety that most Chinese-Indonesians acquired literacy. Through their transregional connections and plurilingual competencies, they pioneered in the printing industry of romanized Malay newspapers and books. This foray into print capitalism served the group’s commercial and political interests, but also gave rise to fascinating expressions of a hybrid (Chinese-Indonesian-European) culture.

Dr Tom Hoogervorst spoke to Mr Jarrah Sastrawan about the Sino-Malay literary tradition in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

Tom Hoogervorst is a researcher at the Royal Netherlands Institute of Southeast Asian and Caribbean Studies (KITLV). One of his main interests is language contact in Southeast Asia, which can be reconstructed through a combination of historical linguistics, archival research, and philology. He has primarily worked on Malay and Javanese and their relation with other languages. At present, he focuses on the language history of Indonesia’s Chinese communities, including the unique variety of Malay in which they produced innumerable novels, newspapers, poems, and educational works from the 1870s.

For more information or to browse additional resources, visit the Sydney Southeast Asia Centre’s website: www.sydney.edu.au/sseac.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Dr Sophie Chao spoke to Dr Natali Pearson about her anthropological research in West Papua, reflecting on the challenges of conducting anthropological research, her transition from activist to academic, and the palm oil industry's impact on the Marind communities of West Papua, Indonesia.

About Sophie Chao:

Sophie previously worked for international indigenous rights organization Forest Peoples Programme in the United Kingdom and Indonesia and has published over thirty works on human rights and the palm oil sector in Southeast Asia. She has also undertaken consultancies for United Nations bodies including the Food and Agriculture Organisation and the United Nations Working Group on the Issue of Human Rights and Transnational Corporations and Other Business Enterprises.

Sophie's postdoctoral project will weave together social science methods (including history), science and technology studies, and biomedicine to examine the nutritional and health impacts of agribusiness on humans and their environments in Indonesia. Sophie is also interested in research development more generally and looks forward to engaging in inter-disciplinary collaboration on food, culture, and nutrition with members of the Department of History, the Sydney Southeast Asia Centre, other departments in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences more generally, and the Charles Perkins Centre.

You can follow Dr Sophie Chao on Twitter @Sophie_MH_Chao

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Over the last decade, indigenous Marind communities in the rural district of Merauke, West Papua, have seen vast swaths of their forests and savannas razed to make way for monocrop oil palm plantations. These developments are promoted by the Indonesian government as part of efforts to achieve national self-sufficiency in basic commodities, including palm oil, sugar, and rice. On the ground, however, agribusiness expansion is undermining the local food and water security of Marind communities, who have traditionally relied on the forest for their subsistence.

Dr Sophie Chao spoke to Dr Natali Pearson about the interconnections between processed food, hunger and Indigenous sovereignty in West Papua.

About Sophie Chao:

Sophie previously worked for international indigenous rights organization Forest Peoples Programme in the United Kingdom and Indonesia and has published over thirty works on human rights and the palm oil sector in Southeast Asia. She has also undertaken consultancies for United Nations bodies including the Food and Agriculture Organisation and the United Nations Working Group on the Issue of Human Rights and Transnational Corporations and Other Business Enterprises.

Sophie's postdoctoral project will weave together social science methods (including history), science and technology studies, and biomedicine to examine the nutritional and health impacts of agribusiness on humans and their environments in Indonesia. Sophie is also interested in research development more generally and looks forward to engaging in inter-disciplinary collaboration on food, culture, and nutrition with members of the Department of History, the Sydney Southeast Asia Centre, other departments in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences more generally, and the Charles Perkins Centre.

You can follow Dr Sophie Chao on Twitter @Sophie_MH_Chao

View the transcript here: https://bit.ly/3b8Ha37

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Laksmi Pamuntjak spoke to Dr Natali Pearson about her career, the storytelling process, the challenges of translation, publishing, identity, women's rights and food, among others.

About Laksmi Pamuntjak:

Laksmi Pamuntjak is a bilingual Indonesian novelist, poet, journalist, essayist, and food critic. She writes opinion and features articles for numerous Indonesian publications as Tempo, the Jakarta Post and the Jakarta Globe, as well as international publications such as South China Morning Post, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Kulturaustausch, and Die Welt. She also writes op-eds on culture and politics for the Guardian.

Laksmi’s first bestselling novel, Amba/The Question of Red tells the modern story of two ill-starred lovers, Amba and Bhisma of the great Hindu epic Mahabharata, who were driven apart by one the bloodiest purges in the 20th century—the massacre of up to one million accused communists in Indonesia between 1965 and 1968.

The novel won Germany’s LiBeraturpreis 2016 and was named #1 on Germany’s Weltempfaenger list of the best works of fiction from Asia, Africa, Latin America and the Arab World translated into German. The novel has been translated into several languages.

Laksmi’s second novel, Aruna dan Lidahnya, was a bestseller in Indonesia and published in the US in February 2018 under the title The Birdwoman’s Palate. The movie adaptation of the novel won two Piala Citra (Festival Film Indonesia) awards for Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Supporting Actor.

Laksmi is also the author of three collections of poetry: Ellipsis, The Anagram and There Are Tears in Things: Selected Prose and Poems by Laksmi Pamuntjak (2001-2015); a collection of short stories on paintings, The Diary of R.S.: Musings on Art, a treatise on man, violence and mythology, Perang, Langit dan Dua Perempuan, and four volumes of the award-winning The Jakarta Good Food Guide, Indonesia’s first independent and literary good food guide series.

In 2012, Laksmi was selected by an international panel headed by Sir Simon Armitage as the Indonesian representative for Poetry Parnassus at the Cultural Olympiad (in conjunction with the London Olympics). Between 2009 and 2011, she was a member of the international jury of the Prince Claus Award, an Amsterdam-based international art philanthropy organization.

Laksmi’s third novel, Herbstkind, was published in Germany in August 2018. The original English version of the novel, The Fall Baby, was published by Penguin Random House in October 2019. This makes Laksmi a rare few among Indonesian contemporary authors whose work in English has been published by Penguin Random House. The Indonesian version of the novel, Srikandi, is slated for publication by Gramedia Pustaka Utama early next year. Laksmi is currently at work on Kitab Kawin (A Book of Marriage), a new collection of short stories on women in relationships.

Find out more on her website: http://laksmipamuntjak.com/

View the transcript here: https://bit.ly/2QLv08h

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Laksmi Pamuntjak spoke to Dr Natali Pearson about her third novel, Fall Baby, and about the intricacies of art, religion, politics and history in a troubled Indonesia, but also about family, identity, motherhood, and the sisterhood of women.

Fall Baby tells the story of two women—Srikandi (Siri) and Dara, one a globetrotting visual artist, the other a political activist. Siri is the illegitimate daughter of Amba and Bhisma, the protagonists of Laksmi Pamuntjak’s award-winning first novel, Amba/The Question of Red. Dara is Siri’s best friend-turned foe. After almost a lifetime of soul-searching in different cities of the world, Siri—brave, brilliant, broken—seeks to escape the difficult realities of her family history by making a new life in Berlin. Just as she is starting to find her footing in her new home, both in art and in life, unexpected family circumstances and a changing political landscape compel her to return to Jakarta—and to confront not only the wounds of her past, but also the complex realities of faith, art and politics in Indonesia: from the daily frustrations of navigating between two cultures and her multiple selves to dealing with religious fanatics who deem her art blasphemous.

About Laksmi Pamuntjak:

Laksmi Pamuntjak is a bilingual Indonesian novelist, poet, journalist, essayist, and food critic. She writes opinion and features articles for numerous Indonesian publications as Tempo, the Jakarta Post and the Jakarta Globe, as well as international publications such as South China Morning Post, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Kulturaustausch, and Die Welt. She also writes op-eds on culture and politics for the Guardian.

Laksmi’s first bestselling novel, Amba/The Question of Red tells the modern story of two ill-starred lovers, Amba and Bhisma of the great Hindu epic Mahabharata, who were driven apart by one the bloodiest purges in the 20th century—the massacre of up to one million accused communists in Indonesia between 1965 and 1968.

The novel won Germany’s LiBeraturpreis 2016 and was named #1 on Germany’s Weltempfaenger list of the best works of fiction from Asia, Africa, Latin America and the Arab World translated into German. The novel has been translated into several languages.

Laksmi’s second novel, Aruna dan Lidahnya, was a bestseller in Indonesia and published in the US in February 2018 under the title The Birdwoman’s Palate. The movie adaptation of the novel won two Piala Citra (Festival Film Indonesia) awards for Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Supporting Actor.

Laksmi is also the author of three collections of poetry: Ellipsis, The Anagram and There Are Tears in Things: Selected Prose and Poems by Laksmi Pamuntjak (2001-2015); a collection of short stories on paintings, The Diary of R.S.: Musings on Art, a treatise on man, violence and mythology, Perang, Langit dan Dua Perempuan, and four volumes of the award-winning The Jakarta Good Food Guide, Indonesia’s first independent and literary good food guide series.

In 2012, Laksmi was selected by an international panel headed by Sir Simon Armitage as the Indonesian representative for Poetry Parnassus at the Cultural Olympiad (in conjunction with the London Olympics). Between 2009 and 2011, she was a member of the international jury of the Prince Claus Award.

Laksmi’s third novel, Herbstkind, was published in Germany in August 2018. The original English version of the novel, The Fall Baby, was published by Penguin Random House in October 2019. This makes Laksmi a rare few among Indonesian contemporary authors whose work in English has been published by Penguin Random House. The Indonesian version of the novel, Srikandi, is slated for publication by Gramedia Pustaka Utama early next year. Laksmi is currently at work on a new collection of short stories on women in relationships.

Find out more on her website: http://laksmipamuntjak.com/

View the transcript here: https://bit.ly/2tmd9vK

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

The Asia-Pacific is one of the most disaster-prone regions in the world. Southeast Asia is regularly struck by natural and/or man-made disasters that make international news, with often devastating casualties. While some policies are in place to develop disaster risk reduction, preparedness and recovery, some communities remain left out of the process. People with disabilities are often some of the hardest hit when disasters occur, because they are not provided with adequate access and resources to have their needs met. Dr Emma Calgaro spoke to Mr Kean Wong about her work on promoting disaster risk reduction policies that are inclusive of people with disabilities in the Asia-Pacific region, and the challenges in overcoming stereotypes that further entrench the community's marginalisation and impede their resilience to risk.

Dr Emma Calgaro is a Researcher Fellow in the University of Sydney's Faculty of Science. Her research explores the drivers of vulnerability and resilience in the coupled human-environment system with a regional focus on Southeast Asia, Australia and the South Pacific.

View the transcript here: https://bit.ly/39iMtvd

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

As the world becomes increasingly concerned with the effects of climate change and deforestation, research and protection efforts have tended to focus on a few iconic animals and habitats. But what other innovative strategies can we develop to increase funding and awareness for environment conservation projects? Dr Benjamin Thompson spoke to Mr Kean Wong about his research into how charismatic megafauna can be used as flagship species for mangrove forest conservation.

You can follow Dr Benjamin Thompson on Twitter @Thompson_BS.

View the transcript here: https://bit.ly/2CoLsUj

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

In the lead-up to SSEAC's annual ASEAN Forum, Dr Crystal Abidin (Curtin University) sat down with SSEAC's Deputy Director, Dr Elisabeth Kramer, to discuss her research on young people’s relationships with internet celebrity, self-curation, and vulnerability.

Dr Crystal Abidin is a digital anthropologist and ethnographer of vernacular internet cultures. Her books include Internet Celebrity: Understanding Fame Online (2018), Microcelebrity Around the Globe: Approaches to Cultures to Cultures of Internet Fame (2018, co-edited with Megan Lindsay Brown), and Instagram: Visual Social Media Cultures (2019, with Tama Leaver and Tim Highfield). She is listed on Forbes 30 Under 30 Asia (2018) and Pacific Standard 30 Top Thinkers Under 30 (2016). Crystal is Senior Research Fellow & DECRA Fellow in Internet Studies at Curtin University, Affiliate Researcher with the Media Management and Transformation Centre at Jönköping University, and Research Fellow with the Centre for Culture and Technology at Curtin University. Reach her at wishcrys.com.

You can also follow Dr Crystal Abidin on Twitter @wishcrys.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

During SSEAC's annual Politics in Action, Professor Clinton Fernandes sat down with SSEAC's Deputy Director, Dr Elisabeth Kramer, to discuss recent political developments in Timor-Leste.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

During SSEAC's annual Politics in Action event, Tricia Yeoh sat down with SSEAC's Deputy Director, Dr Elisabeth Kramer, to talk about current politics in Malaysia.

You can follow Tricia Yeoh on Twitter @TriciaYeoh.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.