Laments about “transactional politics” (politik transaktional) are a regular feature of discussions about Indonesian politics. Voters, as well as a few politicians, can be frequently heard complaining about how ...
The most interesting things are often found in places least expected to harbour them. Some 40 kilometres south of Cape Town, surrounded by grass-covered hills and sandy beaches populated by penguins, lies an oasis of South Africa’s...
The bus waiting on the hot tarmac of the Universitas Gadjah Mada’s campus in Yogyakarta was tightly packed with lunches, water bottles and a large group of...
As an ethnographer working with island communities in Eastern Indonesia, Elena Burgos Martinez grapples with the ‘privilege ceiling’...
What is seen as Dutch national heritage is very much shaped by academically trained heritage professionals and the audiences they speak to and reach. As a curator at the Rijksmuseum, I see ...
Last April, I visited the mountain village of Bittuang in Tana Toraja, Sulawesi, Indonesia for the fourth time. This is one of the eight locations in which we record daily life for our audiovisual project Recording the Future. On each of our...
As a researcher focusing on people often labelled as ‘child brides’, Hoko Horii explores the crippling effects of prejudice, along with its intimate connection to power structures in ...
Last March, I had the opportunity to spend two days in Cairo and, with the help of a local bookseller, I was able to buy some 25 Malay books in Arabic script that had been produced in Cairo....
That may sound like a boring question, but it is an important one. Am I exaggerating if I say that the future of democracy depends on it? Informal politics is usually studied through in-depth fieldwork and interviews. ...
Clement Atlee, who had replaced Winston Churchill as prime minister of the United Kingdom in 1945, helped to effectuate the rapid decolonization of Burma and India. ...
When the sun sets in Moengo’s Ronnie Brunswijk stadium, the man after whom the sports arena is named makes his entrance. Brunswijk is here to celebrate the 28th anniversary of the founding of...
“Dance, sister! Dance!” Dina is prodding my side, encouraging me to stand up and dance. “My friend is asking you to dance!” She points at her smartphone, which is videotaping us. A red sign with...
The state-sanctioned persecution of the Rohingya in Myanmar has caused worldwide outrage. But why is this happening just when Myanmar has become...
Despite rich Islamic artistic traditions, people tend to portray Islam as hostile to visual culture. Yet images often inform the ways in which Muslims negotiate religious authority. Practices of image-making in Indonesia and Malaysia illustrate this...
The first month of what seems to be the longest season of the year evokes warm associations with tradition, homeliness and joy: Gezelligheid. Simultaneously, early ...
Are we talking ‘Revolution’ or ‘Decolonization’? Where can these perspectives meet? The Universitas Gadjah Mada’s Department of History in Yogyakarta hosted a two-day workshop to discuss these questions. Gert Oostindie notes his personal impressions....
I was ill-prepared for what happened when I finally emerged from the famous ‘rolling hills’ of Tuscany as a freshly-minted PhD in History from the European University Institute in May. Simply put, ...
My work usually focuses on the semi-villains who animate local politics. Here is a celebration of one of its heroes. As a researcher working on murky topics like corruption and violence, I usually write only about the shady types. My explorations of...
In times of disaster, we are confronted with and shocked by the disrupting impact on our daily lives. Disasters, however, also reveal and enlarge structural inequalities, and power politics that already...
Almost three weeks ago Hurricane Irma raged in full force over many Caribbean islands and Florida. It was the largest category-5 hurricane ever recorded in the Atlantic Ocean, breaking all known ...
I had a dream. Last week, there was a big party in Leiden’s cathedral, the Pieterskerk. There, an international community of esteemed scholars and enlightened visitors had flocked together to celebrate the event...
While many Dutch people know about Mandarin and Cantonese, few are familiar with Hokkien, an oft-neglected Chinese dialect that prevails in southern China...
“History is being erased!” So cried Donald Trump, surely no great student of history, in sudden righteous indignation earlier this week. His mass of supporters have roused themselves from perusing the aisles of Wal-Marts...
Situated in an inconspicuous residential area in the south of Surabaya, one could easily overlook one of Indonesia’s most intriguing libraries and its equally fascinating owner. Tom Hoogervorst looks back on a fruitful week of research spent at Medayu Agung...
21 June 2017 marks the first day of summer in the northern hemisphere. Dutch children still have to wait a few more weeks before their summer vacation starts, but in astronomical terms, summer officially arrives Wednesday. The difference in between...
It’s grant writing season again. This is a stressful time for all struggling academics. But one of the biggest stresses is that every grant application now demands some sort of obeisance to the Gods of Utility. We must exhaustively document how our...
The recent turmoil about the role of radical Islam in elections for a new Governor of Jakarta conceals another dimension of Indonesian politics: the decades long effort of an old elite family to grab the presidency in Indonesia....
“What should we do with academic institutions inherited from a cruel past? Are such institutions reformable, or should they simply be decommissioned? Or, for that matter, literally be burned down in the hope ...
The South China Sea dispute is often portrayed as an archetypal case of an overbearing great power bullying its weaker neighbours. A common kneejerk reaction to this...
Sometimes fiction tells the truth and history perpetuates a fiction. This blog tells us about how history has been used to serve the creation of a national mythology, while fiction has allowed a ...
Why do criminals enter politics in the world’s largest democracy? Why do parties nominate candidates with criminal backgrounds? And why do voters support these candidates? Sarthak Bagchi delves into some...
In Bangkok, the mourning of King Bhumibol Adulyadej has become part of the city’s daily life. David Kloos took pictures. When King Bhumibol of Thailand died on 13 October 2016 hundreds of thousands took to the streets ...
"See what is left of our rubber trees", says Titik, the leader of a group of angry villagers. After a magnificent boat ride through majestic forest, I met his group in Rawang, Central Kalimantan, standing at the edge of ...
Indonesia’s President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) is expected to pay a state visit to the Netherlands this year. Visits by Indonesian presidents to the Netherlands have been accompanied by...
Indonesia made international headlines with its 2006 Anti-Pornography Bill and controversial virginity tests for female military recruits in 2015. The ensuing debate on decency, chastity and the perceived...
Upon the attainment of a new status in 2010, the Dutch Caribbean islands kept the political institutions they inherited from their former colonial power. According to Wouter Veenendaal, these...
Fidel Castro has died. Over the final years of his long life he admonished his compatriots to complete the mission he started in the 1950s. Will they? Gert Oostindie does not think so: but neither does he expect a sudden regime change....
On the initiative of Obor publishers and KITLV-Jakarta, an Indonesian edition of Soldaat in Indonesië has just been published. Between the 13th and 26th of September, Ireen Hoogenboom...
Researcher Dr. Kasia Mika discusses Hurricane Matthew’s effect on Haiti, why natural disasters are anything but, and how helpful helping really is. The destruction caused by hurricane Matthew in Haiti is not...
Is child marriage a clear cut human rights violation? Ph.D. researcher Hoko Horii doesn’t think so. Based on her research into Indonesian courts, and her work with Indonesians living in the Netherlands...
While the concept of a ‘sharing economy’ is gaining popularity in modern societies, in Eastern Indonesia it is a traditional way of coping with daily life. Based on her fieldwork in Sumba, Jacqueline Vel outlines some of the difficulties that researchers and...
Oral history is a promising source for further research in the KITLV project on Dutch military operations in Indonesia between 1945 and 1950. Interviews with Dutch war veterans give new insights into the use of ...
“Is it true you never lay a hand on a book?”, “Then what do you do all day?” These are very common questions for Marije Plomp, the newly appointed subject librarian of South and Southeast Asia. ...
Last year, Gert Oostindie published a book about the Dutch military in the Indonesian Revolution. He is now touring with Ireen Hoogenboom, who contributed greatly to the book, in Indonesia to promote the translated...
When in 2002 Indonesia established a constitutional court nobody anticipated just how important this new institution was going to be. Its rulings are widely reported and they have had an impact on fields ranging from economic policy...
President Jokowi is popular enough to do without military support. Yet New Order-era soldiers have always been close by his side. Now he has gone one further. Who is Wiranto? In a cabinet reshuffle on 27 July he ...
One of the most common social sciences research methods is (online) surveys. While there are many benefits to this method, there are also many pitfalls, like, not being able to get people to fill out the survey you ...
Indonesia’s Chinese authored literature reached its peak of popularity in the 1930s. Access to these unique sources is slowly improving. Tom Hoogervorst escaped Jakarta’s archives for a rendezvous with two passionate...
Young people’s desires to become educated and upwardly mobile are often understood as signs of rising affluence and changing markets for education and work in Southeast Asia. Meanings that young people attribute...
The road to Enlightenment is never easy, but for some people it is easier than for others. Last May I visited Borobudur. This giant eighth century Buddhist shrine and world heritage site is located in Indonesia where now ...