Welcome to the Indonesia Forum
The University of Melbourne pioneered Indonesian studies in the mid-1950s. Since the early 1990s, Indonesian studies has undergone an impressive growth in both student numbers and staffing and Indonesian studies are now available across a wide range of Departments, Faculties and Centres, including Architecture, Building and Planning, Commerce, Engineering, Law and Medicine, as well as more traditional locations such as Language, Anthropology, Politics and History.
Formed in 1991, the Indonesia Forum (IF), previously known as the Indonesia Interest Group, is an informal and open network of academics and administrative staff of the University who share a common interest and professional involvement in Indonesia. Members keep in touch by e-mail and hold meetings, seminars and discussions. For the past ten years the IF has hosted major functions which have brought together the wider Melbourne Indonesian and campus-based Indonesia-interested communities.
The Forum also plays a policy advisory role on Indonesia-related issues within the University and works closely with the Asia Institute and with Indonesian students and students studying in Indonesia-related areas. In 1999 the Forum arranged its first postgraduate roundtable for students studying in Indonesia-related fields.
The current Indonesia Forum Convenor is Dr Monika Winarnita and the co-Convenor is Dr Wulan Dirgantoro.
Indonesia Forum wishes those celebrating the Islamic New Year a Blessed & Happy Eid-ul-Fitr
‘Selamat Hari Raya Idul Fitri, mohon maaf lahir dan batin’
Events
Book Talk: Marriage Migration, Intercultural Families and Global Intimacies
Tuesday 23 April, 12:30 – 1:30pm, Room 321, Level 3, Sidney Myer Asia Centre (Building 158)
Speaker: Emeritus Professor Kathryn Robinson, Anthropology (Indonesian Studies) Australian National University
This recently published book (2024) brings an innovative study of marriage migration in Australia, offering new insights into issues of intimacy and authenticity online. The so-called ‘Mail Order’ bride stereotype of marriages between Asian women (incl. Indonesians) and ‘Aussie’ men, and families formed through transnational correspondence courtship, are explored in this book.
Postgraduate Art Exhibition ‘Revolution: Crosspoint of Power of 45-65’
8-19th of April 2024, George Paton gallery, Building 159, Parkville Campus
By Patriot Mukmin, PhD researcher (School of Culture & Communication)
See: https://lnkd.in/gWS7Tq4D
Indonesia Forum and School of Culture and Communication 2-day event 18th and 19th of April with University of Indonesia visiting academics:
Panel Discussion ‘Cultural Research in the Global South’ & Book Launch ‘The Art of Environmental Activism’
Thursday 18th of March 5-7pm, Yasuko Hiraoka Room, Sidney Myer Asia Centre (Building 158)
Register via: https://tinyurl.com/mpfu6krk
Edited Book Launch ‘Gender, Islam and Sexuality in Contemporary Indonesia’ & Film Screening ‘Emak dari Jambi’ (Mother from Jambi)
Friday 19th of March 11.30-1.15pm, Room 321, Level 3, Sidney Myer Asia Centre (Building 158)
Register via: https://tinyurl.com/2hspa92x
Indonesia Forum Postgraduate Seminar
Glory be to the Catholics: Minority Overrepresentation and Disproportionate Influence in Suharto’s Indonesia.
Wednesday 20 March, 11:30 – 12:30pm, Room 321, Level 3, Sidney Myer Asia Centre (Building 158)
Speaker: Angga Indraswara, PhD Candidate London School of Economics and Political Science, BA Honors University of Melbourne
This paper sheds light on the mechanisms through which religious minorities can achieve degrees of success in ways that seem to defy their numerical inferiority during Suharto’s New Order
Empowering Resilience: Unintended Consequences and Reflections on Women and Work after COVID-19 in Yogyakarta, Indonesia
Thursday 7 March 2024, 5 – 6pm, Room 321, Level 3, Sidney Myer Asia Centre (Building 158)
Speaker: Dr Fina Itriyati – Vice Dean for Research, Cooperation, Community Service, and Alumni Affairs in the Faculty of Social and Political Sciences (FISIPOL) at Universitas Gadjah Mada (UGM)
This ethnographic study investigates the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the work of low-income women in Yogyakarta, Indonesia, a city affected by the crisis.
The 42nd Indonesia Forum Postgraduate and Early Career Researcher Hybrid Symposium
22-23 November, Arts West 253
The Indonesia Forum (IF) held the 42nd Indonesia Postgraduate & Early Career Researcher symposium in 2023, a continuation of the University of Melbourne’s commitment to engagement with and building excellence in scholarship on Indonesia. This year is the 25-year anniversary since Indonesia’s Reformation era began (1998), inspiring the theme ‘Reformasi 25 years on: Opportunities and challenges for Indonesian society’
2023 Arief Budiman public lecture: Civil society, human rights and climate justice
Speaker: A.Prof Dirk Tomsa
23 November 6-7 PM William McMahon Ball Theatre,
Old Arts
In this presentation, Dirk Tomsa examined the reasons for the movement’s limited growth and ponder how the legacy of Arief Budiman’s activism might help invigorate climate activism in contemporary Indonesia.