Indonesia Study Group: Abstracts

12:30-2:00pm
October 28 2009
Seminar Room B (Arndt Room)

Constructing the Indonesian Nation through Crises. Representations and Realities
Vencentius Hoeben

How Indonesia as a nation is constructed through cultural memory seems at the moment more problematic than ever. Many of the memory figures of the New Order seem to have lost their meaning and Indonesia is on a journey to reinvent itself. My talk argues that, in contrast to much of the memory making that has been done until now, the Indonesian nation has emerged from multiple crises instead of long term historical continuities. What could then be envisaged as the 'new Indonesian history' as pillar of a democratic Indonesia?