Amir, Amrullah

A native of Makassar, Amrullah Amir is a lecturer in history at Hasanuddin University. He holds degrees from Hasanuddin University, Gadjah Mada University, and the National University of Malaysia. His latest book, the History of Identity and Power of the Malay Community in South Sulawesi was published by Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka, Kuala Lumpur in 2019. A recipient of an Indonesiana grant from the Indonesian Ministry of Education and Culture, his current research focuses on human relations with nature, especially the history of deer hunting in South Sulawesi.

While at KITLV he seeks to collect documentation about the history of deer, wild animals and related issues such as environmental history, nature conservation, and the preservation of traditional cultural values related to wild animals in Indonesia. He seeks to make this research available both through academic publications and creative productions geared towards wide-ranging audiences.

Bankoff, Greg

Greg Bankoff is a historical geographer who focuses on the way societies interrelate with their environments over time, especially the way people adapt to frequent hazards. For the last 25 years, he has focused his research primarily on Southeast Asia, Central Asia, the Pacific and the North Sea seeking to understand how societies, both past and present, have learnt to normalise risk and the manner in which communities deal with crisis through applied interdisciplinary approach that combines archival analysis with fieldwork, community mapping, interviews and focus groups.

He has published extensively including over a 100 referred journal articles and book chapters. Among his publications are co-authoring The Red Cross’s World Disaster Report 2014: Focusing on Culture and Risk and a companion volume entitled Cultures and Disasters: Understanding Cultural Framings in Disaster Risk Reduction (2015). Read more.

Duile, Timo

Timo Duile is a postdoctoral researcher at the Department of Southeast Asian Studies at Bonn University. He studied Political Science, Cultural Anthropology, and Philosophy in Bonn, as well as Indonesian language at Universitas Udayana (Denpasar), and obtained his PhD in Southeast Asian Studies. He was a Guest Researcher at Universitas Tanjungpura (Pontianak), the Indonesian Conference for Religion and Peace (Jakarta), Universitas Hasanuddin (Makassar), and Universitas Nasional (Jakarta) and carried out extensive research in Kalimantan, Sulawesi, and Jakarta. His dissertation focused on indigeneity and ideological notions of nature, and subsequent research entitled “The Economy of Interpellation: On the Relation between Indignity, State, and Economy in Indonesia” (funded by the German Research Foundation) analyzed indigenous peoples–state relations in Indonesia and developed a dialectical approach to indigeneity.

Timo Duile is also interested in other identities from the margins from which we can learn more about Indonesian society, its discontent, and dialectical contradictions. Currently, Timo Duile is doing research on atheism in Indonesia in his research project entitled “Atheism in Southeast Asia: Nonbelievers’ ways of life in plural societies shaped by Religion” (funded by the German Research Foundation), but he is also interested in ghost/spirit–human relations (especially Kuntilanak) and in popular culture.

Jagt, van der Hans

Hans van der Jagt obtained his PhD from the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam with a dissertation on the historical relationship between geopolitics, colonialism, militarism and ethics. He studied History at the University of Groningen and the Karl-Franzens Universität in Graz (Austria). Currently dr. Hans van der Jagt works as a associate senior research fellow at KITLV on the research-project ‘The role of the House of Orange-Nassau in colonial history’ and as a associate senior research fellow at the Institute of Security and Global Affairs of Leiden University. Furthermore he works for the Peace and Security Commission of the Advisory Council on International Affairs.

In his work Van der Jagt focuses on the history of colonial structures of power, geopolitical developments, military and international security strategy, defense-policy and emerging disruptive technologies. He wrote academic articles, government research-reports, and policy briefs and published the book Engelen uit Europa (Prometheus, Amsterdam 2022).

Jo, Clara

Clara Jo is an artist based in Berlin. She is a graduate of Bard College (NY) and the Institut für Raumexperimente / Universität der Künste Berlin. Her work has been exhibited and screened at ARKO Art Center (Seoul), Edith-Russ-Haus für Medienkunst (Oldenburg), Spike Island (Bristol), Royal Academy of Arts (London), Institute of Contemporary Arts (London), and Hamburger Bahnhof (Berlin). From 2022-2023 she was in residence at Art Explora Paris. From 2020-2021, she was a fellow at the Akademie Schloss Solitude in Stuttgart. In 2018, she received the Smithsonian Artist Research Fellowship. She has presented her work on panels at the Centre Pompidou (Paris), Stedelijk Museum (Amsterdam), King’s College (London), The Barbican Centre/The Trampery (London), and the Bartlett School of Architecture (UCL London). More information on Clara’s previous work.

Clara Jo is the new Atelier KITLV-Framer Framed Artist in Residence. In the coming months, she will work closely with KITLV & Framer Framed in developing her project ‘Epidemiological routes and ruptures in the Afrasian Sea’ through workshops and conversations around art, archive and activism.

Marcoes, Lies

Lies Marcoes is a senior gender expert, writer and researcher in the areas of women’s rights, child rights, gender and fundamentalism. Lies completed her master’s degree in medical anthropology at Amsterdam University (1999-2000). Previously she completed her bachelor’s degree at IAIN Jakarta in Islamic Theology and Philosophy/Ushuluddin (1978-1983). For more than 10 years (2002-2013), Lies worked as a gender expert at The Asia Foundation and was appointed as the director of research center Rumah Kitab (2013-2022).

She has written many books and op-eds on gender-related issues. More recently, she wrote a long article about kindergartens and radicalism. She has also published several books related to child marriage. In February 2021, she published her book, Merebut Tafsir (New Perspectives), a collection of essays on gender, Islam, and empowerment (Amongkarta, 2021). During her fellowship at KITLV she will work on her paper on gender and fundamentalism, and editing her new book Fitrah dan Fitnah.

Masnun, Leolita

Leolita Masnun is a researcher at LIPI (the Indonesian Institute of Sciences), currently integrated with BRIN (National Research and Innovation Agency) Indonesia. At LIPI, she has worked on various research projects on law and society in Indonesia. Between 2011 -2016, she was also involved in multidisciplinary research about endangered languages in eastern Indonesia. One of the research results is a movie about the Oirata speakers community in the province Maluku.

Leolita completed her PhD at the VU University Amsterdam in April 2022 with a dissertation project Contentious politics in a remote area of the Moluccan Archipelago, Indonesia, which reports on the reconfiguration of the local power structure in Maluku Barat Daya (Southwest Maluku) after Reformasi.  As an associated fellow at KITLV, Leolita is working on the Recording the Future project (RtF) with Fridus Steijlen and Ireen Hoogenboom. She is working on the content of the RtF collection and will write an article based on the RtF collection.

Mrazek, Rudolf

Rudolf Mrazek is a professor emeritus of History at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, writing on Indonesian intellectual history. He is the author of, among other books, Sjahrir; Politics and exile in Indonesia, Engineers of happy land and Complete lives of Campo people, all of them translated in Indonesian.

At KITLV he will finish a biography of Amir Sjarifoeddin.

Mukherjee, Sraman

Sraman Mukherjee is trained as a historian of material and visual cultures of colonial and early postcolonial South Asia. His work explores the interface between the past and the present in the constitution of the disciplinary and institutional domains of art history, archaeology, and museums; biographies of material traces (sites, objects, and monuments); and histories of the inter-Asian circulation of objects, ideas, and people. Sraman’s ongoing research explores the possibilities of translation in art history, mapping material reconstitutions of circulating Buddhist images and objects and sites across South and Southeast Asia.

Sraman is Assistant Professor in the Department of Visual Arts at Ashoka University (Sonepat, India). Before joining Ashoka University, Sraman held postdoctoral research positions at the International Institute of Asian Studies (Leiden), in the Department of Art History and the Institute for Advanced Study at the University of Minnesota (Minneapolis) and teaching positions in the Department of History at Presidency University (Calcutta, India) and in the School of Historical Studies at Nalanda University (Rajgir, India). His published articles and book chapters have appeared in peer-reviewed journals, edited volumes, conference proceedings, and institutional newsletters. During his residence at KITLV, Sraman will explore the copying and replication strategies in the building of Bamiyan Buddhas in Thailand, at Wat Thipsukhontharam in Kanchanaburi Province, and at Wat Saket in Bangkok.

Nabibaks, Farida

Farida Nabibaks is founder and artistic director of music and dance-theatre company Reframing HERstory Art Foundation based in Arnhem. Farida uses dance and embodied knowledge to address the collective trauma of the colonial and slavery past, with the ultimate goal of healing. She studied Philosophy at the Radboud University Nijmegen and holds a MA in Philosophy of Behavioural Sciences. She was also co-researcher in the Radboud Institute for Culture and History (RICH) researchproject Feeling the Traces of the Colonial Past, led by professor Liedeke Plate. This was built around her performance Radiant Shadow, part one, Margaretha.

Farida will be an associate fellow at KITLV from 1 March until 1 October doing a practice-based research on healing from the colonial and slavery past through art, dance/ dance-theatre and embodied knowledge from multiple ethnic perspectives. Read more on Farida on the website of Mama Cash & Amsterdamse Hogeschool voor Kunsten.

Ong, Natalie S.Y.

Natalie S.Y. Ong’s research focuses on the material culture of ancient Southeast Asia. She was 2021–22 visiting fellow at the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies (ISEAS) where her most recent work concentrated on a set of gold ornaments of ancient Temasek (Singapore) found on Fort Canning Hill. Part of that research was recently published in the IIAS Newsletter (Spring 2023, vol. 94), with a more detailed paper on the so-called ‘kala’ head armband forthcoming under the Temasek Working Paper Series. Her work can be found on her Academia page.

While at KITLV, she is involved in a book project on the impact of Indian philosophy on Old Javanese art and architecture.

Perkasa, Adrian

Adrian Perkasa received his Bachelor’s in history and international relations from Universitas Airlangga in 2012. His BA thesis was entitled Orang–Orang Tionghoa dan Islam di Majapahit (Chinese Muslims in Majapahit) and was published by Penerbit Ombak. In 2022, he participated in the Southeast Asia-Africa A New Axis of Knowledge Workshop in Senegal, which laid the groundwork for Collaborative Africa–Southeast Asia Platform. Currently, he is a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Leiden. He is a Local Principal Investigator in Surabaya as part of the Southeast Asian Neighborhoods Network (SEANNET), the auspices of the International Institute of Asian Studies (IIAS) in Leiden.

As a fellow in the joint KITLV-NIOD fellowship program, he will engage with several issues, activities, and debates on accessing and unpacking ‘colonial-era’ object collections and histories. In addition, as the first fellow of this program, Adrian is also responsible for assisting and developing this program in the long run.

Salma, Aqida Nuril

Aqida Nuril Salma is a PhD candidate at Goethe University Frankfurt, where her dissertation examines the complex socio-technical background of far-right Islamist protest mobilisation in Indonesia. Before beginning her PhD, she participated in a range of comparative research projects on topics such as climate change communication, regional elections, religious freedom or belief, and crisis management/communication.

Currently, her research interests center on the intersection of technology and social change, with a specific focus on political communication and social movements in Southeast Asia, particularly Indonesia. She recently completed fellowships at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University, Center of Muslim Politics and World Society Studies at Indonesian International Islamic University, and Centre for Religious and Cross-Cultural Studies at Gadjah Mada University.

Setijawati Soemarwi, Vera Wheni

Vera has started her career as an advocate. Her work focuses on access to justice and collective legal movement within the context of  climate-related water management in an urban context. She has been involved in research on violations of human rights, land rights, properties, and development for the public interest. Her prior work has brought her to write research topics in those areas.

She is currently working on a PhD dissertation about access to justice for marginalized people facing climate-related water management issues in Jakarta, with Diana Suhardiman (KITLV) and Adriaan Bedner (VVI/KITLV) as supervisors. Her research focuses on marginalized communities’ efforts to seeking justice through collective action and social movements when they become victims of climate change adaptation programs. It looks at the process of enforcing and implementing the rule of law in the development of water development program in Jakarta, in response to climate change, and its relations with public interest. She is currently researching the contestation of debates between legal and illegal kampong dwellers, informal settlements, and informal land tenure ownership of urban communities. The book is a reflection of marginalized communities’ involvement in Jakarta to vindicate and achieve justice in resettlement of kampung dwellers.

Stolwijk, Anton

Anton Stolwijk is a Dutch non-fiction writer. In his work, he focusses on the lives of ordinary people who deal with big (historical) events. He published three books: Aceh (a travelogue/historical account of the war between the colonial Netherlands and the Sumatran sultanate Aceh), Ons soort Amerika (about liberal Cambridge, Massachussetts during the first year of Donald Trump’s presidency) and Buiten Dienst (about the last, ageing group of catholics in a church in Alkmaar that is about to close down for good).

Currently he is working on a book about Curacao, an island shaped by its turbulent history (including slavery, oil, catholic mission). In his new book, Stolwijk will investigate the effects of Curacao’s current focus on mass tourism, and provide some historical context. What happened in the buildings that are currently being converted into boutique hotels? How do local residents feel about the new cruise terminal, named after one of the leaders of the slave revolt of 1795? What’s it like to work in one of the new all-in resorts along the coast? More information on Anton.

Vermeulen, Remco

Remco Vermeulen is an external PhD candidate at the Erasmus School of Social and Behavioural Sciences. His research focuses on colonial heritage engagement, particularly by young people, in postcolonial Indonesian cities. Remco works as urban heritage strategies specialist at the Institute for Housing and Urban Development Studies (IHS) of Erasmus University Rotterdam. His teaching focuses on gentrification, urban heritage management and postcolonial cities, particularly in Indonesia, as well as the (post)colonial relationship between Indonesia in the Netherlands. He is coordinator of the annual Urban Heritage Strategies course, wrote a chapter on understanding gentrification in a book on urban network learning, and has contributed to the BlendeEd collaboration with the Faculty of Architecture of TU Delft.

Remco is also working as advisor for cultural cooperation with Indonesia at DutchCulture, an organisation that stimulates international cultural cooperation as part of the Netherlands’ International cultural policy. He works closely together with cultural professionals in the Netherlands and Indonesia, as well as with Ministries, Embassies and cultural funds. He has been involved in the organization of events such as the biennial ‘Indonesia Now’, a seminar on the joint future of Indonesia and the Netherlands (in preparation for the 2020 state visit of King Willem-Alexander and Queen Máxima to Indonesia) and mini-festival ‘Tong Tong meets Erasmus Huis Jakarta’ in 2021. He recently published article series ‘The story of the Erasmus Huis’, the cultural centre of the Dutch Embassy in Jakarta, with two Indonesian historians. The articles, along with short videos based on the articles’ content, have also been published in Indonesian on Historia.id.

Zakaria, Yando

R. Yando Zakaria finished his Bachelor Degree in Anthropology from the University of Indonesia, Faculty of Social and Political Sciences in 1988. Then Yando took a training on Environmental Impact Assessment at the Environmental and Human Re¬sources Research Center, University of Indonesia and Ministry of Population and Environment. Yando has been a visiting fellow at the University of Sussex, UK, at the Institute of Development Studies and at KITLV, Leiden. In the last 30 years Yando has been involved in various research activities, mostly in rural or remote area, and have written more than 200 articles for mass media, scientific journals, papers presented at a number of seminars and workshops, and also for several anthology books.

Yando’s research and writing activities are closely related to issues of indigenous peoples, agrarian problem, and community based natural management. Yando has been concerned about the problems since in college. In 1999, Yando was also involved as the organizing committee of the first Indonesian indigenous peoples ‘congress which later formed the Indigenous Peoples’ Alliance of the Archipelago or Aliansi Masyarakat Adat Nusantara (AMAN) and some related organization as supporting system of the movement. In 2013, Yando was asked to become a member of the Expert Team for the House of Representatives of the Republic of Indonesia to drafting the Village Law; and in 2014 Yando was a member of Expert Team for Developing Initial Draft of Suco/Village Law at Timor Leste. During his visit to the KITLV from October to December 2023, Yando will finalise a book on the indigenous movement in Indonesia.