m.a.a.buana[at]hum.leidenuniv.nl

Buana, MA Louie

Muhammad Buana (Louie) is a PhD Candidate at Institute for History, Leiden University. He studied law and history, specializing himself on the legal history of adat (customary law) in South Sulawesi, Indonesia.

Louie Buana graduated from Cosmopolis Program in Colonial and Global History (2015) and Advanced Master in European and International Human Rights Law (2016), both in Leiden University. A heritage storytelling practitioner and folklore enthusiast, he founded a youth movement called Lontara Project in 2011 to re-introduce La Galigo (the most voluminous literary work in the world from South Sulawesi) through new media for the young generations. His topics of interest ranged from Buddhist Tantrayana teaching in Borobudur Temple, maritime history, to the interplay between adat, Islam and colonialism in the Southeast Asian archipelago. As a writer, he has been selected as one of the Emerging Writers at Makassar International Writers Festival (2014), invited writer at Borobudur Writers and Cultural Festival (2019 & 2020), and Ubud Writers & Readers Festival (2021).

Selected Publications

‘Sea of names: Spatial and toponymic translations in the 19th century Bugis maps of the Malay archipelago’, Translation 01. Yale: Southeast Asian Movement Publication, 2022.

‘Besse dan lukisan purba kawasan Karst Maros-Pangkep: Tantangan reinterpretasi sejarah melalui visual storytelling’, in: N. Sirimorok, N. Arsuka (eds.), Yang hilang ditelan kuasa. Makassar: Ininnawa, 2022.

‘Legenda La Salaga’, La Salaga Project. Atelier KITLV, 2022.

‘Borrowing adat and bargaining Islam: The creation and Islamisation of customary law in Mandar’, in: M. Kooria, S. Ravensbergen (eds.), Islamic law in the Indian Ocean world: Texts, ideas and practices. Oxon & NY: Routledge, 2021.

Legenda Borobudur: Penggalian narasi situs warisan dunia candi Borobudur dalam rangka mendorong pengembangan dan pengelolaan heritage tourism. Yogyakarta: Kepel Press, 2019.

‘La Galigo sebagai teks hukum? Jejak dan evolusi hukum adat dalam epos Bugis kuno’, [La Galigo as legal text? Traces and evolution of adat in Bugis epic cycle], in: M. Hadrawi, N. Rahman (eds.), Jelajah tiga dunia I La Galigo.Makassar: Ininnawa, 2019.

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