Can There Be Southeast Asians in Southeast Asian Studies?

It is Southeast Asia’s middle-class intelligentsia that pose a thorny situation for some Southeast Asianists outside Southeast Asia. They cannot be totally silenced and made mere objects of analysis, for they are neither purely ‘one of us’ (Southeast Asianists in Western centers of Southeast Asian studies) and subjected to the pressure of Western academic ethics, traditions, and industry, nor are they completely separable and distinguishable from ‘us.’

Heryanto, Ariel (2007) ”Can There Be Southeast Asians in Southeast Asian Studies?”, in L.J. Sears (ed.) Knowing Southeast Asian Subjects, Seattle: University of Washington Press, pp. 75-108.

keywords: agency, difference, mother tongue, national, orientalism, positions, representation, Southeast Asians, Southeast Asian Studies

A post-colonial subversive

Nearly all reviews of and comments on Banu’s Semua Untuk Hindia have missed the radically subversive character of the anthology. Neither the jury of the Khatulistiwa Literary Award, nor prominent poet and cultural critic Nirwan Dewanto who writes a preface to the anthology, acknowledges these qualities in their musings. Apparently, to this reading public what exists outside the state-sanctioned propaganda is simply unimaginable or incomprehensible.

Heryanto, Ariel (2016) “A post-colonial subversive”, Inside Indonesia, 123 (Jan-Mar), http://www.insideindonesia.org/a-post-colonial-subversive

keywords: Dutch East Indies, Iksaka Banu, Inside Indonesia, post-colonial, Semua Untuk Hindia, short stories, subversive

Ben Anderson: the one and only

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Heryanto, Ariel (2015) “Ben Anderson: the one and only”, Asian Currents (ASAA, Australia), 21/12/2015, http://asaa.asn.au/ben-anderson-one/

keywords: Area Studies, Asian Currents, Ben Anderson, ethics, language, New Mandala, politics

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Industrialized Media in Democratizing Indonesia

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This chapter discusses why for a long time the idea of journalists as industrial employees has been denied or misrecognized by many and often opposing camps; and why such recognition has now become practically unavoidable. It also briefly examines a similar and related phenomenon with reference to other urban sections of the middle-class intelligentsia in today’s turbulent Indonesia.

Heryanto, Ariel and Adi, Stanley Y. (2002) “Industrialized Media in Democratizing Indonesia”, in Media Fortunes, Changing Times – ASEAN States in Transition, Russell Hiang-Khng Heng (ed.), Singapore: Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, pp. 47-82.

keywords: democratization, Indonesia, industrialization, internet, Jakarta-Jakarta, labour, literacy, media, post-colonial, Tempo

Challenges to Authoritarianism in Indonesia and Malaysia

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Heryanto, Ariel and Mandal, Sumit K. (2003) “Challenges to Authoritarianism in Indonesia and Malaysia”, in Challenging Authoritarianism in Southeast Asia; Comparing Indonesia and Malaysia, A. Heryanto and S.K. Mandal (eds), London: RoutledgeCurzon, pp. 1-23.

keywords: authoritarianism, democratization, Indonesia, Malaysia, othering, Reformasi

Ubud festival affair reflects New Order mindset

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Vickers, Adrian and Heryanto, Ariel (2015) “Ubud festival affair reflects New Order mindset”, Asian Currents, sighted 8/11/2015, http://asaa.asn.au/ubud-festival-affair-reflects-new-order-mindset/

keywords: Asian Currents, bans, censorship, New Order, self-censorship, Ubud festival

Indonesia’s democratic masses brought victory to Jokowi

Joko Widodo, Indonesia’s president elect, is a paradox. Better known as Jokowi, he stands out as extraordinary among politicians in Indonesia and beyond, for being so ordinary (and comfortably so) in appearance, speech and background.

Heryanto, Ariel (2014) “Indonesia’s democratic masses brought victory to Jokowi”, The Conversation, 23 July 2014.
https://theconversation.com/indonesias-democratic-masses-brought-victory-to-jokowi-29569

keywords: Conversation, democracy, Indonesia, international commentators, Joko Widodo, masses

The 1965-6 killings: facts and fictions in dangerous liaisons

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Heryanto, Ariel (2012) “The 1965-6 killings: facts and fictions in dangerous liaisons”, IIAS Newsletter, 61 (Autumn): 16-17, http://www.iias.nl/the-newsletter/article/1965-1966-killings-facts-and-fictions-dangerous-liaisons

keywords: 1965 killings, documentary, ethics, film, history, IIAS Newsletter, review, The Act of Killing, truth

Know Indonesia, know thyself

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“You cannot say you have mastered a new language if you have not discovered a brand new world, and your new self in it, through the experience of learning it.”

Heryanto, Ariel (2012) “Know Indonesia, know thyself”, The Interpreter (Lowy Institute), 22 May 2012, http://www.lowyinterpreter.org/post/2012/05/22/Know-Indonesia-know-thyself.aspx

keywords: Australia, Indonesian studies, Interpreter, language, self-discovery, utilitarianism