Department of Archaeology Universitas Gadjah Mada
Yogyakarta, 18th-20th November 2014

Background

Over the last three decades there has been a rise in museum criticism. What were common practices in museology are now being challenged; especially the ways museums curate their collections, or work with their different stakeholders. Under the pressure of such critique, museum practices have changed significantly worldwide. Museums in the so-called West, for example, have been attempting to ‘decolonize’ their practices, if only partial and incomplete, confronting their colonial roots, while trying to develop new methodologies deemed more suitable for collections and display in the post colonial present. Similarly methodological shifts have been happening in areas of museum conservation and education.

Co-terminus with this rethinking of museums in the West has been similar developments in museology in so-called non-traditional museum spaces, including, and perhaps, especially in Asia, with significant rise in the number of museums as well as an increase in museum training programmes. Despite these sea changes, and the long history of established museum tradition in many non-western societies – in many instances since the 19th century – these local museums remain marginal institutions. In fact, the word ‘museum’ still remains uncommon within the cultural vocabulary of many such societies. Recently academics have tried to identify non-western museological models, where, for example, preservation practices that parallel those in conventional museums can be found. Still these models have not developed sufficiently. Nor are they sufficiently valorized and embedded within museum practice to have the desired effect of improving the status of museums in and the value of museums to these societies.

In response to the need to strengthen museum practice in several of these countries, numerous museum professionals travel to Europe and North America to study museology. This is complemented by a growing number of locally based museology training programmes in Asia. In Indonesia, for example, formal training programs in the field of museology were recently developed in a number of Universities. The archaeology departments of the Universitas Gadjah Mada and Universitas Indonesia have museology training programs at both the Bachelors and the Masters levels. These programmes were developed with the assistance of institutions in the West. But have these local based programs worked? Or, do those who return with ‘western’ museology training really impact the local situation enough?

Five years into the museology education programs Universitas Gadjah Mada, it is now timely to reflect on the state of museums and museum education in Indonesia and Asia in general. More than a critical assessment of the programs themselves, we want to ask questions about how to rethink museological practices that have been already defined in the West for our own museums. We now have museology training programs but do they sufficiently serve our needs? Is the limited valorization of local museums based solely in the fact that they are ‘innately’ western institutions or are there other, more practical reasons for their shortcomings? How do we further develop a training program that responds to local needs? What histories of museums should be mobilized to inform a local museum practice? What, we want to ask, is a museum of our own? The conference will be divided in a number of interrelated sessions addressing different topics in in museology, both at concept and practical levels.

Sila kunjungi:

http://arkeologi.fib.ugm.ac.id/main/2014/05/call-for-papers/

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Seminar TOR Indo Participant

16 Oktober 2014
Ruang Sidang 1 FIB UGM
Pukul 13.00

Pemateri:
Mirjam Lücking
(University of Freiburg)

Ideas of the ‘Arab World’ in Indonesia,Perceptions and Experiences of Labour Migrants and Pilgrims

Abstrak

Setting off from the assumption that the construction of ‘self’ and ‘other’ is a crucial element in the conception of identity, I discuss what role the imagination of the ‘Arab World’ plays for the Indonesian society today. In an increasingly globalized world mobility becomes an important source to generate knowledge about other regions and re-negotiations of morality. Thus, my research focuses on mobile groups, respectively pilgrims and labour migrants, that travel to the ‘Arab World’ and thereby enrich the process of imagining ‘self’ and ‘other’.
Naturally, Saudi Arabia is regarded as ‘holy land’ for Muslims and the pilgrimage to Mecca is central in many peoples’ life. Since waiting lists to join the hajj (major pilgrimage) have become long, travel agencies offer additional trips to the ‘Arab World’, combining the minor pilgrimage (umroh) with site trips to other places.
Besides this booming pilgrimage business and the positive connotations with the ‘Arab World’ being the centre of Islam, the experiences of Indonesian labour migrants (mainly domestic workers) draw a different picture of the region. They experience Arabic culture and customs from within private households and stay much longer than pilgrims. Reports about ill-treatment of domestic workers and human rights violations evoke a more critical view of the respective Arabic countries.
The different travel experiences of labour migrants and pilgrims and the retrospective reflections about it, mirror recent developments of changing ideas of morality and views of the world. By imagining the Arab ‘other’, the Indonesian travelers become more aware of their own identity. Yet, some elements of what is imagined to be Arabic culture are adopted. The journey abroad and the staging of ‘Arabness’ become social, economic and political capital. The research compares different negotiations of ‘Arabness’ and views on the ‘Arab World’ in the context of pilgrimage and labour migration in urban and rural settings in Yogyakarta, Magelang and Madura.

Senin, 30 Mei 2016 ; pukul 13.00 – 15.00
Ruang Sidang 1 Dekanat FIB UGM

Pembicara: Lyn Parker
University of Western Australia

Topik: “Understanding Social, Economic and Health Vulnerabilities in Indonesia”

This talk will outline a large, proposed inter-disciplinary research project which aims to understand social, economic and health vulnerabilities in Indonesia. Although Indonesia is developing rapidly, around half the population is still clustered around the poverty line, contributing to their vulnerability. Using a common framework of the “life course” in eight field sites across Indonesia, the team will conduct deep ethnographic research as well as quantitative research to explore the risks that people face in their everyday life and how they can be mitigated to avoid bad outcomes. The project will a.) identify key vulnerable groups and the factors and conditions contributing to their vulnerability; b.) investigate the effectiveness of social networks in lessening risk, focusing on people’s agency, resourcefulness and adaptability; c.) assess the effectiveness of state and community welfare programs in reducing vulnerability; and d.) pinpoint strategies for reducing vulnerabilities in the future. The findings will show how vulnerable citizens in Indonesia can be made more secure, helping to build a more stable and prosperous country.

Bio-note: Lyn Parker is an anthropologist and Professor in Asian Studies, in the School of Social Science, University of Western Australia. She has published several books and many articles on Indonesia, including Adolescents in Contemporary Indonesia, with Pam Nilan (Routledge, 2013) and From Subjects to Citizens: Balinese Villagers in the Indonesian Nation-State. NIAS, 2003).

The multicultural era is an old global phenomenon which cannot be denied by countries on different continents. The exchange of ideas and cultures, as well as travel of people from one place to another, is not a new experience for people in the world. It can be traced to the historical experiences of people travelling from France to Nusantara in the 16th century, or those from Java travelling to Suriname 100 years ago. In term of ideas and cultures, the word “original” may be difficult to prove, because it is not easy to show that originality. Europe is a continent that has witnessed this phenomenon. The European people have travelled to many different continents since the middle ages, initially through colonialism but later for other purposes. They brought their different cultural products and symbolic capitals to all parts of the world. People from outside of Europe, such as Asia, Africa and Latin America, have also been travelling to Europe, to marry, seek refuge or employment, and other such reasons. The movement of people from other countries to Europe has introduced new discourses, because these people come from different cultural, ethnic, and religious backgrounds. They have their own languages, fashion systems, foods and traditions, but they must speak European languages, deal with new climates, new rules, and new values; this meeting of the old and new may sometimes create conflict. How these immigrants have to negotiate in this different environment, and how the European peoples who have long inhabited the continent also have to deal with these different, outside cultures, is an interesting subject to be explored. It leads to questions such as: How is the process of negotiation done? Which actors are involved in the negotiation? What instruments do they use in the negotiation? What challenges do different groups face during the negotiation?

This international conference, titled Negotiation of Discourses in Europe, is organised by French Department of the Faculty of Cultural Sciences, Universitas Gadjah Mada, Yogyakarta. This conference invites scholars from many different disciplines in the social sciences and humanities to participate as presenters or in the audience

“Road to BWCF 2014″ merupakan kegiatan kerjasama antara pihak S2 Ilmu Sastra FIB UGM dan pihak Samana Foundation. Kegiatan ini sebagai acara pra BWCF 2014 yang akan dilaksanakan pada bulan November 2014. Bentuk kegiatan ini semacam seminar dengan tema ” Ratu Adil, Kuasa dan Pemberontakan di Nusantara”. Pembicara acara ini adalah Dr. G. Budi Subanar (Sanata Dharma), M. Sudibyo, M. Hum (FIB UGM), dan Lailly Prihatiningtyas (TWC Borobudur).