{"id":23,"date":"2025-07-08T13:20:07","date_gmt":"2025-07-08T13:20:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chocolate-pheasant-796283.hostingersite.com\/?page_id=23"},"modified":"2025-10-31T11:43:44","modified_gmt":"2025-10-31T11:43:44","slug":"about-us","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/underthebananatree.org\/?page_id=23","title":{"rendered":"About Us"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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About Us<\/h1>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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\u2018Under the Banana Tree\u2019 is a network of cultural organisations devoted to<\/span> preserving and sharing \u2018People\u2019s Histories.\u2019 \u00a0 These histories challenge official histories of kings and strongmen, and focus on dynamic histories of social, labour, progressive, and feminist movements.\u00a0 As a network, we support each other in sharing ideas and providing technical advice in preserving archival materials in challenging political and environmental contexts.\u00a0 For the moment, our network is based mostly in Southeast Asia, but we welcome organisations across the Global South with similar challenges.<\/span><\/p>

The name \u2018Under the Banana Tree\u2019 stems from a story about an Indonesian leftist sent to Buru Island prison camp, during the murder and disappearance of close to 2 million leftists and communist sympathisers in Indonesia in 1965.\u00a0 Following the advice of an agricultural scientist, writers hid their materials in a plastic bag under a banana tree, which absorbed the water which would have damaged them.\u00a0 This speaks to both the fragility of materials related to the Left in Southeast Asia and the technical support needed to preserve them.<\/span><\/p>

Under The Banana Tree Archival Network comprises of multiple partners:<\/strong><\/p>

\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Organisations:<\/p>