Webinar
Explore our webinar series focusing on multifaceted archival praxis from the region and beyond.
In expanding the discourse of sejarah rakyat (people's history) in Indonesia, Prof. John Roosa draws on his decades-long research on the 1965–66 mass violence, as well as the collective work of the Indonesian Institute of Social History (Institut Sejarah Sosial Indonesia). Building on these experiences, this lecture revisits a perennial question: who is "below" and who is "above"? It also explores how the notion of "the people" can be understood and rethought within contemporary historical writing.
In drawing attention to multiple forms of archival resources: from letters, writing materials, testimonials and lived experiences of political detainees and torture survivors, how does such materials provide transnational insights to the socio-political contexts in the region? What goes behind the process of confronting the traumatic past, present and future within our milieu? How do we perceive the challenges in disseminating such materials in the struggle for truth and reconciliation?
Centring on Soe Tjen Marching’s long-term engagement with oral history interviews; ranging from the 1965 massacres to the 1998 anti-Chinese riots in Indonesia, the webinar hosted by Loh Kah Seng of Chronicles Research and Education, explores the fragility of memory and archives, as well as the ethics of recording traumatic pasts.
Plantation Afterlives: Songs, Memories, and the Politics of Care is a conversation centered on the filmmaking practices exploring songs, memory, oral traditions, and the worlds of Tamil plantation histories in Malaya(sia).
