Oct 15, 2024 Last Updated 4:30 AM, Oct 7, 2024

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Jul 12, 2024

Interpreting pandemics through history, text and performance

Petruk figures from Ki Purbo Asmoro's collection/Purbo Asmoro Official

Featuring translations and analysis of rare texts, including the revival of an early 20th century Javanese wayang play, this edition illustrates the multi-faceted ways in which pandemics affect us and...

By SIDDHARTH CHANDRA

Jul 12, 2024

Beware the disease of influenza

Petruk, Sĕmar and Nala Gareng confer (image from  Awas Lĕlara Inpluwensa, adapted by Camille North).

An anonymous Javanese text written in response to the flu epidemic of 1918-19, offers its audiences eerily familiar lessons for surviving a pandemic

By NANCY K. FLORIDA

Jul 12, 2024

Petruk 1920 confronts Petruk 2020

Petruk is the central character of Purbo Asmoro's Tamba Tĕka, Lara Lunga

An essay introducing Ki Purbo Asmoro’s original wayang tale Tamba Tĕka, Lara Lunga (Remedy Shows Up, Malady Gives Up)

By KATHRYN "KITSIE" EMERSON

Jul 12, 2024

Reporting on Java’s 1918 influenza pandemic

Pasar Redjowinangoen, Magelang, c1910 / Digital Collections, Leiden University Libraries

Pieter Bastiaan van Steenis’ report on the 1918 influenza pandemic in Java is a rare and detailed account by a colonial health official who experienced its horrors first-hand

By SIDDHARTH CHANDRA

Oct 02, 2024

Elusive promises of the Yogyakarta International Airport’s aerotropolis

Projected land uses for the aerotropolis zone/Ikaputra

Yogyakarta's new international airport and aerotropolis embody national aspirations, but at what...

By KHIDIR M PRAWIROSUSANTO & ELIESTA HANDITYA

Sep 09, 2024

Book review: Beauty within tragedy

By DUNCAN GRAHAM

Sep 02, 2024

Strong ties

Paddy harvest in Agam Regency / Photo by author

Tradition helps Minangkabau protect the land from foreign investors

By RIKA FEBRIANI

Aug 14, 2024

Essay: The life of H.W. Emanuels (1916-1966)

Pak Emanuels | University of Sydney archives

More than six decades after being inspired as an undergraduate in Sydney...

By RON WITTON

Aug 09, 2024

Essay: Under the poetic stars

The atmosphere at Makassar International Writers Festival | Rumata’ Artspace, MIWF

Makassar International Writers Festival and its ripple effects

By CAITLIN HUGHES

Aug 01, 2024

Book review: Productive and pious

Indonesia is becoming an international centre for Islamic fashion / ANTARA FOTO/Dhemas Reviyanto

The faces of young Muslim women in contemporary Indonesia

By ABDULLAH FAQIH

Jul 09, 2024

Essay: Testing out my Bahasa Indonesia

Jakarta/ Agung Wilis Yudha Baskoro with permission

We need to learn more about each other. If we do, we...

By PATRICK J MAHONY

Jul 08, 2024

Asbestos danger

Asbestos is still commonly used in Lombok/ Gwyn Roberts

What can be done to prevent suffering in Indonesia?

By GWYN ROBERTS

Jul 04, 2024

Obituary: Stop telling, start listening

Owen Podger/LinkedIn

Owen Podger’s guide to aid-giving

By DUNCAN GRAHAM

Jun 27, 2024

Essay: What remains of the 1998 tragedy for the post-1998 generation

Pro-reformasi demonstrators in Solo, May 1998 / Sunaryo Haryo Bayu, Solopos, 1998.

Hearing about my mother's experiences in May 1998 became a pivotal moment...

By ALVINO KUSUMABRATA

Jun 24, 2024

Obit: Bob Muntz, 1947-2024

Bel Harper, Bela Kusumah and Bob Muntz at launch of ‘Partners in Development’, December 2003  /Helen Pausacker

By HELEN PAUSACKER

Jun 20, 2024

Memeing the precarity of Indonesian startup workers

/IG @ecommurz

Beyond the hype, workers in this booming industry are seeking not only...

By IBNU NADZIR

Bacaan Bumi: Pemikiran Ekologis – sebuah suplemen Inside Indonesia

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