Memori Melompat: Jumping Memory, Popular Culture, and the Indonesian War of Independence

IAS Residential Fellow Dr Arnoud Arps delivers a seminar on their research - 

This seminar uses Indonesian popular culture (film, historical re-enactment, and online music videos) about the Indonesian War of Independence (1945-1949) in its aim to understand ‘colonial histories’ from the decolonial non-Western perspective of the formerly colonised. In this seminar, I would like to critically scrutinise the idea that memory travels freely and discuss how a straightforward mobility of cultural memory does not apply to every local context. Memory in Indonesia travels temporarily, briefly, and not far. As a demonstrative semantic device, the Indonesian term memori melompat (jumping memory) signifies cultural memory formation beyond the West. It emphasises that Indonesian popular culture about the war is indicative of the need for a local reframing of existing memory concepts to better understand contemporary engagements with the colonial past. 

Arrivals from 11:45 am for a 12:00 noon start. For those joining in-person, lunch will be served after the seminar from 1:00pm.

This event is hybrid format, please use the required booking button at the bottom of the page to choose either in-person or online attendance.
(Please note that in-person spaces are limited and booking is required, so we can manage numbers for catering and also the space in the seminar room)

By booking a place at this event, attendees agree to behave in a respectful manner such that everyone feels comfortable contributing as they wish. The IAS reserves the right to eject anyone who does not abide by this policy.

IAS seminars are typically recorded, minus any Q&A sessions at the end, again to encourage contributions. The recordings are then uploaded to our website on a Fellows bio page and/or Programme page, along with our IAS YouTube Channel. If you are not able to attend a seminar live, please do still register as we will email everyone who registered to let them know once the recordings are made available.