Call for Proposals: Yale Indonesia Forum (YIF) Conference (Stemming the Tides: Indonesia in the Age of Climate Catastrophe)
In recent years, Indonesia saw its cities drowning under the deluge of torrential monsoon rains, its forests blazing in the wake of land clearance for palm oil, its people suffocating under thick blankets of haze, and its capital sinking swiftly beneath the waves. At the turn of a new decade, Indonesia faces a legion of climatic challenges that threaten its population and natural resources. In August 2019, President Joko Widodo announced the relocation of the Indonesian capital in a bid to move the administrative center, partly due to the environmental stresses of pollution, sinking lands, and rising sea levels.
The Yale Indonesia Forum (YIF) calls on scholars, activists, policy officials, and other interested parties to present on issues germane to climate in Indonesia at our yearly conference on Saturday, April 11, 2020. We seek perspectives that traverse methodological and disciplinary boundaries. What are the politics of moving the capital city? What strategies have different communities used to cope with natural disasters? How have climate challenges reconfigured Indonesia’s rural and urban environments? What economic interests underlie the expansion of renewable energy or the persistence of fossil fuels? How can various forms of art express variegated perspectives towards the country’s climate emergency? What are the lived experiences of climate change in everyday Indonesian lives, both historical and current? How have the Indonesian state sought to control the climate and the natural environment in the past? Through these questions and more, the conference seeks a greater understanding of Indonesia in an age of environmental catastrophe.
We invite those interested in presenting at Yale to submit a proposal by 11:59 p.m. EST on Saturday, February 22nd, 2020. The proposal should be limited to 500 words (excluding references) and include:
A description of your project/research and relevant theoretical frameworks
Methods, data sources/objects/materials
Substantiated conclusions or warrants for arguments
Significance of your project/research
List of references for the works appear in the proposal
Paper presentation and demonstration/performance format are welcomed. We encourage all scholars/policymakers/activists from a range of fields, including those undertaking study (e.g. undergraduate and graduate students) to submit. Please send your proposal to yifconferenceatyale@gmail.com. In your email body, please include: your full name (and co-presenters, if any), institutional affiliations and department, status (e.g. professor, post-doc, graduate/undergraduate and what year, etc.), title of the presentation/demonstration/performance, email address, and phone number (including the area/country code). The conference committee will provide accommodation (1 night) for selected presenters.
Notifications of acceptance will be sent via email by February 29, 2020.
For more information, click here. Download the full call for proposals here.
