Call for Papers - “Indonesia’s Complexity: Investigating the Layers Between the Apparent and the Underlying”
Description:
The wayang kulit, a renowned cultural form throughout Indonesia, is well-known for its complexity: a lamp projects the shadows of puppets, brought to life by a puppeteer (dalang), on a large white cloth screen, in front of which the audience understands the performance. Behind the screen is a complete gamelan ensemble composed of musicians and singers, adding another layer of experiential complexity to the performance. It brings together visual art (the carving and manipulation of these puppet figures), vocal finesse (the performance of different voices), and instrumental music (the accompaniment of the gamelan ensemble); it bridges the mediums of music, dance, literature, theater, as well as religious and ritual practices. An assemblage of moving parts, the wayang kulit is perhaps inseparable from its performative complexity: different perspectives, movements, symbolism, and elements all come together-occasionally in harmony and otherwise in dissonance-contributing to a sense of semantic depth and richness.
Taking the wayang kulit as our theoretical inspiration, the 15th Annual International Indonesia Forum Conference (Virtual Format), titled Indonesia’s Complexity: Investigating the Layers between the Apparent and the Underlying, invites scholars from all over the world to examine the multilayered dimensions of Indonesian society in their own fields of research and analysis. The conference welcomes scholars of Indonesia from across various disciplines – including arts, history, political science, economics, anthropology, sociology, literary studies, and others – to gather and present their work, with a view toward highlighting Indonesia’s complexity in its various articulations.
Paper Submission:
Submit a short CV and one-page abstract, plus additional page(s) for references in electronic form (PDF or Microsoft Word) to secretariat@iif.or.id, by Friday, July 8, 2022 (11:59 p.m. EST). All abstracts must be in English, and papers will likewise be presented in English.
Abstract acceptance email will be sent by July 29, 2022.
Question(s) regarding conference please contact: iifatyale@gmail.com
