Katia Chaterji: I study the relationship between Islam and the performing arts within the Indian Ocean world. My dissertation project explores the transmission of Islam into maritime Southeast Asia through pathways mobilized by the arts – those journeys made possible by singing and dancing. I engage archival, oral history, and dance ethnographic methodologies in approaching the making of regional Islamic histories in Sumatra, the western-most island of modern-day Indonesia. With a background in archaeology and cultural heritage preservation (where focus is often on that which is “tangible”), I am invested in understanding how intangible cultural practices are important sources for understanding local history. In my courses next year, we will consider arts and literature in our study of history, climate change, and activism in this region.
Dimas Iqbal Romadhon: I am trained as a medical anthropologist, but I also develop interests in archival studies and oral traditions. My past and recent projects follow the shifting of knowledge related to place and diseases in colonial and postcolonial times. In my previous research, I worked with archives and oral traditions to understand the roles of European authors in colonial Indonesia in constructing leprosy stigma through their modification of an indigenous folktale, Ragapadmi. My current dissertation examines how contingent actors engage in processes to compromise global health security programs in Indonesia. I am drawing perspectives from leprosy endemic, measles vaccination, and recent COVID-19 pandemic in Indonesia. I am also writing, eh, drawing a graphic novel, in collaboration with Indonesian cartoonists, to recount the life and works of a Javanese shadow puppet play (wayang) master and a former Indonesian political prisoner named Tristuti Rachmadi.