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How did Indonesia shape the British empire, global science, and knowledge? How can repatriation build new global collaborations?
In-person at The Advanced Research Centre
University of Glasgow
Studio 2
Online via Eventbrite
Organizing committee
Dr Adam Bobbette
Dr Bagus Muljadi
CONTEXT
Inscriptions on the Move will explore collaboration between Britain and Indonesia in the past, present, and future. The conference will examine the context and legacies of the Prasasti Sangguran and Pucangan, two early modern stone inscriptions removed from Indonesia by Stamford Raffles during the British Interregnum of Java (1811-1816). The Sangguran inscription was sent to the Minto estate in Scotland while the Pucangan was sent to Kolkata. Campaigns to repatriate the inscriptions began in 2003.
The conference will explore new research on the inscriptions in their early modern and modern contexts, including their role in colonial and post-colonial national imaginaries, ideas of cultural and environmental decline, changing conceptions of borders, territory, colony, and empire. The conference will consider the history of campaigns for the restitution of artefacts to Indonesia, the repatriation of artworks from Scottish museums, and the shifting parameters of national narratives. By connecting the deep history of the inscriptions to the present, early modern to modern Indonesia, Britain, and India, the workshop will highlight the fluidity and contested meanings of the inscriptions.
Participants
Erika Anderson, Hunterian Museum, Curator of Minerology and Petrology
Eko Bastiawan, Independent Researcher, Member of ERC DHARMA project
Dr Adam Bobbette, School of Geographical and Earth Sciences, University of Glasgow
Dr Sadiah Boonstra, Post-Doctoral Researcher at VU University Amsterdam
Prof Peter Carey, Facultas Ilmu Pengetahuan Budaya, Universitas Indonesia
Dr Mekhola Gomes, History, Amherst College
Lestari Moerdijat, Deputy Speaker, People’s Consultative Assembly, Republic of Indonesia
Professor Arlo Griffiths, École Française d’Extrême-Orient
Dr Bagus Muljadi, Department of Chemical and Environmental Engineering, University of Nottingham
Aries Agung Paewai, Mayor of Batu, East Java, Indonesia
Dr Jarrah Sastrawan, École Française d’Extrême-Orient
Dr Alexander Supartono, School of Arts and Creative Industries, Edinburgh Napier University
Farah Wardani, Curator
SCHEDULE (in BST)
9:10-9:30: Introduction: Adam Bobbette & Bagus Muljadi, Collaboration & Repatriation between Indonesia and Britain
9:30-9:45: Lestari Moerdijat, Deputy Speaker, People’s Consultative Assembly, Republic of Indonesia
9:45-10:00: Aries Agung Paewai, Mayor of Batu, East Java, Indonesia
10:00-10:30: Erika Anderson, The Status of Geological Repatriation and the Museum Context
10:30-11:00: Sadiah Boonstra, Envisioning a Cultural Future for Indonesia: The History of Discourses about the Repatriation of Cultural Objects
11:00-11:25: Jarrah Sastrawan, Rereading the Sangguran Inscription with Fresh Eyes
Tea Break
11:35-12:00: Peter Carey, Monuments of Unageing Intellect: How Raffles and his Interregnum Regime Museumized Java
Lunch
1:00-1:30: Mekhola Gomes, Monuments of State: Culture and Power in Premodern Indonesia through Inscriptions
1:30-2:00: Alexander Supartono, Souvenir of Antiquity: 19th Century Archeological Photographs in Java
2:00-2:30:Adam Bobbette, Environmental Catastrophe and Ideas of Displacement in Java, 10thCentury to the Present
2:30-3:00: Farah Wardani, Untold Stories: The Politics of Display & The Silence of Empire
Tea break
3:15-4:00: Discussion