Academics' longstanding preoccupation with Indonesian studies may be at least partially explained by the country's arresting cultural presence, said renowned Indonesian scholars at the State of Indonesian Studies Conference on campus,
April 28-29.

"A conference of this kind has not really been attempted before, to get senior Indonesianists across many different disciplines together in one room to talk about the arc, the breadth and the health of our common field," said Eric Tagilacozzo, professor of history and director of the Cornell Modern Indonesia Project, during the opening event.

"When I read [ethnographies written on Indonesia], I read about the real topics of globalization and modernity," said Danilyn Rutherford, associate professor of anthropology at University of California-Santa Cruz. "But the ghosts of Indonesia are still hanging in the subtext."

Rutherford, whose work focuses largely on marginality and border-crossing in West Papua, was a featured speaker on the anthropology panel at the conference. Other panels focused on art history, history, language, government and ethnomusicology. The conference also included a gamelan performance, as well as tours of Southeast Asian art at the Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art and the Indonesian holding of the Echols Collection at the Kroch Library.

Kenneth George, professor of anthropology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, expressed his concern that just as anthropological theory has branched in directions that overlap with other disciplines, the anthropology of Indonesia does not have a narrow, easily identifiable focus. "In the 1980s, anthropologists could see how their work was being 'seen,'" he said, referencing the effect anthropological field studies had on Indonesian studies as a whole. "Now, those energies have all found other disciplines."

He also noted the sharp decline in funding for fieldwork in Indonesia and the gradual reduction of students studying the Indonesian language.

"It used to be you couldn't come home before at least 18 months," added Patsy Spyer, professor of anthropology at New York University. "Now, students are lucky to get funding for a year."

The panelists also noted that current university systems make it difficult to include native Indonesian students in departments. They cited both inadequate academic training in Indonesia as well as lack of funding for graduate work as reasons.

"I had one student, for example, who had to move back to Indonesia, but continued to pay tuition at great personal cost on the off-chance he would be able to come back and complete his dissertation," said Spyer.

Still, the scholars remained optimistic about the continued interest in Indonesian studies at Cornell. "Cornell has helped to place Indonesian studies … in the world," said Marina Welker, assistant professor of anthropology at Cornell and a panel discussant.

George noted that the field has experienced a surge of interest recently. "We've found an appreciative audience in the aboriginal scholar networks, for example." He also pointed out that four major grants were awarded to Indonesian scholars this year, compared with none last year, which may indicate a possible resurgence in the discipline.

Many of the panels made mention of Cornell's special role in the establishment of Indonesian studies and the seminal work of two generations of early scholars. The conference marks the beginning of a revitalized Cornell Modern Indonesia Project that will help chart the future direction of Indonesian studies, Tagilacozzo said.

The conference, which was held at the George McT. Kahin Center for Advanced Research on Southeast Asia, was made possible by the Mario Einaudi Center for International Studies.

Kathleen Jercich '11 is a writer intern at the Cornell Chronicle.