CONFERENCE BACKGROUND SYNOPSIS
Contemporary Indonesia is going through a dynamic process of development changes
but not without its complexities and multi perspective problems on its population
self reflection. The democratic reforms have become a key springboard for the
Indonesian people to struggle for their autonomy, rights, and freedom of expression.
Because Indonesia is a multicultural society with the tremendous diversity in
term of ethnicities, religions, social classes, political parties and gender
orientation, this makes the situation a challenging one that needs to be analyzed
systematically. Despite such diversities, the common practice of claiming for
the sake of self and a particular group interest has been a dominant discourse
in everyday life practice. Nevertheless, the robust role of media thus strengthens
the struggle of different groups, who demands for their recognition in their
everyday works of life.
In this multicultural society, the question of identity has becoming a prominent
subject of discussion. Identity seen as an ongoing human development process
has challenged the definition of the mainstream view, which believes and defends
the influence of nature on self. People are also starting to argue for their
rights instead of their marginality. In particular, the people with different
identities are asking to be recognized as subject in social practice. By that,
the self narration is then utilized as an alternative in negotiating position
and power. These are the new challenges in the contemporary Indonesia for the
government, the practitioners, the academic community and the society at large
to debate and reconcile for the betterment of a multi-cultural understanding
in a pluralistic society.
This 2nd International Graduate Students Conference on Indonesia invites graduate
students who are doing research in this topic area or interested in Indonesia
to present their paper examining these issues from the perspective of contemporary
Indonesia. The presenters are encouraged to come from different disciplines
of knowledge. read more