Gender, Sexuality, Health: Contemporary Dynamics in Indonesia

This workshop will outline the latest broad insights into the changing dynamics of gender and sexuality, with an emphasis on health, in contemporary Indonesia. The workshop aims to foster a network of researchers interested in gender and sexuality in Indonesia, with a particular focus on collaborative efforts with Indonesian researchers.

Keynote speakers:

  • Dr Ignatius Praptoraharjo, Atma Jaya University, Jakarta

  • Dr Sandeep Nanwani, United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) Indonesia

The two keynote speakers will present papers on the contemporary context for undertaking research about sexual and reproductive health in Indonesia.

Eight invited speakers will present short, update-style papers (10 minutes) which aim to generate new insights into the current role of gender and sexuality as it plays out against broader transformations underway in Indonesia. 

Registrations to the day’s presentations is open to all; but especially to PhD students, postgraduates, Indonesian students and community members, and members of the academic community here in Melbourne.

Although morning tea (tea, coffee and snacks) will be provided, unfortunately lunch is not. A wide range of food options are available for purchase within walking distance of the venue.

Confirmed workshop schedule:

1015am-1030am

Benjamin Hegarty, University of Melbourne

Welcome and morning tea (provided)

Keynote speakers

1030am-1050am

Ignatius Praptoraharjo
Atma Jaya University (Jakarta), Centre for HIV Research

Sex and drugs among MSM (men who have sex with men in Indonesia)

1050am-1110am

Sandeep Nanwani
UNFPA (Jakarta)

Speaking HIV: how expert discourses shape everyday silences

1110am-1130pm

Moderator

Discussion

Media and the law

1130am-1140am

Setiyani Marta Dewi
University of Melbourne, Nossal Institute for Global Health

Understanding the opportunities and challenges of the HPV vaccination for school-based adolescent girls in Java, Indonesia

1140am-1150pm

Catherine Smith
Macquarie University, Anthropology

On trust, social capital and the labour of Indonesian midwives

1150pm-1200pm

Ariane Utomo, UoM, School of Geography/Evi Eliyanih, Universitas Negeri Malang

On Halal Love

1200am-1215pm

Moderator

Discussion

1215pm-115pm

Lunch break (self-catered)

Gender and intimacy

115pm-125pm

Monika Winarnita, Deakin University/Gavin Heights, La Trobe University

Talking outside the mainstream: Independent feminist journalism and the discourse on women’s sexual health

125pm-135pm

Ken Setiawan
University of Melbourne, Asia Institute

A State of Surveillance? Freedom of Expression under the Jokowi Presidency

135pm-145pm

Helen Pausacker
University of Melbourne, Melbourne Law School

Regulation of LGBT People by the Law in Indonesia

145pm-200pm

Moderator

Discussion

200pm-230pm

Moderator

Closing remarks

The workshop, and Dr Sandeep Nanwani’s visit, is generously funded by IDeHaRI (The Indonesian Democracy and Human Rights Hallmark Initiative) at the Melbourne Law School, The University of Melbourne.

Dr Ignatius Praptoraharjo's visit is generously funded by the University of Melbourne Faculty of Arts Indonesia Initiative.

Queer Visibility in Indonesia - Deakin University GSS Seminar

I presented on Queer Visibility in Indonesia at the Deakin University Gender and Sexuality Studies seminar series in August 2018.

The recording is available here: https://blogs.deakin.edu.au/gender-and-sexuality-studies-research-network/2018/08/30/ben-hegarty-on-queer-visibility-in-indonesia/

Desiring modernity: Historical perspectives on contemporary queer visibility and national belonging in Indonesia

The past two years have seen the term LGBT shift from an unknown acronym to household term in Indonesia, overwhelmingly framed in pejorative terms. Many commentators have labelled these transformations as both unprecedented and a break with a long tradition of tolerance for gender and sexual diversity grounded in moderate Islam. While sympathetic to these concerns, queer visibility in Indonesia has long been met with a broad range of responses: from outright hostility, to begrudging tolerance, to open celebration. This paper, based on historical and ethnographic research undertake in 2014-2015 in Indonesia, places the events related to the term LGBT in Indonesia over past two years within the history of Indonesian national modernity. Starting from the 1960s, I sketch out a chronology that demonstrates how transgender femininity developed a profile as a form of visibility that was at once popularly enjoyed and officially denigrated. I then present how a historical reading of queer visibility in contemporary Indonesia calls for attention in three areas: 1) the media and mediation; 2) the relationship between private and public; 3) the currents and effects of globalised knowledge. In conclusion, I tease out why historical and/or cross-cultural perspectives continue to offer a vital vantage point for scholars of gender and sexuality studies; a way to resist the temptation of reductionist and universalising notions of rights grounded in identity as a one-way movement towards modernity.

I acknowledge the Traditional Custodians of the lands on which I live and work. I pay my respects to the Kulin Nation and all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Elders.

Profile photograph credits: George Downing

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