NIOD


27.1.2009

The Idea of Indonesia. Lezing van Bob Elson op het NIOD 30 januari

Bob Elson, hoogleraar van de universiteit van Queensland, Australië houdt op vrijdag 30 januari 2009 van 12.30 - 13.30 uur op het NIOD een lezing getiteld: The idea of Indonesia. Iedereen is van harte welkom. De toegang is gratis, maar u dient zich vooraf wel aan te melden bij Luuk Arens: 020-5233871 of l.arens@niod.nl. De lezing is in het Engels.

Indonesia the nation-state is a miraculous and unlikely construction. At first sight, the material for national unity could not be more unpromising; its history is marred by deep and often bloody internal disputation based on ideology, ethnicity, religion, and region. Yet Indonesia, as concept and as nation-state, endures and is, perhaps, beginning once again to thrive.

Professor Robert Elson, one of the leading figures in the field, seeks to discover the origins of the idea of Indonesia in the mid-nineteenth century and explores its often vexed and troubled trajectory through to the present time. He examines why Indonesia exists, against the odds, as a nation-state, and in what different forms it has existed, seeking to explain the nation's character as it has struggled for unity and purpose. The analysis provides a chronological narrative which examines Indonesian politics, its political elites and their relationship with the Indonesian people.

S.v.p aanmelden voor de lezing bij Luuk Arens: 020-5233871 of l.arens@niod.nl