Talk: Diversity and Cultural Identity in Indonesia after the Autocracy of Suharto

22.10.2015

with Prof. Dr. Susanne Schröter and Hendra Pasuhuk

The artists’ works presented in the exhibition “Roots. Indonesian Contemporary Art” have been shaped by the specific cultural and social conditions in contemporary Indonesia. The island-state unites a variety of diverse ethnicities, languages and religions. After the fall of Haji Mohamed Suharto’s authoritarian regime in 1998, which had lasted for 30 years, the country experienced a period of swift and profound change that still affect life in Indonesia today. Viewed with particular apprehension is the growth in Islamic fundamentalism, which is posing new challenges to the young democracy. The speakers Susanne Schröter and Hendra Pasuhuk are both experts on modern Indonesian history and contemporary Indonesian society.

Susanne Schröter is an ethnologist and professor at the Cluster of Excellence “The Formation of Normative Orders” at the Goethe University Frankfurt/Main. Hendra Pasuhuk is the author of the book “Traum der Freiheit – Indonesuien 50 Jahre nach der Unabhängigkeit” (The Dream/A Dream of Freedom: Indonesia 50 Years After Independence and the South-East Asia) editor for Deutsche Welle for the South-East-Asian Area.