Events: Kritika Kultura Lecture Series presents Antonius Herujiyanto
Kritika Kultura, the international refereed journal of language, literary, and cultural studies of the Department of English, Ateneo de Manila University will host a lecture by Antonius Herujiyanto titled “Indonesian Modern Wayang Theater: Re-appropriating National Development Discourse.” The lecture is on Apr. 22, 2017, from 12:00 to 1:30 p.m., at CTC 404, Ateneo de Manila University. The lecture is open to the public. Herujiyanto’s abstract reads: “In Indonesian wayang (the shadow play), the characters are not all of one piece: there is no such a thing as the good/all-good, or the bad/all-bad. The dhalang (the puppeteer, the animator of the lifeless puppets in performances of puppet theatre traditions) is considered as, or often compared to, God. Today, the ‘real sense of Indonesian wayang theatre’ provides a socio-political commentary and critique and it re-appropriates the national development discourse performed by President Joko ‘Jokowi’ Widodo as the dhalang. This is precisely what the lecture is about: how the Indonesian socio-political situation during the past year (from Mar. 2016 to Mar. 2017) under the country’s real life dhalang. The lecture’s context is focused on the country’s political Islam especially dealing with the 2017 Jakarta gubernatorial election (which has also been considered as the smaller version of the 2019 presidential election). It is grounded on wayang strategy and the indigenous wisdom grojogan of Katresnanism theory, encouraging and producing a better understanding on one of those Indonesian indigenous common senses. The talk suggests that the dhalang has implemented the so-called epic theatre and wayang strategy. Instead of sharing an experience the spectator must come to grips with things, tickling his or her reason.” About the lecturer Antonius Herujiyanto has been teaching at Sanata Dharma University Yogyakarta, Indonesia, since 1987 where he is a faculty member of the Department of Language and Arts Education. He earned his master’s degree in Literature (English) from Ateneo de Manila University in 1998. In 2000 he finished his PhD in Literature from De La Salle University. His works focus on Action Research, English Language Teaching, Criticism of Indonesian literary works, Journalism and research on Javanese culture. His recent book is entitled Understanding Indonesian Plays: Wayang and Brechtian Strategy (2016). He has also been a correspondent for the BBC-M, Caversham, UK, since 2001. Kritika Kultura is acknowledged by a host of Asian and Asian American Studies libraries and scholarly networks, and indexed in the MLA International Bibliography, Thomson Reuters (ISI), Scopus, EBSCO, and the Directory of Open Access Journals. For inquiries about submission guidelines and future events, visit http://journals.ateneo.edu/ojs/kk/ or email kk.soh@ateneo.edu |
