Between Islamic Popular Culture and the Korean Wave – Thurs 28 July 2016 1 pm

“Between Islamic Popular Culture and the Korean Wave: Cosmopolitan identity formation amongst Indonesian youth”

 Dr. Manneke Budiman, University of Indonesia

Thursday, 28 July 2016, 1.00 – 2.00 pm

Asia Institute Seminar Room (321)

Sidney Myer Asia Centre

Swanston Street, Parkville

Halyu or Korean Wave has reached Indonesia and other Southeast Asian countries and quickly disseminated amongst youth, following the previous success of J-Pop as well as replacing its dominance. In the meantime, another flow of culture has also been taking place in the form of Islamic popular culture, which is equally appealing to the young generation that is not commonly associated with religious piety. New ways of grooming and styling that imitate Korean celebrities, the sky-rocketing popularity of Korean TV drama, widespread enthusiasm for learning Korean language, and emergence of various fan-clubs are highly visible in the everyday life of Indonesian youth. On the other hand, Islamic popular culture in the form of youth pengajian forums led by celebrity kyais and dakwah novels are also mushrooming with very high success rates. There are even several death-metal groups associated with Islamic syi’ar in some major cities. Are we witnessing the birth of global, cosmopolitan outlook amongst the Indonesian youth, or the coming of pan-Islamism dressed as popular culture, which is also another global movement at the moment? This is the question I would like to explore and address in this talk.

Dr. Manneke Budiman is a senior lecturer and Vice-Dean for Academic, Research, and Student Affairs in the Faculty of Humanities, University of Indonesia. He teaches literature and cultural studies at the Faculty of Humanities, University of Indonesia. His recent published works, among others, are Words in Motion: Language and Discourse in Post-New Order Indonesia (NUS Press, 2012) (co-editing with Keith Foulcher and Mikihiro Moriyama), and Reimagining the Archipelago: The Nation in Post-Suharto Indonesian Women’s Fiction (Lambert Academic Publishing, 2013), and a chapter in a book, Indonesian Women Writers, edited by Yvonne Michalik and Melani Budianta (Regiospectra Verlag, 2015), “Emerging Women Writers in the Reformasi Period”. He has published articles and reviews on literature, cultural studies, and gender issues in Wacana Journal of Humanities, Inter-Asia Cultural Studies Journal, Pacific Affairs (UBC), and Bijdragen tot de Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde. His areas of research interest are youth and gender, local initiative studies, and contemporary Indonesian literature.

Please send email to hani.yulindrasari@unimelb.edu.au for rsvp

Light refreshment provided