RESEARCH AND DOCUMENTATION
Over the years, Lontar has undertaken a number of significant research and documentation projects in connection with the preparation of various publications. Most of these projects are open-ended in nature, they can be resumed, whenever additional funding becomes available. All physical materials collected during the course of a project are stored in the Lontar Foundation library.
Examples of recent R&D projects undertaken by Lontar include:
The Lontar Anthology of Indonesian Poetry
It is poetry’s unique facility at representing and embodying social tensions that has given this genre its power and widely appreciated status in contemporary Indonesian society. The Lontar Anthology of Indonesian Poetry is a landmark publication, the first comprehensive attempt to translate the many and varied ways Indonesian poets …
Wayang Educational Package
(2008-2013)
For centuries, the people of Indonesia have revered and nurtured the art of wayangkulit, the shadow puppet theater. In 2003 the significance of this art form was recognized by UNESCO when it declared wayanga “masterpiece of the oral and intangible heritage of humanity.” UNESCO has included wayangkulit in the Orgnaization’s Intangible Heritage List…
Modern Indonesian Drama
(2000-2010)
Although it is possible to study every major non-English speaking Western culture through its translated literature, this has not been the case with the literature of Indonesia. This is one of the reasons why Lontar was established: to ensure the ancient literary tradition of Indonesia, and its thriving contemporary literature…
Historical Memories: The Impact of 1965 (2000-2004)
It has been said that “history is written by the victors.” Such is certainly the case in Indonesia where first the Dutch, followed by the Japanese and then Indonesian leaders themselves, have dominated the writing of history and attempted to make official their own vision and version of the past. The dissemination and monopoly of Indonesia’s official history was especially…
The New Order: Issues, Images, and Incidents (1998-2002)
In May of 1998, after more than thirty years in power, President Soeharto resigned in the midst of a severe and economic and political crisis. During Soeharto’s tenure as president, Indonesia had grown from a pariah of the “free world” to what was thought to be a successful test case of national development planning…
Old Postcards:
“Former Points of View”
(1994-1995)
The year 1995 marked the fiftieth anniversary of Indonesian independence; it was a time for Indonesians to celebrate but also to remember the past. As a means of stimulating greater interest in the past, especially among younger Indonesia, Lontar looked through old photographs of Indonesia—primarily, old postcards—in an attempt…
On the Record:
Indonesian Writers
(1995-1996, 1997-1998, 2000-2002)
Indonesia’s writers have been instrumental to the creation of national identity, the encouragement of debate about the direction of Indonesia’s future, and the interpretation of Indonesia’s past. The history of modern Indonesian literature is one marked by incredible variety and vitality, despite lengthy periods of political repression. From the colonial …
On the Record:
Indonesian Performance Traditions
(1995-1996, 1999-2001)
Indonesia’s exceptionally significant intellectual heritage, developed over centuries, has been woven into diverse oral traditions. In this archipelago a welter of peoples, languages and styles of expression have been juxtaposed and blended. History and experience have long been fashioned into recorded texts and oral performance, giving shape to local wisdom …
The Writing Traditions of Indonesia
Straddling the equator and bridging the Indian and Pacific Oceans, the Indonesian archipelago has been a crossroads for millennia, a place where not only West met East, but where indigenous societies traded as freely in knowledge as they did in pepper and cloves. The richness of the archipelago’s land and seas is mirrored in its linguistic wealth…