My research forms part of a collaborative project on Indonesian cultural history 1950-65. The project as a whole involves 23 researchers divided into two groups, with each group taking a different focus. The first group is focusing on Indonesia's international links, namely the cultural traffic of people and ideas between Indonesia and abroad over 1950-1965, and the second group is looking at the impact of this international traffic on cultural activities within Indonesia, both in terms of the politicisation of culture and in terms of influences on artistic expression. The two meetings of writers on this project are supported by funds from KITLV, IIAS, LUF, The Ford Foundation (Jakarta), and an Australia Netherlands Research Collaboration grant.
Apart from supervising the project,as co-academic leader, my specific research topic within the project is Indonesia's official cultural missions abroad in the Soekarno period, which will be discussed at the first meeting of writers at KITLV April 7-9, 2009 on Indonesia's cultural traffic abroad 1950-65.