Josh Stenberg

My 2022 stay as a research fellow at IIAS was invaluable for my research on Sino-Indonesian narrative transformations. My project looked at situational and contingent practices of Chineseness, seeking to understand how identity operated in the colonial Dutch Indies through public performance, and how it began to inform transnational Chinese identities in the run-up to World War II and decolonisation. Access to the libraries and the friendly assistance of senior scholars at IIAS, KITLV, and in Chinese Studies at Leiden were provided by the fellowship's resources and support.

Access to unique sources allowed me to develop insights that would have been impossible to obtain otherwise or elsewhere. Meanwhile, the opportunity to engage with a diverse cohort of scholars from around the world broadened my perspective and enriched my understanding of the particularities of the Sino-Indonesian case, while at the same time creating a lively cohort and a sense of community. The IIAS times remain with me, both through the friendships that it generated, and the primary sources that I am drawing on for my recent publications and current research.