Crossways of Knowledge

My roles at ICAS 13 were primarily technical and administrative. In this capacity, I worked closely with the ICAS team from IIAS. This transnational collaboration, often conducted through virtual means, revealed certain communication challenges. The 5- to 6-hour time difference between the Leiden and Surabaya teams resulted in varying energy levels during our meetings. One team’s dawn was another team’s dusk. It was challenging to synchronize our energy, but we strived to meet with the same level of vigor. In the many meetings we held every Thursday, we prepared for every minute technical detail necessary to bring ICAS 13 concepts to life and pondered any bureaucratic challenges facing us.

Surely, we also exchanged personal stories and jokes – though these often ended with awkward grimaces, perhaps due to cultural differences or simply because they weren’t funny (I’ll never know…). These cultural differences grew larger as we and all ICAS 13 participants came to Surabaya. ICAS 13 became a site where many cultural antitheses and coalescences – however small they were – took place. Poetically, this pluralism was set against the backdrop of one of the most multicultural cities in Indonesia.

The multitude of tasks in our hands mirrored Surabaya’s bustling atmosphere, giving a prolepsis that we were already experiencing the city before we all even gathered there. Despite acknowledging its imperfections, it was nothing short of a miracle that ICAS 13 came to life in true ConFest style, spread across multiple sites in Surabaya and involving multiple societal and governmental layers. ICAS unearthed many hidden potentials in Surabaya, creating new paths – and crossways – for future activities, future histories, and emotional connections to emerge. It’s an exciting future for Surabaya, and hopefully for the collegiality of the ICAS team beyond the context of this event.