Discussion Abstract:
Archives are often assumed to contain facts, but what kinds of facts reside within them? This webinar explores the idea of “emotional facts” that emerge when engaging with archival materials. Moving beyond the archive as a neutral repository, the discussion considers how joy, grief, and trauma are preserved, remembered, and negotiated in archival practice. How do such emotions generate the meanings of records and the ethics of working with them? The conversation derives from the key concepts and ideas that form the foundation of Arungkala; Jogjakarta based collective’s practice. In particular, it articulates how they might imagine a model of knowledge production based on “affect”—where historiography and archival projects become participatory practices shared with the people. Such an approach anchors knowledge in the embodied histories of subjects who take part in its production and reproduction, reframing the archive as both a site of fact and feeling, and as a collective space of sensing through selected archival project of Kolektif Arungkala.
Speaker:
i) Amos Ursia, Kolektif Arungkala (ID)
Amos is a researcher and cultural activist from Indonesia, with a background in historical studies, his work engages with archive, historiography, and decolonial/postcolonial studies. His writings featured in several symposiums and art magazines in Southeast Asia. Arungkala, a Yogyakarta-based multidisciplinary collective, practicing alternative forms of knowledge production. Since 2019, Arungkala has initiated various research projects related to memory-based research, alternative historiography, museum-making, tour-performance, archival exhibition, and more. Several of our artistic works and initiatives have been presented at the Biennale Jogja (2025), Asana Bina Seni by Biennale Jogja (2024), Folktarium Muria at Kampung Budaya Piji Wetan (2025), and the TERAP Festival or Public Space Theater Festival (2024). However, many of our artistic initiatives continue as ongoing projects, such as the Museum Orang Biasa, Anti-Tour Project, and Walk The Past platform.
Moderator:
i) Yvonne Tan, Collective member of Jentayu (MY)
Yvonne Tan is a writer and researcher based in Kuala Lumpur interested in dynamics of challenging imperial inequalities, labour migration and political economy in Southeast Asia. Some of her notable contributions include histories of resistance against colonialism in Racial Difference and the Colonial Wars of 19th Century Southeast Asia edited by Farish Noor and Peter Carey (Amsterdam University Press, 2021) and Battlefields and Homefronts: An Anthology of Food and Warfare, 1500-Present (University of Arkansas Press, 2021). She graduated with a Masters in Southeast Asian Studies from Goethe University Frankfurt and is also a member of Jentayu, a writing collective on sociopolitical issues
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This event is organised by Pusat Sejarah Rakyat (PSR) as part of the Under The Banana Tree’s Archival Network in Southeast Asia. It is in collaboration with History Department, University of Bristol and funded by Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC), UK Research and Innovation & International Institute of Social History, NDL.