First Week News

My first week in Yogya is finished. My students are absolutely fabulous. As another professor explained to me, UGM is the Ivy League of Indonesia--add to that the fact that my students are PhD candidates, and you can imagine the intellectual atmosphere in the building. We've already had quite intense conversations about English's linguistic imperialism, the problematic ideologies that it forwards, and the conflicts students feel when translating their ideas and thus identities into a language that is imposed. There is very real tension here between the need to publish in English to succeed as professors and the desire to have already published works--most students have books, articles, etc. already published in Indonesian--acknowledged as "real" academic work.

Not only are students here critical thinkers, but they are kind and very devoted to their communities and social action. Most are not only religious figures in their communities, but also activists who have already worked with NGOs to foment social change and benefit the poor and oppressed in Indonesia. And most see their role as religious studies students directly applicable to social change--there is little divide between the ivory tower and the public at ICRS, or so it seems. One Muslim student, for instance, began a community library in her home so that people who are not students--which is the vast majority of Indonesia--have access to books. She explained that she wanted the housewives next door to have the same books that she did. She has over 1000 books, largely donated, already, and she's thinking of starting another community library where her parents live. Other students are priests, ministers, imams, and community organizers. I look forward to sharing their stories in my research.

The faculty here are also pretty inspiring--as the goal of ICRS is to create inter-religious dialog, they truly seem willing to talk about pressing social issues with each other, rather than against each other. Every Wednesday, there is a forum, where ICRS invites a guest lecturer to speak--either faculty or students. This week a faculty member gave a thoughtful talk about the role evolution plays in Islam, and the political reasons that have encouraged Islam to come out against it, when in the past it hasn't been an issue (namely the creationists in the U.S. have forwarded a discourse that Islam has taken up, encouraging a reactionary position that defines Muslims who believe in evolution as un-Muslim). When pressed by a hardliner Muslim student to say whether he believed in evolution or not, he explained that that was not the point of his paper. To palliate the student, who continued to press him, he finally said, "I believe that you can be a good Muslim and believe in evolution; I believe you can be a good Muslim and not believe in evolution." I'm so lucky to teach in such a place.

Speaking of Islam, our embassy official told our university counterparts that we were all ready to give a speech about Ramadhan in the U.S. Last Wed, several people from the office came excitedly up to me and said that they would be honored if I would give said speech before a large all-school buka puasa ceremony. I better get to studying!

Last night Ingrid, her boyfriend, and a man who had lived in the U.S. for three years on a Fulbright scholarship whisked me off to the beach on their motor scooters. Imagine a 2 hour ride on a scooter, over bumpy highway. I call myself a cyclist back home, but boy were my inner thighs sore! The scenery was beautiful though--we escaped the bustle and stimulation of the city, driving into lush rice paddies and slow villages, with large mountains as a backdrop. When we finally arrived, it was sunset, and the crashing waves (heaven forbid anyone swims there!) were tinged pink, setting up a beautiful contrast with the black sand beach. We ordered fresh fish from the fish market there (so fresh that some were still moving), and had them cooked up and brought to us, all for $2 per person. I ate Javanese style, as my friends did, scooping rice and dissecting fish with my right hand, pausing occasionally to sip juice from a coconut. What a beautiful experience!

Life isn't all about traveling around on scooters and eating though. I found a gym today, finally. And they have HBO! The three men in the cardio room and I watched "The Big Lebowski," a movie which I think might be a bit lost in translation here in Indonesia...They did laugh occasionally, though. That made the hour-long workout worth it--I had to make up for days of no cardio!

It's Saturday night now, and I'm sitting alone in my apartment, writing this post. I only get lonely at night. When in the U.S. I would be out with Nate or friends, having a beer, bowling, riding my bike, baking, you name it, I find myself at a loss here. People don't have casual beers, except for in the tourist zone, and I don't see the point in venturing down there to drink alone or make friends that will be leaving soon. I'll have to find other activities--perhaps if I had brought my crochet work or some literature (I only brought the textbooks I needed to teach and books for my dissertation) I might be better able to distract myself. In lieu of those things, I write, so I hope you enjoyed this post!

I miss you all!