Bambang Purwanto is a Professor of History in the Department of History, Faculty of Cultural Sciences, Universitas Gadjah Mada. He earned his undergraduate and first graduate degrees in history from Universitas Gadjah Mada, and later pursued master study at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London, where he obtained his MA in Southeast Asian Studies major in History in 1989 and Ph.D in History in 1992. In addition to his academic career in Indonesia, Professor Purwanto has also served for a decade as an Extraordinary Professor at Leiden University, holding the chair in the History of Indonesia–Dutch Relations. His research primarily focuses on Indonesian social and economic history, but his expertise extends to historiography and heritages studies as well. His influential publication, “Gagalnya Historiografi Indonesiasentris?!”, is considered a seminal work in the field of historiography. He is the editor of book “Sites, Bodies and Stories: Imagining Indonesian History” (NUS Press, 2015), together with Susan Legene of VU- Amsterdam and Henk Schulte Nordholt of KITLV-Leiden. He is also the editor of “Revolutionary Worlds: Local Perspectives and Dynamics during the Indonesian Independence War, 1945–1949” (Amsterdam University Press, 2023), a volume resulting from the collaborative Indonesia and Dutch research project “Proclamation of Independence, Revolution and War in Indonesia”. Currently, within the New Futures for Indonesian Objects, Professor Purwanto serves as Project Leader. Professor Purwanto can be contacted via: purwantougm@yahoo.co.uk.
Professor Dr. Ihab Saloul is Co-Founder and Research Director of the Amsterdam School for Heritage, Memory and Material Culture (AHM) at the University of Amsterdam. He serves as co-project lead in the New Futures for Indonesian Objects, bringing his extensive expertise in heritage and memory studies. His scholarly work spans cultural memory, conflict studies, and museum studies, allowing him to engage deeply with the ways in which histories are preserved, represented, and contested. Professor Saloul also an editor of two book series, ‘Heritage & Memory Studies’ (Amsterdam University Press AUP) and the ‘Palgrave Studies in Cultural Heritage and Conflict’ (Palgrave Macmillan), and a co-founding Editor-in-Chief of the international peer-reviewed open access journal, ‘International Journal of Heritage, Memory and Conflict’ (HMC ) at the Amsterdam University Press AUP. His recent publications include Martyrdom: Canonisation, Contestation and Afterlives (Amsterdam University Press, 2020), Catastrophe and Exile in the Modern Palestinian Imagination: Telling Memories (Palgrave MacMillan, 2012 / Paper Edition 2018), and Zoom In: Palestinian Refugees of 1948, Remembrances (Republic of Letters, 2011). For more information, Professor Saloul can be contacted via: I.A.M.Saloul@uva.nl.
WERELDMUSEUM
Dr Sadiah Boonstra is a Jakarta-based historian and curator committed to reshaping our understanding of colonial and postcolonial narratives across the Asia Pacific and Europe. Next to her involvement as Postdoctoral Researcher in this project, she is Founder and Owner of Jakarta-based CultureLab Consultancy, a social-enterprise for museum and exhibition services in Indonesia. CultureLab is involved in the research consortium “Colonial Power and Knowledge” investigating the colonial past of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW). Previously Sadiah has worked at institutions like the Indonesian Heritage Agency, Melbourne University/Art Centre Melbourne, National Gallery Singapore, The British Museum/Royal Holloway University, and Tropenmuseum. Recently, her book co-edited with Bronwyn Beech-Jones, Kate McGregor, Ken Setiawan and Abdul Wahid, Rethinking Histories of Indonesia: Experiencing, Resisting, and Negotiating Coloniality was published by ANU Press, http://doi.org/10.22459/RHI.2025.
Dr. Yulianti is an assistant professor at the History Department Faculty of Cultural Sciences UGM. She obtained her PhD in history from a joint PhD project between the institute for History in Leiden University and Universitas Gadjah Mada (2020). Her PhD dissertation focuses on analyzing the role of Chinese descendants and various networks and agencies in the making of Buddhism in the late colonial and early independence Indonesia (1900s-1950s). The manuscript has been recently published by Leiden University Press (2024). Her works also attempts to bring Indonesia into perspective in the historiography of Buddhism in Southeast Asia. Her research interest and publication includes topics on Colonialism and Religion in Indonesia, Maritime Buddhism in Southeast Asia, the notion of religion, environment in rural areas in Java, and Religious Heritage and Material Culture Studies. She was also co-editor for Revolutionary Worlds: Local Perspectives and Dynamics during the Indonesian Independence War, 1945-1949 (2023). The book is the result of a collaboration between the Indonesian research project “Proclamation of Independence, Revolution and War in Indonesia”, Universitas Gadjah Mada, Yogyakarta and the Dutch research group of the Regional Studies project, under the umbrella of the research programme Independence, Decolonization, Violence and War in Indonesia, 1945-1950. Currently she is a postdoc researcher in the project “ Exploring New Futures for Indonesian Objects: Dismantling Colonial Knowledge Production and Recovering Lost Histories and Memories” (2025-2028). In this project, she works on the recovering multidimensional narratives of the religious objects looted from Lombok war’s site that were repatriated to Indonesia. She can be contacted via: yulianti@ugm.ac.id
Ayu Wulandari, M.A. is a PhD student in the Doctor of Humanities program at the Faculty of Cultural Sciences, Universitas Gadjah Mada. Her academic background is rooted in women’s and family history. However, her research interests also extend to memory studies, as she has previously participated in several international dialogues and conferences on memory. Currently, her research focuses on heritage studies, where she explores heritage issues from a historical perspective using an interdisciplinary approach. Within the New Futures for Indonesian Objects, Ayu serves as PhD student under sandwich programme between Universitas Gadjah Mada and the University of Amsterdam (UvA). She works on research about the production of Indonesian memory regarding the Lombok War of 1894 and the objects that displaced from Cakranegara Palace during the war. She can be contacted via: ayuwulandari99@mail.ugm.ac.id.
Hizkirani Jatiningrum, S.IP. is an alumna of the Communication Studies program at the Faculty of Social and Political Sciences, Universitas Gadjah Mada. Beyond academia, Hizkirani has practical experience as a digital animator and designer, with expertise in media management, content production, and visual communication. Academically, her interests lie in contemporary media studies, as reflected in her undergraduate thesis, which examined discourse produced by beauty influencers on social media. Within the New Futures for Indonesian Objects, Hizkirani serves as MA student under sandwich programme between Universitas Gadjah Mada and the University of Amsterdam (UvA). Hizkirani will focus on media and communication in relation to the objects displaced from Cakranegara Palace in 1894. Hizkirani can be contacted via: jatiningrumm@gmail.com.
