CALL FOR ABSTRACTS
Making Knowledge, Making History: Producing the Indonesian Past, Present and Future
AIFIS-MSU Conference on Indonesian Studies, May 26-30, 2026
The American Institute for Indonesian Studies (AIFIS) and Michigan State University (MSU) Asian Studies Center will convene the 6th annual AIFIS-MSU Conference on Indonesian Studies from May 26-30, 2025. Presented in a bilingual and virtual format, the conference is designed to bring together scholars working across geographic and disciplinary frameworks to explore the evolving field of area studies research in Indonesia.
This year’s conference theme, “Making Knowledge, Making History: Producing the Indonesian Past, Present and Future,” invites scholars, students, artists, and practitioners to explore how Indonesia has been imagined, studied, and narrated across time. Knowledge and history are never neutral–they are made, remade, and contested through the shifting dynamics of power, place, and perspective. We seek to open a space for critical reflection on how diverse disciplines of studying Indonesia have been constructed: by whom, for whom, and to what ends. From colonial archives to digital media, from indigenous epistemologies to regional and global scholarship, the production of knowledge about Indonesia reveals enduring tensions between authority and agency, memory and forgetting, locality and universality. How have academic disciplines, state institutions, and communities contributed to the shaping of Indonesia’s intellectual landscapes? How might alternative ways of knowing—oral traditions, government databases, visual cultures, statistical analyses, performative practices, activist archives, or legal discourse—challenge established narratives and foreshadow new futures?
We welcome papers and presentations from across disciplines and subjects, including but not limited to:
History, psychology, anthropology, and sociology
Environmental studies, geography, disaster management
Literature, linguistics, language learning, and cultural studies
Business, economic analysis, and legal studies
Education, pedagogy, public health and welfare studies
Labor and migration
Energy, science and technology
Religious studies and philosophy
Art, media, and performance studies
Policy analysis and political science, and regional studies [including ASEAN]
Family, gender and sexuality
Museum, heritage, indigenous, and archival studies
Proposals for panels and presentations engaging with this theme or on any other theme focusing on Indonesia and its place in the world are welcomed. Abstracts are accepted in Indonesian and English.
—
Types of Proposals Accepted:
*All speakers must register to attend the conference.
Organized Panel Session (Group Submission): A group of presenters may propose a panel session of 3 or 4 separate paper presentations based on work that shares a set of common themes, issues, or research questions. The panel sessions are 90 minutes long and panel organizers must identify a chair and a discussant in the proposal submission. (300 word panel abstract + 300 word abstract for each individual paper)
Roundtable Session (Group Submission): Intended to foster connections and substantive exchanges among a community of researchers and practitioners on a collaborative project, or a particular issue with implications on research and policy. The roundtable sessions are 90 minutes long and feature up to 4 presentations on the roundtable topic. As such, the presentations do not have individual separate titles. Roundtable organizers should identify a chair who will moderate the discussion. (300 word abstract, identifying key speakers and their field areas and institutional affiliations)
Book Talks (Group Submission): For this new category of submissions we invite groups of scholars to discuss recently published books. The panel should ideally feature a single book as the focus of conversation, taking the conversation beyond single author presentations by bringing together a group of scholars to foster dialogue about method, field and public engagement. We are open to creative arrangements for these panels but should include 3-4 speakers and represent a diversity of perspectives on the subject of the book being presented. Each speaker should submit a short 300 word abstract reflecting how they plan to discuss the book subject from their respective fields. (300 word book abstract + 300 word abstract for each speaker).
Paper Presentation (Individual/Co-authored Submission): Individuals and co-authors (maximum two speakers) are invited to submit abstracts for paper presentations. Each paper presentation is given a 15-minute time allotment. Each person may submit only one paper abstract. For co-authored works, a maximum of two speakers are allowed to present and have their names listed within a single paper presentation. Additional authors (if any) are welcome to attend the conference if they register as regular attendees, and only the two main speakers will be listed in the program and receive presentation certificates (300 word abstract).
—
Selection Guidelines:
Proposals are welcomed from scholars across the entire field of Indonesian Studies, regardless of their academic affiliation, with particular encouragement for those from academic communities that are underrepresented in international forums. One of the key goals of the AIFIS-MSU Conference on Indonesia is to facilitate interdisciplinary dialogue and scholarly exchanges that transcend the typical boundaries of academic networks. Indonesian and English bilingualism is welcomed across the conference, and panel and roundtable submissions with diverse participation in terms of gender, academic rank, national origin, and disciplinary approach are strongly encouraged.
—
Contact Information:
For questions about the application process, please contact conference@aifis.org
Note:
Conference registration is required for all presenters and conference participants.
Conference registration is NOT required at the time of abstract submission.
Conference Registration Fee:
- Indonesian Participants - Rp. 250.000
- US participants (with annual income below $75k) - $35
- US Participants (with annual income of $75k and over) - $60
To register and for other information, please visit the 2026 AIFIS-MSU Conference on Indonesian Studies Website.*
*Registration will open in 2026.
2026 AIFIS-MSU Conference on Indonesian Studies
CALL FOR ABSTRACTS
Making Knowledge, Making History: Producing the Indonesian Past, Present and Future
AIFIS-MSU Conference on Indonesian Studies, May 26-30, 2026
The American Institute for Indonesian Studies (AIFIS) and Michigan State University (MSU) Asian Studies Center will convene the 6th annual AIFIS-MSU Conference on Indonesian Studies from May 26-30, 2025. Presented in a bilingual and virtual format, the conference is designed to bring together scholars working across geographic and disciplinary frameworks to explore the evolving field of area studies research in Indonesia.
This year’s conference theme, “Making Knowledge, Making History: Producing the Indonesian Past, Present and Future,” invites scholars, students, artists, and practitioners to explore how Indonesia has been imagined, studied, and narrated across time. Knowledge and history are never neutral–they are made, remade, and contested through the shifting dynamics of power, place, and perspective. We seek to open a space for critical reflection on how diverse disciplines of studying Indonesia have been constructed: by whom, for whom, and to what ends. From colonial archives to digital media, from indigenous epistemologies to regional and global scholarship, the production of knowledge about Indonesia reveals enduring tensions between authority and agency, memory and forgetting, locality and universality. How have academic disciplines, state institutions, and communities contributed to the shaping of Indonesia’s intellectual landscapes? How might alternative ways of knowing—oral traditions, government databases, visual cultures, statistical analyses, performative practices, activist archives, or legal discourse—challenge established narratives and foreshadow new futures?
We welcome papers and presentations from across disciplines and subjects, including but not limited to:
History, psychology, anthropology, and sociology
Environmental studies, geography, disaster management
Literature, linguistics, language learning, and cultural studies
Business, economic analysis, and legal studies
Education, pedagogy, public health and welfare studies
Labor and migration
Energy, science and technology
Religious studies and philosophy
Art, media, and performance studies
Policy analysis and political science, and regional studies [including ASEAN]
Family, gender and sexuality
Museum, heritage, indigenous, and archival studies
Proposals for panels and presentations engaging with this theme or on any other theme focusing on Indonesia and its place in the world are welcomed. Abstracts are accepted in Indonesian and English.
—
Types of Proposals Accepted:
*All speakers must register to attend the conference.
Organized Panel Session (Group Submission): A group of presenters may propose a panel session of 3 or 4 separate paper presentations based on work that shares a set of common themes, issues, or research questions. The panel sessions are 90 minutes long and panel organizers must identify a chair and a discussant in the proposal submission. (300 word panel abstract + 300 word abstract for each individual paper)
Roundtable Session (Group Submission): Intended to foster connections and substantive exchanges among a community of researchers and practitioners on a collaborative project, or a particular issue with implications on research and policy. The roundtable sessions are 90 minutes long and feature up to 4 presentations on the roundtable topic. As such, the presentations do not have individual separate titles. Roundtable organizers should identify a chair who will moderate the discussion. (300 word abstract, identifying key speakers and their field areas and institutional affiliations)
Book Talks (Group Submission): For this new category of submissions we invite groups of scholars to discuss recently published books. The panel should ideally feature a single book as the focus of conversation, taking the conversation beyond single author presentations by bringing together a group of scholars to foster dialogue about method, field and public engagement. We are open to creative arrangements for these panels but should include 3-4 speakers and represent a diversity of perspectives on the subject of the book being presented. Each speaker should submit a short 300 word abstract reflecting how they plan to discuss the book subject from their respective fields. (300 word book abstract + 300 word abstract for each speaker).
Paper Presentation (Individual/Co-authored Submission): Individuals and co-authors (maximum two speakers) are invited to submit abstracts for paper presentations. Each paper presentation is given a 15-minute time allotment. Each person may submit only one paper abstract. For co-authored works, a maximum of two speakers are allowed to present and have their names listed within a single paper presentation. Additional authors (if any) are welcome to attend the conference if they register as regular attendees, and only the two main speakers will be listed in the program and receive presentation certificates (300 word abstract).
—
Selection Guidelines:
Proposals are welcomed from scholars across the entire field of Indonesian Studies, regardless of their academic affiliation, with particular encouragement for those from academic communities that are underrepresented in international forums. One of the key goals of the AIFIS-MSU Conference on Indonesia is to facilitate interdisciplinary dialogue and scholarly exchanges that transcend the typical boundaries of academic networks. Indonesian and English bilingualism is welcomed across the conference, and panel and roundtable submissions with diverse participation in terms of gender, academic rank, national origin, and disciplinary approach are strongly encouraged.
—
Contact Information:
For questions about the application process, please contact conference@aifis.org
Note:
Conference registration is required for all presenters and conference participants.
Conference registration is NOT required at the time of abstract submission.
Conference Registration Fee:
- Indonesian Participants - Rp. 250.000
- US participants (with annual income below $75k) - $35
- US Participants (with annual income of $75k and over) - $60
To register and for other information, please visit the 2026 AIFIS-MSU Conference on Indonesian Studies Website.*
*Registration will open in 2026.