Seminar: ‘Trauma’ in the Indonesian popular and medical imagination
On October 23 a cultural history seminar on trauma in the Indonesian popular and medical imagination is organised at Utrecht University.
In this Cultural History seminar, Hans Pols (University of Sydney) explores how the term ‘trauma’ emerged in Indonesian discourse following the May 1998 riots in Indonesia. He argues that Indonesians actively adopted and transformed Western concepts of trauma to fit their own purposes.
Western diagnostic categories
Critics of Western psychiatry, the DSM (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders), and the global mental health movement argue that Western diagnostic categories (used to identify and classify health disorders) are often imposed on other cultures. This occurs even if these categories do not accurately reflect how different societies experience mental illness or show distress.
The May riots of 1998
Pols uses the May riots of 1998 as case study. The riots were violent protests triggered by economic crisis and anger toward President Suharto’s regime, marked by widespread looting, arson, and violence, particularly targeting the Chinese-Indonesian community, and leading to Suharto’s resignation. Following the riots, the term ‘trauma’ appeared in Indonesian popular discourse. Rather than seeing Indonesians as passive recipients of Western ideas about trauma, he views them as actively adopting and transforming these ideas for their own purposes. Human rights activists and feminist psychologists played a crucial role in this process.
- Date and time:
- Location: Kromme Nieuwegracht 80, 0.07
- Registration: not needed. It is also possible to join online via this MS Teamslink
For more information, please visit this website.
