Three Arryman Scholars Presented at MCAA & SWCAS Joint Conference

Rahardhika Utama, Muhammad Fajar, and Gde Metera presented their working papers at the MCAA & SWCAS joint conference, October 3-5 2014, in Kansas University, Lawrence. The event was the first experience for the three Arryman Scholars to present their paper in an academic conference in the US. They are grateful to receive many constructive feedbacks for their papers and are thrilled for the suggestion to publish in various suitable scholarly journals. 

Rahardhika was presenting on Saturday, October 4 in a panel titled “Labor, Inequality and Power in Indonesia and the Philippines” with two other researchers working on the Philippines. His paper, “How Bureaucracy Affects Inequality: The Case of Post-Authoritarian Indonesia”, is a follow up draft after he conducted summer fieldwork in Indonesia during July-August this year. Dhika’s paper was welcomed with considerable enthusiasm from the audience. A History professor in the audience asked for a copy of his paper and suggested submission to future publication outlets.

Muhammad Fajar and Gde Metera both presented on Sunday, October 5 in a panel titled “Political Fissures in Southeast Asia” with another researcher from University of Kansas. Fajar presented his paper “The Trajectories of the Left in Southeast Asia: The Case of Indonesia, the Philippines, and Vietnam” and Gde presented his paper “Subnational Islamization Meets Weak Government Capacity: The Case of South Kalimantan, Indonesia.” Both papers are subsequent development of Fajar and Gde’s initial projects. Fajar revisited his initial research interest in social movement while Gde presented his initial findings during his summer field work in 2013. They both received generous constructive feedbacks from two Kansas University professors who are working on China and Vietnam respectively. They encourage the two Arryman Scholars to pursue the projects in their papers and eventually publish them in suitable journals for graduate students.