Exploring Intersecting Inequalities: the 13th Arryman Symposium Brings Critical Perspectives on Indonesia’s Future

Jakarta, Indonesia — With support of the Indonesian Scholarship and Research Support Foundation (ISRSF), the Institute for Advanced Research (IFAR) at Monash University Indonesia successfully hosted the 13th Arryman Symposium on August 6, 2025, at Monash University Indonesia’s Green Office Park campus.

Carrying the theme “Intersecting Inequalities: Institutions, Ecologies, and Everyday Life in Indonesia,” this year’s symposium gathered over 50 participants, including academics, postdoctoral researchers, PhD students, and faculty members from across Indonesia, the region, and institutions in the US and UK. The Arryman symposium became a dynamic forum for sharing Arryman Fellowship’s scholarly insights and fostering critical dialogue on the complex ways inequality is produced, sustained, and contested in the Global South.

The symposium opened with a keynote lecture by Associate Professor Dyah Pitaloka, who explored how communication practices, technological infrastructures, and structural power intersect to shape lived experiences of inequality in developing contexts.

Two powerful panels followed:

• "Inequality and Environmental Transformation", moderated by Dr. Luthfi Adam, examined the social and ecological injustices embedded in Indonesia’s plantation economies—highlighting environmental degradation, gendered labor regimes, and exploitative debt cycles.  Presenters included Dr. Perdana Putri Roswaldi (IFAR Monash), Dr. Sofyan Ansori (IFAR UIII), and Atmaezer Simanjuntak (PhD Candidate at Northwestern University).

• "Inequality, Care Work, and Intimate Ecologies", moderated by Dr. Sari Damar Ratri, focused on how care, affective labor, and moral politics intersect with structural inequality, with discussions ranging from colonial parenting narratives to contemporary anti-LGBTQ+ practices presented by Dr. Nik Setiadarma (IFAR LPEM-UI) and Dr. Febi Rizki Ramadhan (IFAR UIII). 

In a thought-provoking Fireside Talk, IFAR Fellow and acclaimed author Ted Fishman (China Inc., Shock of Gray) reflected on Indonesia’s evolving position within global political and economic systems. Drawing on his ongoing research, Fishman offered a sharp analysis of the country’s future amid climate and demographic transitions.

A central moment of the symposium was the announcement of the 2025 Arryman Fellowship Awardees, presented by Mr. Irfan R. Hutagalung, Chair of ISRSF and Coordinator of the IFAR Consortium. This year’s recipients, Sylvia Febiandita and Rizky Adhyaksa, will begin their doctoral studies in economics and public policy at SOAS University of London in the upcoming September 2025. Their selection affirms ISRSF’s commitment to supporting Indonesia’s most promising young scholars.

Prof. Jane Jacobs, Director of IFAR Monash Indonesia, delivered the closing remarks, underlining the importance of collaborative intellectual communities to confront inequality in its many forms.

This annual Arryman symposium remains central to ISRSF’s vision of building robust academic and research ecosystems that connect Indonesian scholars with global knowledge frontiers.