Indonesian Studies Colloquium featuring Tony Reid (ANU/UCLA) and Henk Maier (UCR)

Friday, October 19, 2018
12:30 PM - 2:00 PM
10383 Bunche Hall
UCLA Campus
Los Angeles, CA 90095

Tony Reid will discuss his first novel, Mataram, published with Monsoon Books (UK), in dialogue with Southeast Asian literature specialist Henk Maier (UC Riverside). Unsurprisingly, it is set in 17th century Java, where Thomas Hodges seizes a chance at glory by being the first to venture ashore from his East India Company ship. Would he unlock the fabled riches of the Indies for the English, or die forgotten with some Javanese kris or Portuguese poignard between his ribs? The key lies with the young interpreter Sri, but he can only reconcile her and his Englishness by inventing an official mission to the mysteriously powerful ruler of the interior -- Mataram. There he finds a kingdom poised to decide its destiny--between a rich past of gods, spirits and inner calm, a sterner Islam, and pushy Europeans offering both science and God.

A few signed pre-publication copies will be available for those willing to make a donation to Sulawesi earthquake relief.

Tony Reid is a thinly disguised avatar of historian Anthony Reid, making his first presentation to UCLA’s CSEAS since stepping down as its first Director in 2002. He left to become founding Director of the Asia Research Institute at NUS in Singapore (2002-07). Since then he has been Professor emeritus at his former home, the Australian National University, increasingly concerned to meld history with geophysics for a more discontinuous Indonesian longue durée. The best-known of his publications is Southeast Asia in the Age of Commerce, c.1450-1680 (2 vols. 1988-93); while his more recent work includes Imperial Alchemy: Nationalism and political identity in Southeast Asia (2010); To Nation by Revolution: Indonesia in the 20th Century (2011); A History of Southeast Asia: Critical Crossroads (2015); and as (co-)editor The New Cambridge History of Islam, vol. 3. (2011) and Indonesia Rising: The Repositioning of Asia’s Third Giant (2012).

Nguyet Tong
(310) 206-9163
cseas@international.ucla.edu

Sponsor(s): Center for Southeast Asian Studies