The UCLA Indonesian Studies Program sponsors campus and community programs, provides student research support, hosts visiting scholars, and organizes conferences and workshops related to Indonesia. It remains the only program of its kind in the U.S.
The Indonesian Studies Program was founded in 2008 with a substantial gift from anthropologist and filmmaker Robert Lemelson. A series of subsequent generous gifts by Professor Lemelson through 2015 helped broaden the program and support the Advanced Indonesian Abroad Program.
In 2016, Julia Gouw, a friend of UCLA, made a generous gift to sustain the Indonesian Studies Program. Gouw continues to be the benefactor of the program. In 2018, the Indonesian Studies Program established the Julia and Ken Gouw Centennial Undergraduate Scholarship for Study Abroad in Indonesia.
Read more: History of Indonesian Studies Program at UCLA
2024-2025 Highlights
In October 2024, the Indonesian Studies Program cosponsored the "Symposium on Integrating Pragmatics into Asian Language Instruction" at UCLA for East Asian and Southeast Asian language instructors from across US and Asia. The symposium connected Asian language instructors s with linguists specializing in pragmatics within Asian languages in order to make that research accessible to language teachers. Language instructors received training on how to apply pragmatics and other practical tools to enhance their teaching practices.
We also hosted talks with Novi Djenar (The University of Sydney) on politics in Indonesian broadcast news.
Read more: Highlights from the Indonesian Studies Program