drs. S.N. (Sadiah) Boonstra

Office hours: Monday – Thursday
Note: until February 2011 for fieldwork in Indonesia.

Specialism

Heritage, intangible heritage.

Research

Performing Identity, Shaping Heritage – Wayang puppet theatre and the dynamics of heritage formation in contemporary Indonesia.

This PhD research studies the relationship between a performance practice, the creation of heritage and the notion of ‘intangible heritage’ as a signifier in the cultural canon of contemporary Indonesia. It focuses on the well-known performance tradition of the wayang puppet theatre, and on the dalang, the puppet master in particular. The main questions are: how, to what extent and in what social arenas does the dalang construct and shape heritage? What is the impact of local traditions on his art, how is this perceived by various audiences and influenced by heritage policies and practices?

These questions will be approached along three lines: 1. Biography of various artists; 2. a study of modes of identification with wayang puppet theatre among different audiences in Indonesia and the Netherlands and the meaning of current policies and practices of heritage institutions; 3. an analysis of colonial scholarly writings and the practice of collecting, presenting and interpreting wayang puppet theatre.

The project functions within a broader research programme that investigates cultural heritage formation in colonial and postcolonial Indonesia and the Netherlands since the beginning of the nineteenth century entitled ‘Sites, Bodies, Stories. The dynamics of heritage formation in colonial and postcolonial Indonesia and The Netherlands’.

Links

‘Sites, bodies, stories’ research programme website: https://www.surfgroepen.nl/sites/sbs/public/default.aspx

Publications

2010    

• ‘Tangible and intangible dimensions: the story of Layla and Majnun in the Tropenmuseum’ in Interpreting the Past Vol. 4. [Proceedings of the 4^th International Ename Colloquium: Between Objects and Ideas].

2009    

• ‘Conceptualising intangible heritage in the Tropenmuseum, Amsterdam: the Layla and Majnun story as a case study’ in International Journal of Intangible Heritage Vol. 4.