About Us

The Indonesian Transnational Arts & Creative Thought (InTACT) Collective is on a mission to bridge Indonesian-based and Indonesian diasporic creative thinkers and scholars globally.

OUR HERSTORY

The seeds for this project were planted at the 2024 Association for Asian American Studies (AAAS) conference at Seattle, WA, where four multidisciplinary Indonesian scholar-artist-activists, Dr. Viola Lasmana (California State University, Long Beach), Dr. Teraya Paramehta (Universitas Indonesia), Dr. A. W. Prihandita (University of Washington, Seattle), and Dr. Reuven Pinnata (Northern Illinois University), created an Indonesian-American panel, putting together Asian American, Asian, and Indonesian Studies in conversation for the first time at this annual conference, and through the lens of different disciplines and methodologies (literary studies, rhetoric, experimental anthropology, gender and sexuality studies, film, and opera). 

Since the inception and reception of this project at the AAAS conference, the co-founders of InTACT Collective, Dr. Teraya Paramehta and Dr. Viola Lasmana, realized how important yet understudied the Indonesian transnational connection is in these academic forums. Outside academia, narratives of the Indonesian diaspora and transnationalism are often dominated by Indonesian nationalism, lacking the much-needed nuance from grassroots realities.

Paramehta and Lasmana are long-time collaborators, and both are starting their new positions as assistant professors. They both want to activate the potential of having their institutional affiliations by establishing this inaugural online public forum, the first of a series to emerge from what Paramehta and Lasmana are growing in the field of transnational Indonesian-American Studies, with a focus on arts, media, and culture. Paramehta and Lasmana, are now based in Jakarta, Indonesia, and Los Angeles, United States, respectively, and are determined to take this project to the next level: to begin the first public, transnational, transpacific, and multidisciplinary collaboration between Indonesia and the US about the multifarious aspects of the politics and poetics of transnational Indonesian-American arts and culture. Nonetheless, they are determined to take the conversation beyond Indonesia and the US, embracing other regions in the world where Indonesian diasporic creative thinkers and scholars reside and build multifaceted lives.

Still in its infancy, the InTACT Collective has received generous financial support from the AIFIS-Luce Small Grant and has welcomed student volunteers from Universitas Indonesia (Depok, Indonesia) and Universitas Sanata Dharma (Yogyakarta, Indonesia). If you share our vision and would like to be involved, do get in touch with us! We would love to hear your story.

OUR TEAM

Teraya Paramehta (Co-Founder)

Dr. Paramehta is Assistant Professor in the Faculty of Humanities at the University of Indonesia. She is also Head of the Culture Laboratory in the Area Studies Department where she contributes to advancing academic discourse on culture through module development, training initiatives, and university lecturing. Dr. Paramehta’s research explores the intersections of race, tourism, and post-violence reparations. This work bridges anthropology, critical tourism studies, and postcolonial scholarship, reflecting a dedication to uncovering nuanced narratives and empowering academic communities to address complex socio-cultural issues. Dr. Paramehta received her Ph.D. in American Studies and Ethnicity from the University of Southern California.

Viola Lasmana (Co-Founder)

Dr. Lasmana is Assistant Professor in Comparative World Literature at California State University, Long Beach. She also serves as Faculty Advisor for the Genre Editorial Collective, the student editorial team that publishes her department’s multidisciplinary online journal. Dr. Lasmana teaches, researches, and writes about transpacific Asian and Asian American Studies, Indonesia and Southeast Asia, digital humanities, transnational feminisms, film, literature, and media activism. Her work has appeared in Alternative Historiographies of the Digital Humanities, American Quarterly, Film Quarterly, make/shift: feminisms in motion, The Cine-Files, Digital Pedagogy in the Humanities, and Visual Anthropology. Dr. Lasmana received her Ph.D. in English from the University of Southern California.

Aris Setyawan (Visual and Web Designer)

Aris is an M.A. student in Cultural Studies at Sanata Dharma University in Yogyakarta, Indonesia. He is co-founder and Chief Research Officer of Alun app, co-founder and editor-in-chief of Serunai.co, and drummer for Auretté and The Polska Seeking Carnival. Aris’ publications include Pias: Kumpulan Tulisan Seni dan Budaya (2017, Warning Book/Tan Kinira Book), Wonderland: Memoar Dari Selatan Yogyakarta (2020, Elevation Books), Aubade: Kumpulan Tulisan Musik (2021, Arung Wacana), and the co-authored book, Rupa Suara: Catatan Perjalanan Bebunyian by Iman Fattah (2022, Arung Wacana).

Gwen Nicole Daniel (Communications Manager)

Gwen is an undergraduate English Studies student at the University of Indonesia (UI). She is also Manager of Internal Affairs for the Foreign Policy Community of Indonesia (FPCI) Chapter at UI, and has served as the Official Delegate of UI for the Nanyang Technological University Model United Nations (NTUMUN) Conference. Among her many accolades, Gwen was awarded the Most Outstanding Delegate issued by the President of International Model United Nations, as well as the Best Delegate issued by Nanyang Technological University Model United Nations in 2024.