From a Convert's Perspective


Abstract
Positionality is an important issue in the humanities and social sciences today. What is the relationship of the researcher to the topic she/he is discussing? From what position does she/he speak? To me personally as European living and working in Indonesia, this has always been challenging question. It has become even more complex and challenging since I converted to Islam. Only one essay in my newest book (2016) is explicitly about this, but basically the book is written from the perspective of someone in the process of crossing over (converting) and reflects on the ambivalence of this process.
Speaker
Katrin Bandel was born in 1972 in Wuppertal, Germany. She has been living in Yogyakarta since 2002, where she teaches at the Master Program for Religious and Cultural Studies at the Sanata Dharma University. She has published three books, the newest of which is Kajian Gender dalam Konteks Pascakolonial (2016).
Look at the full poster of the event here.