Lis recounts how she grew up with an Indonesian mother and lived in Indonesia until the age of 14. She credits an inspirational teacher in her BA as helping to keep her engaged in studying the language and realising its wider value. Lis works as a political scientist, but at heart she is an Indonesianist. She is part of the Indonesia Council and a Board Member of ACICIS. Within the ASAA, she has served as Postgraduate Rep and Treasurer. Lis notes that Asian Studies programs (and especially but not only languages) are often under threat, in part due to financial pressures within the university system, but also due to a wider culture of monolingualism. She believes Asian languages need to be valued in the same way and to the same degree as European ones if Asian Studies programs are to be better supported.

Watch Lis’ interview below or on the ASAA’s youtube channel here.