Nicholas Herriman, David R. M. Irving, Greg Acciaiolo, Monika Winarnita, Trixie Kinajil, Author at Asian Studies Association of Australia

A group of Southeast Asian descendants wants to be recognised as Indigenous Australians

31st July 2018 / Nicholas Herriman / Cocos (Keeling) Islands

In 1826, an English merchant, Alexander Hare, brought a group of people from Malaysia and Indonesia as well as South Africa and New Guinea to an atoll northwest of mainland Australia in the Indian Ocean. Hare took them to the Cocos (Keeling) Islands as indentured workers, slaves and/or convicts. A year later, a Scottish rival, […]

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Ubud bans put the spotlight back on Indonesia’s killing fields

2nd November 2015 / Nicholas Herriman / Indonesia

Fifty years on, many Indonesians involved in the massacres of communists following an attempted coup have no regrets about their role in the killings. NICHOLAS HERRIMAN and MONIKA WINARNITA explain. Last month the Indonesian government banned several sessions at the Ubud Writers and Readers Festival that had been set to discuss and launch important new

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Seafood, sate, and spouses—giving and receiving among the Cocos Malays

16th July 2015 / Nicholas Herriman / Cocos (Keeling) Islands

NICHOLAS HERRIMAN and MONIKA WINARNITA enter into the spirit of gift-giving among the Cocos Malays. Giving and receiving play a huge role in the life of Australia’s Cocos Malays. This struck home for us when returning from fieldwork in the Cocos (Keeling) Islands. After the long, turbulent flight, we collected our luggage and a special

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The ‘shame’ of Indonesia’s widows and divorcees

20th April 2015 / Nicholas Herriman / Indonesia

Popular culture in Indonesia exposes divorced or widowed women to prejudice and stigmatisation, writes NICHOLAS HERRIMAN. One of the most popular and enduring images of femininity in Indonesia is the janda. The term refers to either a widow or a divorcee because, in the popular imagination, how she has become unmarried is not particularly relevant.

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