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In this talk, Fujita-Rony examines the challenges of diasporic memorykeeping and the formation of Indonesian American culture.  What are the ways we can document our stories and tell our histories when there are few “official” archives designated for our communities?  What are the kinds of archival resources we need to imagine and discover, especially as so many of us come from communities shaped by multiple wars and empires, as well as mass violence and death? How can these kinds of inquiries help us rethink the relationship of Asian Americans to the U.S. nation state, as well as the positioning of Asian Americans in the global context?  The discussion will focus on Fujita-Rony’s book The Memorykeepers:  Gendered Knowledges, Empires, and Indonesian American History (Brill Publishers, 2021), as well as include her ongoing research on Indonesian Americans.

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