31 episodes

Featuring casual conversations that unpack complex topics, Ruth Feriningrum and Alexandra Kumala talk to fellow Southeast Asians about Southeast Asia. Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/sugar-nutmeg/support

Sugar Nutmeg Ruth Feriningrum and Alexandra Kumala

    • Society & Culture
    • 5.0 • 7 Ratings

Featuring casual conversations that unpack complex topics, Ruth Feriningrum and Alexandra Kumala talk to fellow Southeast Asians about Southeast Asia. Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/sugar-nutmeg/support

    Miko Veldkamp on Multiplicity over Halfness

    Miko Veldkamp on Multiplicity over Halfness

    Miko talks to us about how the vast forests and wide, empty roads of Suriname give rise to ghost stories, the reasons the ghosts in his paintings take classical Greek poses or animalistic positions, the fantasy of prosperity and whitewashing of historical paintings, how cultural signifiers in his paintings carry double meanings, and feeling alienated from art as a child. Plus, we ponder the prevalence of white clothing on ghosts and discuss the specific locations of ghosts in Indonesian folklore. To be enjoyed with a bowl of steaming hot saoto soup!



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    Miko Veldkamp is a Suriname-born Dutch-Indonesian painter based in NYC. Combining elements of his personal life with folklore and ancestral themes, his works range from surreal landscapes to pseudo self-portraits. His paintings offer brightly layered narratives on identity, memory, space, and the multiplicity of perspectives rooted in his fluid identity and cross-cultural experiences.

    Miko has a BFA in video and sculpture from the Willem de Kooning Academie in Rotterdam and an MFA from Hunter College in New York. He was a resident at the Rijksakademie van Beeldende Kunsten in Amsterdam and was awarded the Hodder Fellowship of Princeton University.

    His work has been exhibited around the world in group and solo exhibitions in Seoul, London, and New York.



    www.mikoveldkamp.com


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    • 1 hr 1 min
    Nasrikah and Okui Lala on Rasa & Asa of Domestic Workers

    Nasrikah and Okui Lala on Rasa & Asa of Domestic Workers

    Nasrikah and Okui Lala talk to us about their collaboration project, Rasa and Asa, a short film, shot during the height of pandemic via online video platform, capturing the activities and daily meetings of the PERTIMIG members.



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    Okui Lala (Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia) is an artist and cultural worker. Her practice spans from video and performance to community engagement. Okui’s work explores themes of identities, diaspora and belonging through the performances of domestic acts or vocational labor. She also facilitates visual workshops with nonprofit organizations and social groups that work with various communities. Past presentations include Seoul Mediacity Biennale (2023), Singapore Biennale (2019), Festival/ Tokyo (Japan, 2019), Para Site (Hong Kong, 2018) and National Art Gallery (Malaysia, 2017). 



    Nasrikah is an Indonesian migrant worker who has been living in Malaysia since 1997. She is the founding member and coordinator for PERTIMIG Malaysia (Indonesian Migrant Domestic Workers Association). Her advocacy focused on campaigning for migrant domestic workers to be treated with the same respect, status and access to justice as workers. Nasrikah is also a poet and coordinator for arts and cultural events.



    PERTIMIG is an independent organization fighting for the rights of migrant domestic workers. PERTIMIG’s vision is to advocate for decent work and welfare for the domestic workers and their families in Malaysia. At this moment, PERTIMIG has more than 200 members and is an affiliate of International Domestic Workers Federation (IDWF).



    Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=34_S8CT7FbQ


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    • 1 hr 13 min
    Napong Tao Rugkhapan on Urban Beautification and Psychological Displacement

    Napong Tao Rugkhapan on Urban Beautification and Psychological Displacement

    Tao talks to us about urban geography and morphology in Southeast Asia. We discuss historic preservation and patterns of heritage-making in Southeast Asia, touristification, image-making and nationalist architecture, the evolution of neighborhoods and their communities as cities get reinvented, and whether Chinatowns in Southeast Asia are "disappearing and dying" as they are in Western countries. To be enjoyed with extra spicy Indonesian food or super sour Thai food with lots & lots of lime!



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    Napong Tao Rugkhapan is a geographer of urban planning interested in the geographic implications of planning intervention. In particular, he focuses on the technopolitics of urban design and planning, which he defines as the political contestations over knowledge-laden, spatial instruments – maps, zoning, building codes, architectural guidelines. The goal of is work is to expose their ideological, political underpinnings that legitimate planning intervention. Tao's other research interests include comparative urban theory; cross-context circulation of planning ideas; gentrification and inner-city revitalization; and urban architectural heritage, specifically in historic cities in urban Southeast Asia.

    NTRS


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    • 1 hr 15 min
    Janette Suherli on Observing Supernova Remnants and Other Celestial Wonders

    Janette Suherli on Observing Supernova Remnants and Other Celestial Wonders

    Inspired by her grandfather, who followed the stars to navigate the seas and landscape of Bangka, Janette shares the colorful journey of her astrophysics career. She talks to us about black holes, massive stars, supernova explosions, and how reverse culture shock can almost derail you from your career.

    Optional: episode to be enjoyed with a plate of pempek.



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    Janette Suherli is a PhD student at the University of Manitoba, Canada, working with Dr. Samar Safi-Harb in the eXtreme Astrophysics Group. Her doctoral research focuses on utilizing integral field spectroscopy for supernova remnants research in optical wavelength, particularly on Central Compact Objects (CCOs) and Intermediate-Mass Black Holes.

    Aside from doing research, she writes for Astrobites and volunteers at the Lockhart Planetarium, Winnipeg. She is a co-organizer for the Open Cultural Astronomy Forum and currently serves as the chair of the Graduate Student Committee at the Canadian Astronomical Society (CASCA).

    Janette completed her Bachelor in Astronomy at Institut Teknologi Bandung, Indonesia and her Master’s in Astronomy at Wesleyan University, U.S.A., where she was also a Fulbright Fellow. She has also conducted research internships at the European Southern Observatory in Chile and the Australian Astronomical Observatory in Australia, in addition to her former position as Assistant Astronomer at the Bosscha Observatory in Indonesia.



    www.jsuherli.github.io




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    • 1 hr 11 min
    Andamar Pradipta on The Science of The Supernatural

    Andamar Pradipta on The Science of The Supernatural

    Damar talks to us about his research on supernatural phenomena. We discuss different elements and even marketing methods used by dukun in Indonesia. Plus, paranormal sensitivities, indigo people, and Ruth's untapped powers. Everything is magic is Southeast Asia.



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    Andamar Pradipta obtained his bachelor’s degree in Social Anthropology from Universitas Indonesia. He then continued his studies at Central European University in Hungary, and graduated with an M.A. in Sociology and Social Anthropology in 2016. He is currently pursuing his Ph.D. at Universiti Malaysia Kelantan.

    His research interests include psychology, marketing, corporate culture, and supernatural phenomena. Due to his anthropological background, he has a strong fascination with qualitative research which he actively works on and develops at the Indonesia International Institute for Life-Sciences, where he also teaches.


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    • 58 min
    Elliott Prasse-Freeman on The Role of Blockchain in Rohingya Lives

    Elliott Prasse-Freeman on The Role of Blockchain in Rohingya Lives

    Elliott talks to us about the Rohingya political situation amidst dislocation and mass violence, especially after the coup in Myanmar, and how R-Coin is a new initiative helping stateless Rohingya diaspora in Malaysia.



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    Elliott Prasse-Freeman is a political anthropologist studying social movements, violence, and symbolic culture in Burma. As part of a related ongoing project on the Rohingya genocide, he is exploring novel forms of personhood and conceptions of the political as they are mediated by and generated through new technologies such as blockchain, biometric scanners, and AI.



    He received his PhD from the Department of Anthropology at Yale University and his Bachelors and Masters from Harvard University. He has conducted long-term fieldwork in Myanmar, and currently teaches sociology and anthropology at the National University of Singapore. He has a book, titled Rights Refused: Grassroots Activism and State Violence in Myanmar (Stanford University Press) on Burmese subaltern political thought as adduced from an extended ethnography of activism and contentious politics in the country's semi-authoritarian setting.


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    Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/sugar-nutmeg/support

    • 1 hr 42 min

Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5
7 Ratings

7 Ratings

Louis Bayi ,

Learning from passion

Ruth and Alexandra radiate passion about the topics bring. It is very interesting to learn about South East Asia without bias.

B John Gully ,

An informative gem

I see only a bright future for the women leading this podcast. They are bringing such distant topics into proximity for so many, and I applaud them for doing so.

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