Iwan Meulia Pirous, anthropologist

Iwan guitar Kamar Iwan Pirous provides Anthropological views on politics of knowledge productions, social life from native Indonesian “Indonesianist”. His views are independent and personal. Also find me in Anthropology Under 10 minutes Youtube Channel.

Graduated from the Department of Anthropology, University of Indonesia (undergraduate S1) in 1997.  Attended a summer course at Central European University, Budapest, Hungary with the topic of Social Dynamics of Society in Late Capitalism (2000). Graduated with MA in Department of English and Media Studies, Nottingham Trent University, United Kingdom, on the subject of Globalisation, Identity and Technology (2004). Asian Public Intellectual Fellow (2014).

Lifelong interest: the dynamics of cultural expression and social movements, historical social relations, transnational migrations, and knowledge productions in late capitalism context. Questioning the presence of violence in economic systems, technology, and state political policies. Area of studies: West, East Kalimantan, Sabah, Sarawak, The Philippines, Thailand.

New academic interests: studying moral, politics, and values in relation to labour productions and nature in climate crisis. Also looking back seriously to modern art studies in relation to construction of art values from labour perspective. I feel I want to move away from “post-structural identity theories”. No humanity progress there. 

I am currently completing a doctoral program in the field of fine arts studies and art anthropology (Bandung Institute of Technology). My research focuses on the ambiguity of the fine arts field in creating value amidst the pressures of capitalist transformation. I am also a part-time lecturer in the Humanities Department, also known as Integrated Arts, at the Faculty of Philosophy, Universitas Katolik Parahyangan, Bandung.

Joined as lecturer at the Department of Anthropology, University of Indonesia in 2006-2014. Previously worked part-time as a senior researcher at Gaia-Consulting for program design related to social forestry, climate change anticipation, and collective knowledge formation that bridged science-technology and local knowledge and business on forest conservation. Also works as a researcher at the Indonesian Anthropological Study Forum (Forum Kajian Antropologi Indonesia).

Since the COVID-19 pandemic, I have been actively involved in developing exhibition programs at the Serambi Pirous family gallery and serving as a curator to write about exhibitions from an anthropological perspective, with a focus on the social values and their context.

To be honest, my dream was to be a scientist studying waves or the stars. But things didn’t go as planned. Fell in love with tinkering technology in amateur radio since 2017.  At least I can satisfy my love for the noise “single side band” conversations of the sky. See my profile at QRZ.com.  My callsign is YDØRTA. See you on the band!

Bedroom guitar player who loves tube saturated sounds. 

twitter: pirousiwan@x.com.