A King in a Republic

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Nadiah Bamadhaj’s lecture performance for FIELD MEETING used the method of divergence between “what is said and what is meant” to attempt what many in Yogyakarta, Indonesia may consider a taboo - the critique of the ruling of Sri Sultan Hamengkubuwono X, who is both the 10th monarch of the late Mataram Kingdom and current Governor of Yogyakarta. Incorporating her painstaking studies of graveyard shacks in East Java (Cungkup) as affecting metaphors, she reflected on the accumulation of socio-economic and environmental problems that have caused Jogjakarta to remain a feudal province within one of the most vibrant democracies in Southeast Asia.