JF-GJS Fellow Talk Series “Bumi; or, the Metabolic Realism of Pramoedya Ananta Toer”
Speaker: Dr. Reuven Pinnata, Assistant Professor, Northern Illinois University
Date and time: May 12 (Tue), 2026, 14:00-15:30 JST (11:00 pm CST)
Venue: Conference Room 1 (304), Institute for Advanced Studies on Asia, UTokyo; Online (Zoom)
Title: Bumi; or, the Metabolic Realism of Pramoedya Ananta Toer
Moderator & Discussant: Dr. Tony Scott, JF-GJS Fellow, Institute for Advanced Studies on Asia
Registration: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfds3i3L3u_CH9USGW1Zaq9_zhO91yifE7pWf2eo7FcmKWmUg/viewform?usp=dialog
Zoom URL: https://u-tokyo-ac-jp.zoom.us/j/87412585819 Meeting ID: 874 1258 5819
Language: English
Abstract: The Indonesian writer Pramoedya Ananta Toer’s Buru tetralogy, composed during his imprisonment in the titular penal colony under the authoritarian New Order regime, is often read as historical fiction, a meticulous retelling of Indonesia’s national awakening. This talk unsettles this received wisdom and argues instead that the interpretive horizon proper to Pramoedya’s novels is not the nation but nothing short of the earth (bumi) itself. It specifically looks at how the tetralogy reworks the popular vernacular form of the concubine (nyai) narrative by recasting the nyai as both a gendered and ecological figure. Additionally, this talk also situates these novels alongside other texts Pramoedya produced around the same time, especially his editorial work on what he termed “pre-Indonesian literature.” What emerges in this light is a story of how Indonesian post/colonial history cannot be thought apart from the “metabolic rift” that constitutes and sustains the lifeblood of global capitalism today.
Speaker’s Bio：Reuven Pinnata grew up in Surabaya, Indonesia and is an Assistant Professor in the Department of English and the Center for Southeast Asian Studies at Northern Illinois University, United States of America. His research interests include postcolonial and world literature, Southeast Asian studies, and critical theory. He is currently working on a book project titled Bumi: On Indonesian Literature as a Literature of the Earth. His writings have appeared or are forthcoming in Kritika Kultura, IndoProgress, Southeast Asian Studies, and Wasafiri.
