Christen J. Grorud 1979-2016

CHRISTEN J. GRORUD 1979-2016 Memories of Chris Compiled by the Southeast Asia Center in the Henry M. Jackson School of International Studies at the University of Washington Remembering Chris Grorud 1979-2016 Laurie J. Sears Introduction. I first met Chris Grorud in person when he came out to visit the... 4 Micaela Campbell Pamit dulu. From 2014 to 2015, Chris worked on a pilot project for rural... 7 Celia Lowe Appreciation. Chris was a wonderful student, incredibly dedicated to his study... 8 Allan Lumba Bread and Sasquatch. There’s a somewhat long story behind this piece of bread... 9 Cristoph Giebel Quiet confidence. I have many precious memories of Chris, but want to focus on... 11 Evi Sutrisno Grateful for a good buddy. Chris Grorud was one of my best friends both in... 12 Christina Sunardi In a nutshell. Chris, in a nutshell, was a very special person--a gift. He was... 14 Desiana Pauli Sandjaja Docendo discimus. Students come and go and they leave behind memories. Chris... 16 Joseph Bernardo Chris “Brorud.” Chris Grorud was the first person I met at UW back in 2007... 17 James Pangilinan Heartfelt welcome. Chris will be missed deeply by those whom he graced with... 20 Vince Rafael A philosopher of area studies. Chris Chris’s mother, Caryl, designed wanted to write about the Indonesian... 21 the quilt on the cover for him in 2014. She made it using textiles Chris Grorud he collected from each of the An untitled essay. At first glance, Chris’s islands he visited in Indonesia. untitled essay has a seemingly modest... 24 5 Christen J. Grorud Rudolph Mrazek, studies of the Revolution Revolution, he had been reading relevant Remembered by Laurie J. Sears from outside of Java by Audrey Kahin and Indonesian literature in the original and in others, and one new study of the Revolution translation and exploring methodologies for from a social history, gendered, and using oral histories to gather testimonies I first met Chris Grorud in person when two-year pre-doctoral research fellowship anthropological perspective, Mary Steedly’s about the Revolution. Chris and our he came out to visit the University of that was sponsored by the Health Sciences Rifle Reports, which looks at stories of the Indonesian Senior Lecturer Desiana Washington in spring ’07 after he was programs at Harvard University and Revolution from North Sumatra. Chris knew Pauli Sandjaja spent a year reading a very accepted into the History department’s the University of Washington. Chris that the time was ripe for a re-thinking of challenging novel by one of Indonesia’s best MA program for Fall 2007. We had spoken was chosen because of his extensive the Revolution in Java as new ideas about authors, Ayu Utami. The novel was difficult on the phone once or twice and I was very knowledge of Indonesia, his Indonesian nationalism and revolution have appeared even for Indonesian readers, but Chris and eager to have him as a student. I knew language skills, and his previous over the past two decades. Most followers Bu Pauli were determined to understand his project was both long overdue for the fieldwork on the Indonesian Revolution in of Indonesian politics are aware of the every word. field and that he had the skills to carry Ambarawa, Central Java. frustrations and disappointments of the post it out. His letters from Wisconsin where authoritarian Reformasi period, 1998-2001, he had received an MA in Southeast Chris’ focus on re-thinking the when the great hopes that Indonesians and Asian Studies were glowing. Professor Indonesian Revolution for his doctoral Indonesianists had for the nation fell apart Thongchai Winichakul was a bit saddened research was both timely and important. with the early end of the Abdurrahman that Chris had not found the Wisconsin He started out looking at early formations Wahid presidency in 2001. But scholarly work program a good place for him to continue. of the Indonesian nation’s political system in history in Indonesia opened up in 1998 But there was no Indonesian historian at and the political figures important in for the first time in 32 years and continues Wisconsin, and Chris knew he wanted to the new nation’s formation. In his last to expand and deepen. Chris’ topic was be an historian. He came to the University two years in the graduate program, right on target with the recent interest in of Washington to study with me, and I his research had broadened out to look relations between the postcolonial nation became his academic advisor. Over the at the gendered construction of the and the colonial state and continuing debates years, Chris and I became very close, young revolutionaries or pemuda—male over the tensions between regionalism and more like friends or even family, I would youth—especially in Central Java (the nationalism in 21st century Indonesia. He say, as we worked through the best ways major island of Indonesia that holds over was very aware of the limitations of looking to set Chris on the path he had chosen for 50% of the country’s population). The at the Revolution from the political center, himself as an expert in Indonesian history work had grown into an exciting PhD and this explains his move away from the Chris’ decision to carry out research in and culture. proposal that would have combined oral view from Jakarta to interviewing surviving Central Java also required him to learn histories, theoretical studies of history, members of the early years of the nation and Javanese, a language as different from By 2014, Chris had gained extensive trauma, and memory, and the delicate its Revolution in Central Java, people who Indonesian as French is from Portuguese. experience living in Indonesia, on Java balance between elite diplomats and might now finally be allowed to tell their The lack of Javanese language hampered as well as the outer islands, and he spoke rural revolutionary youth. After the stories. his preliminary research and made him Indonesian at the advanced level and exciting work of George Kahin, Benedict aware of the need to do interviewing in a few other Indonesian languages to Anderson, John Smail, and others in Chris Grorud was a brilliant and dedicated Javanese. I strongly supported his plans various degrees. Chris possessed field the 1950s and 1960s, most scholars of student. Because of his Indonesian language to go to Central Java in 2012 and enroll research experiences in both urban and Indonesia have ignored the Revolutionary command, he had been using Indonesian at Satya Wacana University in Salatiga to rural settings. He was selected for the period of the late 1940s. There have been sources for his research over the past five study Javanese and to visit the Central Transparency in Development Project, a chapters in books by James Siegel and years. In addition to his research on the Javanese city of Solo, reputed to be the 6 7 site of excellence for the command of the in shaping Indonesian history in the 21st higher, more polite and hierarchical, levels century. Chris was very comfortable in of Javanese language. Chris had an original Indonesia and with Indonesians of all walks mind and was becoming an excellent scholar of life. The opportunity to spend a year producing field-changing work. He took his or so in rural Indonesia working with the MA exams in History in Spring 2011 and Transparency for Development Project was advanced to the PhD program. His PhD very appealing to him. He was an excellent committee included Professors Vicente fit for the needs of the Transparency for “I think most of Chris’s Rafael for theories of nationalism, Christoph Development Project. fellow graduate Giebel for comparative work on revolution students have memories in Viet Nam, and Professor Francisco “Kiko” After spending a year and a half working for of being at Shultzy’s Benitez, a scholar of Indonesian and Filipino the Transparency in Development Project, Pamit dulu with him at one time or Comparative Literature and Film. Chris decided that he would prefer to live another. Beer, bratwurst in Jakarta where he had close friends and Remembered by Micaela Campbell and fries, and campus Chris was also an excellent teacher. He was where he had recently secured a highly adjacent. We would generous with his fellow graduate students desirable job working for the Jakarta often end up here and both rigorous and compassionate in International School (JIS) as a history after a seminar class undergraduate classrooms. When he was my teacher. This was the perfect fit for Chris. or a Southeast Asia TA for the first time in Spring 2011, I had the He could share his love and knowledge of Center event. This is opportunity to observe his teaching and was Indonesia with high school students and From 2014 to 2015, Chris boulders and mud. Every Chris sitting in the front very impressed. His skills at gently guiding continue to carry out research in Jakarta worked on a pilot project for time he wanted to make a booth at Shultzy’s on the students to discover for themselves new and Central Java on school vacations. Sadly, rural maternal health that call or send an email, he’d a spring afternoon in ways of looking at problems was a learning this future was unable to unfold. Illness was jointly sponsored by have to go down this road 2 011 . ” experience for me. He gently explained his took Chris Grorud from us tragically and Harvard University and the about three miles just to questions in several different forms until the unexpectedly in January of 2016.

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