"Sacred Pixels" Podcast
Sacred Pixels: Navigating the British Library’s Digitisation of the Yogyakarta Kraton Manuscripts is a four-part podcast series that aims to uncover the complexities of the British Library’s digitisation of the Yogyakarta Kraton Manuscripts.
Produced by Mahita Valluri (CO-OP Intern), with contributions from Verena Meyer (Leiden University), Alan Darmawan (SOAS, University of London), Hannan Asrowi Efflina (Komunitas Jangkah Nusantara), Florentine Nadya (Gadjah Mada University)
Made possible with support from Dr Heidi Tan, Panggah Ardiyansyah, Prof Ashley Thompson, Dr Mulaika Hijjas, and Emma Efkeman
Musical extract from “12 violin pieces” (2007, revised 2015) by Dr Nick Gray. Read more about the piece.
“Both of them [the text and the physical] are important…not one that could be more important to preserve or to be maintained.” – Hannan Asrowi Efflina
Digitisation by Jangkah, Watch full video.
Episode One
Introducing our podcast, “Sacred Pixels”
Guests: Prof Ashley Thompson, SOAS, University of London, and Panggah Ardiyansyah, SOAS, University of London
In 2019, the British Library ceremoniously handed over the master copy of the newly digitised manuscripts to the Sultan of Yogyakarta and in the same year, the palace conducted a symposium to present how access to the manuscripts has enabled the restoration of old performance traditions and the development of a new chapter in the country’s historiography.
However, it is important to note that the British Library is still in possession of the physical copies of these coveted manuscripts. Indonesian news sources have dubbed this transfer as a “digital return”, but the question of restitution remains. The lack of access to their own history is one of the primary reasons behind demands of repatriation. Can digitisation, which makes ancient Javanese manuscripts virtually available to the contemporary Indonesian audience, then be seen as a means of restitution?
In this first episode, host Mahita Valluri will outline the history of the British Library’s manuscript collection as well as briefly introduce intersections with CO-OP project themes.
Episode Two
Digitising the Colonial Archive: examining the risks of reaffirming colonial discourse while digitising colonial archives
Guest: Dr Verena Meyer, Leiden University
Museums and libraries are using digital media tools as an intermediary response to calls for decolonising institutional hierarchies and, further, for repatriation. The British Library, through its digitisation of Yogyakarta manuscripts, promises global access to knowledge and returning manuscripts to a site of activity (as opposed to the glass cases and closed doors that left them dormant).
However, traces of colonial violence and knowledge loss haunt the new digital archive, where manuscripts are severed from their physicality. They warn of virtual media’s risk of reaffirming colonial discourses. What does it mean to digitally relocate a text? What is lost when a manuscript is digitised?
In this episode, Verena Meyer helps us to explore the materiality of the manuscript and the idea of returns/repatriation in a digital manner. We will also be focusing on digitising a colonial archive and the challenges that stem from this process.
Episode Three
Reuniting text and performance: Capturing the effect of manuscripts transforming from physical objects into digital photographs
Guest: Dr Alan Darmawan, Postdoctoral Researcher, SOAS, University of London
Having problematised the digital colonial archive and what is lost when a manuscript is digitised, this episode ventures to explore the contraposition. Dr Alan Darmawan leads this conversation with his personal insights from his project “Resonant Pages,” which uses digitised Malay manuscripts to reimagine the performative aspect of literary traditions.
Resonant Pages is a perfect comparative case study to grasp an understanding of current conversations around the newly digitised Yogyakarta manuscripts. In a symposium that was conducted by the Palace of Yogyakarta in 2019, a few forms of traditional performing arts based on manuscripts were performed for the first time after the 19th century due to the widespread access of the texts.
This episode is a step towards understanding what preserving an object—and a tradition—means. What is gained when a manuscript is digitised? What does the widely accessible transcribed text revive? These will be some of the questions discussed as we shift our focus from the manuscript’s materiality to its exalted textuality.
Episode Four
Guardians of the Scriptorium: a local digitisation project
Guest: Hannan Asrowi Efflina, member of Komunitas Jangkah Nusantara
For this conversation on the local digitisation and manuscript preservation efforts in Indonesia, I am joined by Hannan Asrowi Efflina, a key member of Komunitas Jangkah Nusantara, a youth led group of philologists in Indonesia. The Jangkah group has taken up the mission to digitally preserve manuscripts from the archive of the Royal library in Yogyakarta. Their fascinating efforts have stirred the conversation on manuscripts locally and inspired major community involvement in heritage conservation.
Efflina speaks about the ethical and social responsibilities that the Jangkah consider for their digitisation project and how preserving and increasing access to the physical copy of the manuscript is an equally important goal for them.
Episode Five
The Weight of Words in the 21st Century: understanding local Indonesian discourse on manuscript restitution and preservation
Guest: Florentine Nadya, student of archaeology, Gadjah Mada University
So far, we have heard from scholars and philologists who have been working hard for several years to ethically procure knowledge that is embodied in these manuscripts and preserve it in a sustainable manner while being mindful of its authenticity and the original purpose.
In this final episode, a special guest joins from Indonesia, representing a major—often overlooked—demographic. Florentine Nadya, an archaeology undergraduate from University of Gadjah Mada, provides a glimpse into the non-specialist, local perspective on manuscripts and “digital returns”.
Bonus Episode
In this bonus episode, listen to a snippet of a 19th century Javanese manuscript being recited in the style of old performances held in the royal court of Yogyakarta. The recital is organised by the Komunitas Jangkah Nusantra on 30th September 2023.
The snippet is an extract from the Serat Menak, which is written by Kiai Muhammad Kiramu in the early 19th Century. It was found in Gunung Kidul, Yogyakarta and it is a narrative on the heroics of Amir Hamzah, the paternal uncle of Prophet Muhammad.
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Benjamin, Walter (2008). “The work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction.” Translated by J A Underwood. Penguin Great Ideas. Harlow, England: Penguin Books.
Darmawan, Alan (2023). “The Revived Mak Yong Theatre in Indonesia’s Riau Islands: Narrative and Performance Structure.” Asian Theatre Journal 40(1): 169-191.
Florida, Nancy K (1987). Reading the Unread in Traditional Javanese Literature. Indonesia 44: 1-15.
Gallop, Annabel (2019). “Javanese Manuscripts from Yogyakarta Digitisation Project Completed.” Asian and African Studies blog British Library.
Hijjas, Mulaika (2022). “Marsden’s Malay Manuscripts: Reassessing a Colonial Collection.” Philological Encounters 8 (1): 38-72.
Idris, M Z Mustaffa, N.B & Yusoff, S. O. S (2016). “Preservation of Intangible Cultural Heritage Using Advance Digital Technology: Issues and Challenges.” Harmonia: Journal of Arts Research and Education 16 (1): 1-13.
Matusky, Patricia (2002). “The Significance of Preservation: To save or not to save.” Panel presentation on “Preservation-Modernization-Reinvention in the Performing Arts of Borneo” at the Borneo Research Council Conference, 15-18 July.
Meyer, Verena (2023). “From Raids to Digital Returns: The Materiality of Manuscripts in the (Post) Colonial Imagination.” Unpublished panel presentation on “Libraries and Decoloniality” at Colonialism and Manuscript Libraries of Island South East Asia, Leverhulme Research Leadership Award: Mapping Sumatra’s Manuscript Cultures, SOAS, University of London, May 23-25.
Proudfoot, Ian (2002). “From recital to sight-reading: The silencing of texts in Malaysia.” Indonesia and the Malay World 30 (87): 17-144.
Risam, Roopika (2019). New Digital Worlds: Postcolonial Digital Humanities in Theory, Praxis, and Pedagogy. Evanston, Illinois: Northwestern University Press.