Introducing: Pratika Dewi
Pratika Dewi recently joined the Institute for History as a PhD candidate, as part of Carolien Stolte's ERC project 'Reconciling Peace: International Coalitions for Peace in the Era of Decolonization, 1918-1970'. The project runs alongside Carolien Stolte's VIDI project 'Peace Palms. International Coalitions for Peace in the Era of Decolonization, 1918-1970'. Pratika works together with Kamila Smagulova, Floris de Ruiter and Henrike Vellinga. Below she introduces herself.
My name is Pratika Rizki Dewi. You can call me Pratika, and I hope it is easy for you to pronounce. I am thrilled to be joining the Institute for History at Leiden University as a PhD researcher in the “Peace and Decolonisation” framework. I am originally from Indonesia, which is why my research focuses on Indonesia. I began my BA in History at Universitas Gadjah Mada, Indonesia. Since then, I have always known that I am passionate about researching female empowerment in a male-dominated society. I pursued my passion further by earning an MSc in Gender History from the University of Glasgow, Scotland. My master’s research focused on the Indonesian women’s health movement in the 1950s. This research piqued my interest in networking among Indonesian women and globally. From the 1950s to the 1960s, Indonesian women actively participated in the global network, whether as part of a delegation or as individuals receiving invitations from international organisations. Few historians have focused on how Indonesian women actively participate in the global community, and there are very few incidents or women’s figures documented in history books. In my master’s research, I discovered that Indonesian women, represented by Mrs Hurustiati Subandrio, could even lead a panel on women’s and children’s health at the Asia-Africa Women’s Conference in 1958 in Colombo, Sri Lanka. This story inspired me, and I am confident that as I conduct my PhD research on Indonesian women’s networking for the peace movement, I will be able to uncover even more inspiring stories about Indonesian women in the global network.