JP Dr. Elsa Clavé

Photo: UHH, cropped
Junior Professor
Austronesian Studies
Address
Office
Office hours
- During term: Tuesday 12:30–1:30 p.m. + Thursday 9:00–10:00 a.m.
booking via the appointment tool
(at the bottom of the personal entry) - Outside term: make an appointment via email(elsa.clave"AT"uni-hamburg.de)
Contact
Key aspects of activity
- Social and cultural history of Indonesia, the Philippines and Malaysia
- Legacy of colonialism/postcolonialism
- Memory of violence
- Malay manuscript cultures
I have studied in France at the Sorbonne; the Institut National des Langues et Civilisations Orientales (Inalco) and at the Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales (EHESS), where I received two bachelors (French Literature; Indonesian-Malay Studies) and two Masters (Indonesian-Malay Studies; History). This has led me to have a special interest in how people think and imagine the world, how they conceptualize the past and its relation to the present, especially in the Philippines, Indonesia and Malaysia. Understanding other people's culture (mentalities, system of thoughts, values) is, I think, primordial in today's world which is a world of "metissage", where cultures are in contact and enrich eachother. While this is not a new phenomenon, its intensity puts it now at the forefront. Through the years my work has quite naturally brought me to a more general reflection on what type of "relation to the other" was implied by area/Southeast Asian studies, even after the decolonization of the studies. What this relation could be underlies my work both in the classroom and in research.
Besides studying what people think, I also have an (a very serious) interest in what they eat and my favorite cuisine are Tausug and Betawi.
Personal website: https://elsaclave.com/ (external link outside the jurisdiction of the Universität Hamburg!).