By Dasja Zonneveldt
About the Podcast
Welcome to “Call Me Kartini”, where Dasja Zonneveldt explores the life and letters of Kartini, an iconic Indonesian feminist and nationalist. She goes back in time to understand what it was like for her to live in the colonial society in Java around 1900. What can her writings and life tell us about how race, class and gender functioned in this time and place?
In four episodes, Dasja goes to archives, speaks with researchers and reads Kartini’s letters to find out more. The podcast dives into questions of power, oppression and resilience.
Episode 1: Kartini and the Colonial Steamship
Think about the texts you send to friends or family. The jokes you make, the plans you discuss, and the questions you ask. What do they say about you? What do they reveal about the society and time you live in? Imagine historians analysing these texts a hundred years later—what could they learn about you…
Episode 2: Friendship across borders?
In 2017, millions of people worldwide joined the Women’s March. The fight for gender equality has a long history. Kartini has an important place in the history of feminism and the fight for women’s rights. In this episode, Dasja dives deeper into Kartini’s experiences as a woman in Dutch colonial Java around 1900. What was…
Episode 3: At The Intersection
For years, Kartini was fighting to be able to get an education in the Netherlands. As a Javanese woman, she did not only have to fight against the obstacles in the Dutch colonial society but in the Javanese society as well. Would she be able to fulfil her dreams or would these challenges be too…
Episode 4: The Future of the Past
In the last few years, the question of how we remember the past has become increasingly relevant. Take, for instance, the movements that call for statues of problematic historical figures to be taken down. The renaming of streets and removal of statues are global phenomena that show that we are thinking differently about some historical…
Call Me Kartini - the podcast 