What happens when music becomes more than something we listen to?

This question emerged from the recent participation of Jawahirus Saniah, DEEP EnGender Researcher, in the Punk Scholars Network (PSN) and IASPM SEA Conference. The conference brought together scholars and cultural practitioners working across popular music, culture, identity, gender, peace, and ecology.

For DEEP EnGender, the conversations offered useful ways to think about how music can become a space for producing and transmitting knowledge.

Exploring Gender Through Popular Music

In the Timurnesia panel, Saniah presented research on Bugis-Makassar popular songs and how men negotiate masculinity through the cultural concept of siri’. The presentation placed popular music alongside broader discussions of identity, peace, and gender in Eastern Indonesia.

Other presentations explored how music travels across geographical boundaries and how regional identity is continually shaped through popular culture. Yosia Pongohi, for example, discussed the circulation of East Nusa Tenggara popular music through digital platforms and its movement into the national music industry.

Yogie Mofun examined rap as a medium for peacebuilding among young people in post-conflict Ambon. Together, the presentations showed how popular music can provide a way to examine identity, social relationships, and cultural negotiations that are often difficult to capture through conventional categories.

Music, Ecology, and Resistance

One of the conference discussions that connected strongly with DEEP EnGender's work was the use of music in ecological resistance.

A study of Wiji Kendeng examined how young followers of the Samin tradition used tembang macapat alongside punk music in their resistance to cement factory expansion in the Kendeng Mountains. Traditional and contemporary musical forms became part of a wider struggle over land, identity, solidarity, and ecological futures.

This resonates with DEEP EnGender's interest in local ecological knowledge and cultural practices. Music can carry memories and knowledge across generations, while also creating solidarity around environmental struggles.

The discussion also connects with Saniah's ongoing research on women's singing as a practice of care and ecological knowledge transmission among the Bugis community. Singing can be understood as a practice through which relationships with people, places, and environments are remembered and transmitted.

Expanding How We Listen

The conference also raised questions about inclusion. For Deaf communities, music can be experienced through vibration, lyrics, and visual forms. This challenges narrow assumptions about what it means to experience music and reminds us that accessibility is also part of knowledge production.

The Visual Ethnography Workshop offered another way to think about this question. Its central idea, "When words can't tell, pictures will," opened possibilities for using photographs, drawings, and videos as forms of knowledge rather than simply illustrations.

For DEEP EnGender, these approaches can expand the meaning of dialogue by creating more ways for communities to communicate their experiences and knowledge.

A Little Bit Punk

Perhaps the most unexpected takeaway was the connection between the spirit of punk and DEEP EnGender.

Punk's emphasis on critical thinking, equality, grassroots knowledge, and questioning established structures resonates with a research practice that values community knowledge and interdisciplinary collaboration.

Perhaps, alongside being fun, DEEP EnGender can also be a little bit punk. 🤘

We are pleased to share that Dedi Arifka, Managing Director of DEEP EnGender, participated in the United Nations Responsible Business and Human Rights Forum Asia-Pacific 2026, held in Bangkok, Thailand, from 14–17 September 2026.

The four-day forum brought together civil society organizations, government representatives, businesses, researchers, and other stakeholders from across the Asia-Pacific region to discuss responsible business conduct, human rights, environmental and human rights due diligence, digital technologies, and access to remedy. The programme included a range of formats, including Deep Dives, Panels, Policy Labs, Spotlights, Film Screenings, Plenaries, Roundtables, Workshops, and Exchange Cafés.

One of the sessions attended was the Policy Lab on Platform Power, Consumer Rights, and Corporate Accountability in Asia-Pacific, organized by Tifa Foundation and Open Net Korea. The discussion examined consumer harms linked to digital platforms, gaps in corporate due diligence, cross-border data governance, grievance mechanisms, and the need for stronger accountability from both States and companies. The session also emphasized the importance of developing concrete recommendations for due diligence, remedies, and regulatory coherence across the region.

Dedi also participated in the workshop Sustaining MHREDD Momentum in Asia: Sharing Regional Strategies for Resilient Campaigns and Lessons from the EU’s CSDDD. The workshop brought together civil society organizations and human rights and environmental defenders to exchange practical strategies for sustaining advocacy around mandatory human rights and environmental due diligence. Discussions focused on coalition-building, public engagement, counter-narratives, human rights education, and approaches that can be adapted across different national contexts.

Another relevant session was the panel Embedding Human Rights Safeguards in AI Product Design: Taking a Child Rights-Based Approach, organized by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights and UNICEF. The session explored the need to integrate human rights due diligence throughout the AI product lifecycle, beginning from the design stage and continuing through development and deployment. Particular attention was given to children’s rights, data governance, transparency, accountability, and the role of civil society and communities in shaping safer and more responsible AI systems.

Through the forum, DEEP EnGender had the opportunity to bring perspectives from Indonesia into regional discussions while learning from organizations working on digital rights, corporate accountability, human rights due diligence, and responsible technology across Asia-Pacific.

The participation also strengthened existing relationships and opened new connections with practitioners and organizations working on related issues. These conversations will be continued through further communication, exchange of resources and experiences, and exploration of potential areas for collaboration.

The experience contributes to DEEP EnGender’s ongoing work, including Digital Re-Grow, by connecting local community-based work with broader regional conversations on digital civic space, accountability, participation, and rights-respecting technology.

DEEP EnGender looks forward to continuing these conversations and strengthening collaboration with regional partners toward more inclusive, participatory, and accountable digital and development practices.

Herlina Dedy Listiani, Research & MEAL Coordinator at DEEP EnGender, was selected to participate in the ASEF Capacity-Building Training Programme on Inclusive and Sustainable Development: Gender Equality & Women’s Participation, held in Kunming, Yunnan, China, from 7–9 September 2026.

Herlina was selected from more than 3,000 applicants and was among 23 practitioners invited to exchange perspectives on women’s participation, inclusive governance, gender equality, and sustainable development across Asia and Europe. This fully-funded programme was hosted by the Foreign Affairs Office of the People’s Government of Yunnan Province.

However, the planned journey to Kunming was interrupted by the Anak Krakatau eruption on 6 September 2026, which disrupted air travel and affected flight operations through   Soekarno-Hatta. After exploring alternative travel arrangements, the disruption ultimately made it impossible for Herlina to travel, and she had to withdraw from the programme.

While the physical participation could not take place, the experience raised important reflections on the relationship between participation, infrastructure, and access. As highlighted in DEEP EnGender’s reflection, meaningful participation is not only about being invited into a room, but also about having the infrastructure, resources, time, and support needed to reach that room.

The experience also reinforces the importance of considering gender within discussions of infrastructure and resilience. When public systems are disrupted, the ability to adapt can depend heavily on financial resources, mobility, flexible time, and access to alternative arrangements, such kind of conditions that are not equally available to everyone, particularly women. 

For DEEP EnGender, this interrupted journey has become an opportunity to further reflect on inclusive governance and sustainable development. True inclusion requires not only creating spaces for women’s participation, but also strengthening the systems and infrastructure that enable them to participate meaningfully, including during times of disruption.

Although Herlina’s seat in Kunming remained empty, the experience continues to inform DEEP EnGender’s work on gender justice, inclusive participation, resilience, and equitable access.

DEEP EnGender congratulates Herlina on her selection and appreciates ASEF for the recognition and opportunity to connect practitioners across Asia and Europe.