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Book talk: Natali Pearson - Belitung: The Afterlives of a Shipwreck

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UH Press 75th Anniversary Book Talk Series

Dr. Natali Pearson is a Curriculum Coordinator at the Sydney Southeast Asia Centre at the University of Sydney. Her research focuses on the protection, management and interpretation of underwater cultural heritage in Southeast Asia. Natali completed a PhD on underwater cultural heritage in Indonesia (2018, USYD). She also holds a Master of Museum Studies (2013, USYD); a Master of Arts in Strategy and Policy (2006, UNSW); and a Bachelor of Arts (Asian Studies) with Honours Class One in History and Indonesian Studies (2002, UNSW).

The Belitung is a 9th century Arabian-style shipwreck discovered in Indonesian waters in 1998 with a full cargo load of over 60,000 Tang-dynasty ceramics. Together, the vessel and its cargo are unique in the annals of maritime archaeology for what they reveal about early trade networks and the centrality of the ocean –and of Southeast Asia – within the Silk Road story. But this shipwreck also has a modern tale to tell, about how nation states appropriate heritage for their own purposes, and of how the transnational qualities of shipwrecks position them as critical considerations in international debates about who owns – and is responsible for – shared heritage. Using the Belitung shipwreck as a case study, this book applies a critical heritage studies lens to underwater cultural heritage, effectively shifting our thinking about shipwrecks beyond popular tropes of romance, pirates and treasure, and towards an understanding of how the relationships between sites, objects and people have the power to shape the stories we tell of the past in the present.

Ticket Information
Register in advance for the zoom access to this meeting

Event Sponsor
UH Press and Hamilton Library and Center for Southeast Asian Stuides, Mānoa Campus

More Information
Clem Guthro, 8089567205, guthroc@hawaii.edu