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Commentary

Regimes, Negotiations & Resistance: From the Chair

Punk, as an academic field, has never been about music. Chairman Muhammad Fakhran al Ramadhan on the intellectual tradition of PSN Indonesia.

July 30, 2026·Muhammad Fakhran al Ramadhan
Regimes, Negotiations & Resistance: From the Chair

Punk, as an academic field, has never been about music alone. For over a decade, the Punk Scholars Network Global (PSN Global) has approached punk not merely as a genre, but as a lens for rigorous interdisciplinary inquiry into how identity, resistance, creativity, and cultural memory are produced, negotiated, and contested.

Punk Scholars Network Indonesia (PSN Indonesia) carries this intellectual tradition forward by building academic infrastructure to study punk and related cultural movements through diverse scholarly perspectives.

In this context, "resistance" is understood as a critical academic concept: a way to examine how communities across Indonesia and Southeast Asia negotiate social change, preserve cultural memory, construct identities, and create alternative forms of cultural expression through popular music and everyday practices.

Aligned with the mission statement of PSN Global, PSN Indonesia is committed to fostering an inclusive and intellectually rigorous environment where diverse voices, experiences, and perspectives can be shared, discussed, and developed.

Together with our Knowledge Partner, the International Association for the Study of Popular Music – Southeast Asia (IASPM-SEA), PSN Indonesia 2026 transforms the creativity, social engagement, and cultural practices surrounding punk into meaningful academic inquiry and public dialogue.

PSN Indonesia has organized six consecutive annual conferences since 2020, growing from 11 presenters in our inaugural online edition to 99 abstract submissions in 2025. This trajectory reflects not only the growing relevance of our scholarly mission, but also the trust and participation we have cultivated within Indonesia's academic and subcultural communities.

The 2026 edition marks a significant evolution: our first in-person, internationally co-organized conference, held at Lokananta, Indonesia's first national music recording studio and a historic custodian of the nation's musical heritage for over seven decades.