Welcome!
I am a cultural anthropologist and a storyteller from the tropical archipelago of Indonesia. For the past decade, my career and training have been rooted in higher education, whether through lecturing, course design, or mentoring youth in the study of gender and culture. While I am deeply passionate about ethnographic research, I've always bridged anthropological inquiries with media exploration. I am known for engaging zines, video essays, photography, and film to help people better understand the world they live in.
My doctoral research explores the intersections of gender, politics, religion, and new media. I am deeply fascinated by how marginalized communities use creative strategies and praxis (e.g., social media, aesthetic experimentation, spirituality) to carve out senses of belonging and build solidarity networks.
I love bringing stories to life through visual and community projects. I've had the joy of serving as a programmer for the Wicked Queer Film Festival in Boston and facilitating a workshop on ethics and archives with Queer Indonesia Archive. I am constantly searching for ways to blend visual culture with qualitative research.
I recently launched my Substack, Ethno-Scrolling, a passion project where I journal about digital culture, visual aesthetics, and modern gendered formation. Ethno-Scrolling views the digital feed, or simply the act of scrolling, as an anthropological endeavor and an ethnographic discernment. I am currently scaffolding ideas to turn Ethno-Scrolling into a Podcast series.
I am open to arts/research collaborations and learning more about teaching + workshop opportunities!
If you'd like to connect, email: afadhlina[at]icloud[d0t]com
Presentations
Pursuits of Legitimacy: Mapping Gender Fluidity, Activism, and Social Change in Indonesia
Guest Lecture, April 2025
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Cambridge, MA
Gender and Sexuality in Flux: Zines, Alternative Media, and Resistance in Yogyakarta
Presenter, March 2025
Association for Asian Studies Conference
Columbus, OH
The Ethics of Representing Others/Etika Merepresentasikan yang Lain dan yang Liyan
Workshop Facilitator, July 2024
Queer Indonesia Archive Workshop Series
Virtual, Indonesia
Embodying Alternative Lifestyle: Queer Discontent and the Making of Youth Performative Politics in Yogyakarta
Panel Organizer and Presenter, July 2024
Association for Asian Studies in Asia Conference
Yogyakarta, Indonesia
Queer Activism, Quasi Visibility: Gender Identity, Social Activism, and Change
Guest Lecture, April 2024
Virtual, University of Michigan-Flint
Waria, Worship, Welfare: Exploring Trans Women’s Conditions of Precarity Under COVID-19 in Yogyakarta, Indonesia
Presenter, March 2023
Association for Asian Studies Conference
Boston, MA
Conditions of Possibility, Queering Islam, and the Rise of Trans Activism in Indonesia
Presenter, November 2023
American Academy of Religion Conference
Denver, CO
Carpool Dakwah: Queer Mockery, Social Media, and New Discourses of Gendered Expertise in Indonesia
Panel Organizer and Presenter, June 2022
AIFIS-MSU Conference
Virtual, Indonesia
Beyond the Binary: Islamic Authority, New Media & Queer Identity Assertion in Indonesia
Guest Lecture, April 2022
Virtual, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Humor, Piety, and Masculinity: The Role of Digital Platforms in Aiding ‘Conversations’ Between Islamic Preachers and Waria in Indonesia
Presenter, March 2022
Association for Asian Studies Conference
Honolulu, HI
Fadhlina, A., (2025) “Embodying Alternative Lifestyles: Queer Discontent and Performative Politics in Yogyakarta.” Global Storytelling: Journal of Digital and Moving Images 5(1): 5. doi: https://doi.org/10.3998/gs.7223
Fadhlina, A. (2024). “Waria, Worship, and Welfare: Exploring Trans Women’s Conditions of Precarity Amidst COVID-19 in Yogyakarta, Indonesia.” TRaNS: Trans-Regional and -National Studies of Southeast Asia, January, 1–17. https://doi.org/10.1017/trn.2024.1.
Fadhlina, A. (2021). Humor, Piety, and Masculinity: The Role of Digital Platforms in Aiding “Conversations” Between Islamic Preachers and Waria in Indonesia. CyberOrient, 15: 59-84. https://doi.org/10.1002/cyo2.7
Alternative ways to find my work:
