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Melissa Johnston

Talking Indonesia

Melissa Johnston: Resilient Patriarchies

Published
February 26, 2026
Duration
43:44
Summary source
description
Last updated
Sep 2, 2026

Discusses Timor Leste became independent from Indonesia in 2002, after 24 painful years of Indonesian occupati…

Summary

Timor Leste became independent from Indonesia in 2002, after 24 painful years of Indonesian occupation built on centuries of Portuguese colonisation. Both regimes were deeply violent and extractive, and as my guest today argues, drew Timorese society into different forms of a valorised armed masculinity that would have repercussions well after Timor’s ind…

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Show notes

Timor Leste became independent from Indonesia in 2002, after 24 painful years of Indonesian occupation built on centuries of Portuguese colonisation. Both regimes were deeply violent and extractive, and as my guest today argues, drew Timorese society into different forms of a valorised armed masculinity that would have repercussions well after Timor’s independence. It’s in this post-conflict context that Mel Johnston examines Timor’s gender interventions. Gender mainstreaming is a global set of