The NIU Libraries have selected Dr. Muzakki Bashori as the recipient of the 2024 Pick/Laudati Southeast Asia Fellowship. The fellow visits the NIU Libraries for two weeks, conducting research using our unique Southeast Asia collections. Dr. Bashori is a faculty member at Semarang State University (Universitas Negeri Semarang) in Indonesia and holds a doctoral degree in Applied Linguistics from Radboud University Nijmegen in the Netherlands. His research project for the fellowship focuses on preservation of the Javanese language. He will investigate the intersection of Javanese language and folklore, creating a multilingual (Javanese-Indonesian-English) children’s book built around Javanese folklore as well as a digital game teaching basic Javanese and folklore. He also plans to publish a scholarly article on the connections between folklore and language preservation and present about the project at an international conference. While at NIU, he will use many of our rare materials related to Javanese language and culture. He will also give a talk as part of the NIU Center for Southeast Asian Studies lecture series. Dr. Bashori will be at NIU from January 25 to February 8, 2025.
