Who gets to decide what counts as knowledge?
Universities, media, and funders set their own rules for which knowledge counts as legitimate. Alter Imaginaries traces what happens when knowledge is made outside those rules, and why that matters, for everyone.
There's an unwritten rule about who gets to know.
Knowledge has long been judged by measures set by the state, universities, markets, and funders. Meet them, and it's credible. Miss them, and it's dismissed as not scientific enough.
Knowledge keeps being made, even when it isn't always acknowledged.
When knowledge has no room inside an institution, that doesn't mean it stops growing. People keep finding ways to make it, care for it, and share it.
Making room for stories, experiences, and ideas that haven't had a place yet.
Keeping what's often seen as too small, too personal, or too informal to be recorded.
Moving knowledge through conversation, publications, digital platforms, and networks.
Keeping knowledge alive through friendship, trust, closeness, and working together.
Moving between the opportunities and limits set by institutions, markets, and scarce resources.
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Alter Imaginaries
Tracing how alternative knowledge is made and cared for.
Since 2026, we're gathering stories, practices, conversations, and questions about how alternative knowledge is made, cared for, and shared across Indonesia.
Making Knowledge Together
Showcase with UvA Amsterdam
Roundtable Discussion at MIWF 2026
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Jalan Pengetahuan Alternatif Zine
Jalan Pengetahuan Alternatif is a zine of reflective essays gathering traces of thought and practice around alternative knowledge from the "Merintis Jalan Pengetahuan Alternatif" roundtable at the Makassar International Writers Festival 2026.
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