POCUT HANIFAH
WORK
WRITING
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EDUCATION
CONTACT
POCUT HANIFAH
WORK
WRITING
ARCHIVE
EDUCATION
CONTACT
DIGITAL ANTHROPOLOGIST
Pocut
Hanifah
A digital anthropologist building technology around people — the communities who make and keep the data — rather than the race toward artificial general intelligence.
PREVIOUSLY
The British Library · Universidade de Coimbra · TU Delft · Leiden University
FOCUS
Linked Data · Machine Learning · Data Visualization · Digital Archives
AVAILABLE FOR RESEARCH & DATA COLLABORATIONS &
FOR IMPLEMENTING A PEOPLE-FRIENDLY AI DATA INFRASTRUCTURE WITH OUR TEAM AT TEXTPAST
FOR IMPLEMENTING A PEOPLE-FRIENDLY AI DATA INFRASTRUCTURE WITH OUR TEAM AT TEXTPAST
APELDOORN · NETHERLANDS
EXPLORE↓
THE PRACTICE — DIGITAL ANTHROPOLOGY
Technology is only as good as the people it serves.
At TextPast, digital anthropology sits at the centre of everything — building data visualization, machine learning and interfaces around the communities who actually use them.
A deliberate turn away from the field's obsession with artificial general intelligence, and toward the human relationships that give data its meaning.
01 / SELECTED EXPERIENCE
A decade across
archives & field.
Researcher, digital archivist and community manager — moving between universities, libraries and the communities whose records they hold.
CURRENT
2023 —
2023 —
Co-Owner — TextPast
SELF-EMPLOYED · APELDOORN, NETHERLANDS
Putting digital anthropology to work — data visualization, machine learning and interfaces built around the communities who hold the archives, not around the race to AGI.
Digital Anthropology
Data Viz
Machine Learning
Linked Data
2024
Researcher
MOSLIM ARCHIEF · FREELANCE · THE HAGUE
Linked-data modelling and scholarly research for a community archive of Dutch Muslim life.
Linked Data
Scholarly Research
2019–22
Researcher & Digital Archivist
UNIVERSIDADE DE COIMBRA · CES · PORTUGAL
ADeTiL — a transnational history of the networks leading to the self-determination of East Timor.
Transnational History
Archives
2019–20
Community Manager & Digital Archivist
THE BRITISH LIBRARY · LONDON
EAP1268 — surveying and digitising private Javanese & Sundanese manuscript collections along Java's north coast.
Digitisation
Fieldwork
2018–19
Researcher & Digital Archivist
DELFT UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY · REMOTE
Bamboo, Bricks, Tiles & Thatches — preserving 19th & early-20th-century real-estate archives on Java.
Heritage
Archives
2015–16
Research Assistant
LEIDEN UNIVERSITY · LEIDEN
Cosmopolis programme — The Making of Religious Traditions branch.
Religion
Southeast Asia
2014
Legal Translator
AIR ATLANTA ICELANDIC · JEDDAH
English to Indonesian & Sundanese interpreting on the Hajj flights between Indonesia and Mecca.
Translation
EARLIER — Researcher, Aceh Manuscript Survey (2017) · Co-Owner, Indies Tour, Yogyakarta · Research Assistant, Yayasan Rumah Kita Bersama · Chief Teaching Assistant, IIUM · Reporter, Indosiar
02 / PUBLICATIONS, PORTFOLIO, TALKS & WRITINGS
Writing from the margins of empire.
ENTER WRITINGS & PORTFOLIO→Interactive essays, research presentations, documentaries and forum discussions — published natively on this site.
BOOK CHAPTER
2023
Walking a Tightrope between the Army and the Church
Jesuit relief during the Indonesian occupation of Timor-Leste, 1975–1999
On the Indonesian Jesuits who became an impossible bridge between the Catholic Church and the occupying army — negotiating, at every turn of Timor's politics, the narrow room to organise educational and medical relief.
In Timor-Leste's Long Road to Independence: Transnational Perspectives
Amsterdam University Press · pp. 349–374
READ · DOI 10.5117/9789463726375 →
Amsterdam University Press · pp. 349–374
JOURNAL ARTICLE
2023
Solidarity for Solidarity
How Indonesian activists gained momentum for Reformasi through the transnational solidarity movement for East Timorese self-determination, 1995–99
How a generation of Indonesian activists turned their campaign for East Timor into leverage for reform at home — finding in transnational solidarity the momentum that helped unseat the New Order.
In Indonesia · Cornell University Press · April 2023
FURTHER PUBLICATIONS
2021 · PROCEEDINGS
A Mirror of Suppression: the Indonesian Solidarity Movement and its Transnational Struggle for East Timorese Independence and Indonesian Liberation, 1989–1999
Timor-Leste Studies Association 2020 · Lisbon: TLSA, 2021
IN PROGRESS · BOOK CHAPTER
The Crown's Coal, Oil and Rubber: Wilhelmina's interest in Aceh between 1890 and 1957
2015 · ESSAY
Fenomena Jilbab
Jaringan Islam Liberal · Islamlib.com · December 2015
© 2026 Pocut Hanifah. The writings, interactive presentations & portfolio works published on this site are original works of the author — all rights reserved. The listed academic publications remain © their respective publishers.
03 / COLLECTIONS & FIELDWORK
A graph of records,
people & places.
Endangered manuscripts, colonial paperwork and community memory — surveyed in the field, then modelled as linked data so the connections between them stay legible.
EAP1268 — Javanese & Sundanese Manuscripts
THE BRITISH LIBRARY · NORTH COAST JAVA · 2019–20
Private collections from the Javanese north coast, its Sundanese hinterlands and the fringes of court — surveyed and digitised through fieldwork.
Bamboo, Bricks, Tiles & Thatches
TU DELFT · COLONIAL REAL-ESTATE ARCHIVES · 2018–19
Preserving 19th & early-20th-century archives concerning real estate on Java, Indonesia.
Aceh Manuscript Survey
FIELD PILOT · ACEH · 2017
A pilot survey mapping endangered manuscripts held across Aceh.
ADeTiL — East Timor Self-Determination
CES, COIMBRA · TRANSNATIONAL HISTORY · 2019–22
The transnational networks that carried Timor-Leste toward self-determination, traced through scattered archives.
Moslim Archief
THE HAGUE · COMMUNITY ISLAMIC ARCHIVE · 2024
Modelling a community archive of Dutch Muslim life as linked, connectable data.
IN THE FIELD
Records survive where communities choose to keep them.
INDONESIA·PORTUGAL·NETHERLANDS
04 / EDUCATION
Trained between faith
& field.
2013 — 2014
Leiden University
LEIDEN, NETHERLANDS
Master's Degree — Southeast Asian Studies
Linked Data
2006 — 2012
International Islamic University Malaysia
KUALA LUMPUR, MALAYSIA
Bachelor's Degree — Sociology of Development, minoring in Islamic Revealed Knowledge
Religion
Islamic Studies
2002 — 2005
SMA Negeri 2 Bogor
BOGOR, INDONESIA
Social Sciences
PH
05 / CONTACT
Let's build something
worth keeping.
AVAILABLE FOR RESEARCH & DATA COLLABORATIONS &
FOR IMPLEMENTING A PEOPLE-FRIENDLY AI DATA INFRASTRUCTURE WITH OUR TEAM AT TEXTPAST
{{ emailText }}↗
FOR IMPLEMENTING A PEOPLE-FRIENDLY AI DATA INFRASTRUCTURE WITH OUR TEAM AT TEXTPAST
© 2026 POCUT HANIFAH · ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
APELDOORN · NETHERLANDS
BACK TO TOP ↑
POCUT HANIFAH
MENU
Work
Writing
Archive
Education
Contact
APELDOORN · NETHERLANDS
DIGITAL ANTHROPOLOGIST
Pocut
Hanifah
A digital anthropologist building technology around people — the communities who make and keep the data — rather than the race toward artificial general intelligence.
PREVIOUSLY
The British Library · Universidade de Coimbra · TU Delft · Leiden University
FOCUS
Linked Data · Machine Learning · Data Visualization · Digital Archives
AVAILABLE FOR RESEARCH & DATA COLLABORATIONS & FOR IMPLEMENTING A PEOPLE-FRIENDLY AI DATA INFRASTRUCTURE WITH OUR TEAM AT TEXTPAST
APELDOORN · NETHERLANDS
EXPLORE↓
THE PRACTICE
Technology is only as good as the people it serves.
At TextPast, digital anthropology sits at the centre of everything — building data visualization, machine learning and interfaces around the communities who actually use them.
A deliberate turn away from the field's obsession with artificial general intelligence, and toward the human relationships that give data its meaning.
01 / SELECTED EXPERIENCE
A decade across archives & field.
Researcher, digital archivist and community manager — moving between universities, libraries and the communities whose records they hold.
CURRENT · 2023 —
Co-Owner — TextPast
SELF-EMPLOYED · APELDOORN, NETHERLANDS
Putting digital anthropology to work — data visualization, machine learning and interfaces built around the communities who hold the archives, not around the race to AGI.
Digital Anthropology
Data Viz
Machine Learning
2024
Researcher
MOSLIM ARCHIEF · FREELANCE · THE HAGUE
Linked-data modelling and scholarly research for a community archive of Dutch Muslim life.
2019–22
Researcher & Digital Archivist
UNIVERSIDADE DE COIMBRA · CES · PORTUGAL
ADeTiL — a transnational history of the networks leading to the self-determination of East Timor.
2019–20
Community Manager & Digital Archivist
THE BRITISH LIBRARY · LONDON
EAP1268 — surveying and digitising private Javanese & Sundanese manuscript collections along Java's north coast.
2018–19
Researcher & Digital Archivist
DELFT UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY · REMOTE
Bamboo, Bricks, Tiles & Thatches — preserving 19th & early-20th-century real-estate archives on Java.
2015–16
Research Assistant
LEIDEN UNIVERSITY · LEIDEN
Cosmopolis programme — The Making of Religious Traditions branch.
2014
Legal Translator
AIR ATLANTA ICELANDIC · JEDDAH
English to Indonesian & Sundanese interpreting on the Hajj flights between Indonesia and Mecca.
EARLIER — Researcher, Aceh Manuscript Survey (2017) · Co-Owner, Indies Tour, Yogyakarta · Research Assistant, Yayasan Rumah Kita Bersama · Chief Teaching Assistant, IIUM · Reporter, Indosiar
02 / PUBLICATIONS, PORTFOLIO, TALKS & WRITINGS
Writing from the margins of empire.
ENTER WRITINGS & PORTFOLIO→
BOOK CHAPTER
2023
Walking a Tightrope between the Army and the Church
Jesuit relief during the Indonesian occupation of Timor-Leste, 1975–1999
On the Indonesian Jesuits who became an impossible bridge between the Catholic Church and the occupying army — negotiating, at every turn of Timor's politics, the narrow room to organise educational and medical relief.
In Timor-Leste's Long Road to Independence · Amsterdam University Press · pp. 349–374
READ · DOI 10.5117/9789463726375 →
JOURNAL ARTICLE
2023
Solidarity for Solidarity
How Indonesian activists gained momentum for Reformasi through the transnational solidarity movement for East Timorese self-determination, 1995–99
How a generation of Indonesian activists turned their campaign for East Timor into leverage for reform at home — finding in transnational solidarity the momentum that helped unseat the New Order.
In Indonesia · Cornell University Press · April 2023
FURTHER PUBLICATIONS
2021 · PROCEEDINGS
A Mirror of Suppression: the Indonesian Solidarity Movement and its Transnational Struggle for East Timorese Independence and Indonesian Liberation, 1989–1999
VIEW →IN PROGRESS · BOOK CHAPTER
The Crown's Coal, Oil and Rubber: Wilhelmina's interest in Aceh between 1890 and 1957
2015 · ESSAY
Fenomena Jilbab
Jaringan Islam Liberal · Islamlib.com · December 2015
READ →
© 2026 Pocut Hanifah. Writings, interactive presentations & portfolio works on this site are original works of the author — all rights reserved. Listed academic publications remain © their respective publishers.
03 / COLLECTIONS & FIELDWORK
A graph of records, people & places.
Endangered manuscripts, colonial paperwork and community memory — surveyed in the field, then modelled as linked data so the connections between them stay legible.
IN THE FIELD
Records survive where communities choose to keep them.
INDONESIA·PORTUGAL·NETHERLANDS
EAP1268 — Javanese & Sundanese Manuscripts
THE BRITISH LIBRARY · NORTH COAST JAVA · 2019–20
Private collections from the Javanese north coast, its Sundanese hinterlands and the fringes of court — surveyed and digitised through fieldwork.
Bamboo, Bricks, Tiles & Thatches
TU DELFT · COLONIAL REAL-ESTATE ARCHIVES · 2018–19
Preserving 19th & early-20th-century archives concerning real estate on Java, Indonesia.
Aceh Manuscript Survey
FIELD PILOT · ACEH · 2017
A pilot survey mapping endangered manuscripts held across Aceh.
ADeTiL — East Timor Self-Determination
CES, COIMBRA · TRANSNATIONAL HISTORY · 2019–22
The transnational networks that carried Timor-Leste toward self-determination, traced through scattered archives.
Moslim Archief
THE HAGUE · COMMUNITY ISLAMIC ARCHIVE · 2024
Modelling a community archive of Dutch Muslim life as linked, connectable data.
04 / EDUCATION
Trained between faith & field.
2013 — 2014
Leiden University
LEIDEN, NETHERLANDS
Master's Degree — Southeast Asian Studies
2006 — 2012
International Islamic University Malaysia
KUALA LUMPUR, MALAYSIA
Bachelor's Degree — Sociology of Development, minoring in Islamic Revealed Knowledge
2002 — 2005
SMA Negeri 2 Bogor
BOGOR, INDONESIA
Social Sciences
05 / CONTACT
Let's build something worth keeping.
AVAILABLE FOR RESEARCH & DATA COLLABORATIONS & FOR IMPLEMENTING A PEOPLE-FRIENDLY AI DATA INFRASTRUCTURE WITH OUR TEAM AT TEXTPAST
{{ emailText }}↗
© 2026 POCUT HANIFAH · ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
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