[citation needed] In the 1980s and 1990s foreign researchers had been accessing Java more regularly than in previous decades - with Pemberton and fellow Cornell associates tending to focus upon Solo (Surakarta) and its surrounding localities.
[1] and was unique in its appraisal of the history of Surakarta, and Java utilising commentary regarding historical and anthropological issues that were being encountered during the era of New Order Indonesia.
[citation needed] Yet this is done in the frame of the examining the posturing and processes of legitimation of power and place by Javanese royalty in the 18th century.
[citation needed] Pemberton joined the faculty of Columbia University in 1997 and currently teaches on the history and culture of Indonesia and sociocultural theory.
Both professors are affiliated with the Weatherhead East Asian Institute; Pemberton is on the Editorial Collective and Ivy is one of the Editors of the academic journal Public Culture.