Book review : Tineke Hellwig, In the shadow of change: of women in Indonesian literature (original) (raw)
Related papers
Study of Contemporary Indonesian Women Literature: Literary Classification and Labelling
This paper explored the problem of the use of literary classification and labelling in the study of contemporary Indonesian literature, focusing on post-1998 women writers and their novels. From the few examples of Indonesian women writers and their novels, this paper argues that women writers do engage in various social issues in their works and the importance of the role of literature as a platform for alternative discourses and the documentation of social reality.
Finding Feminist Literary Reading: Portrayals Of Women In The 1920s Indonesian Literary Writings
ATAVISME, 2014
Makalah ini bertujuan untuk melihat potret perempuan dalam tiga karya yang ditulis oleh penulis laki-laki dengan menggunakan pendekatan kritik sastra feminis. Melalui teknik pem-bacaan yang mendalam (close reading technique), penelitian ini menggunakan kritik sastra femi-nis untuk menelaah potret perempuan dalam tiga karya tersebut. Temuan dalam tulisan ini me-nunjukkan bahwa di satu sisi perempuan masih terbelenggu oleh patriarkat, tetapi di sisi lain pe-rempuan bukanlah korban patriarkat yang pasif: perempuan tetap berupaya untuk keluar dari be-lenggu ini dan memutus rantai penindasan patriarkat melalui kebebasan dan otonomi personal. Kata-Kata Kunci: sastra Indonesia modern, tahun 1920-an, Balai Pustaka, perempuan, kritik sastra feminis Abstract: Modern Indonesian literature can be said to be born around 1920s with the publication of modern Indonesian literary works by Balai Pustaka. Amongst the works published by Balai Pustaka in the 1920s, there are most popular works namely Sitti Nurbaya (1922), Azab dan Seng-sara(1927) and Salah Asuhan (1928) representing the tone of 1920s literary productions. This paper aims to look at images of women in those three works written by male authors, using feminist literary criticism. By means of close reading technique, the study uses feminist literary criticism to examine and (re)examine the images of women portrayed in those three works. The finding shows that on one hand some women are still trapped with the shackle of patriarchy, but on the other hand some women are not simply passive victims of patriarchy: these women still attempt to escape from the patriarchal chain and cut out the patriarchal oppression.
Women’s Socio-Political Dynamics in Indonesian Literature
Walisongo: Jurnal Penelitian Sosial Keagamaan, 2020
Literary works have been believed to be media to spread ideas or ideology. This paper seeks to examine the images of women before Indonesia’s Reformation Era as reflected in Ahmad Tohari's Bekisar Merah and after the Reformation Era as reflected in Ayu Utami's Saman. By employing qualitative modes of inquiry and theories in the sociology of literature, this study has shown that images of women before and after Indonesia’s Reformation Era were depicted differently. Before Indonesia’s Reformation Era, the image of women tended to be submissive in dealing with the socio-political dynamics, while after the Reformation Era in 1998, they were depicted as progressive and even rebellious. However, it is also important to notice that this difference indicated the writers' political and ideological preference in describing the women’s position in Indonesian society in their era. The findings of this study support Gramsci's idea about ideological or cultural hegemony presented ...
Journal of International Women's Studies, 2018
Suwarsih Djojopuspito is among the most important early Indonesian women/feminist writers. This research intends to emphasize her rightful position among the first Indonesian feminist writers. Focusing on her very important novel Manusia Bebas (published originally in Dutch as Buiten het Gareel in 1940)3, one collection of short stories, Empat Serangkai (1954), and a novel written in Sundanese, Marjanah (1959), I argue that feminist spirits and ideas actually have existed and been elaborated in works by women writers in the era prior to the Indonesian New Order (1966-1998) as exemplified by Suwarsih’s works. What is important in these works is that despite the unjust gender and sexual construction, the women protagonists and characters are shown to find their agency through their awareness of their particular situation. Suwarsih4 reestablishes the construction of femininity and attributes it not to total submission and acceptance to males and the patriarchal culture but to female agency, subjectivity, and intelligence. Keywords: Suwarsih Djojopuspito, Indonesian women writers, feminist voice, sexuality, gender, local culture
Women's Rebellion towards Patriarchal Culture in Latest Indonesian Novels
Proceedings of the Sixth International Conference on Languages and Arts (ICLA 2017), 2018
This article aimed to expose the portrayal of women's rebellion inthe latest Indonesian novels through characters description. Method of the research was content analysis method to interpret literary works trough certain perspectives. Data of the study were collected from selected latest Indonesian novels published from 1940s until 2000s. The analysis found that women did a rebellion towards patriarchal culture with purpose to have similar chance on education, social life, socioeconomic , political right and cultural. The forms of women's rebellion are direct confrontation and indirect attempt. Direct confrontation depicted in the attitudes and statements of women characters in the novels. Meanwhile, indirect attempts are reflected through the utterance of women's thought and feeling.
Re-imagining the archipelago: the nation in post-Suharto Indonesian women's fiction
2011
This study sets out to investigate the ways in which some fiction by Indonesian women authors produced since the downfall of President Suharto in 1998 explores the notion of 'nation' that was established by the New Order during its thirty-two-year rule, and offers alternative perspectives. The New Order's ideology of the unitary state of Indonesia required, as its foremost prerequisite, the construction of a sense of Indonesianness that was neither fragmented nor centrifugal. The result, however, was not only a Java-centric perspective of a vast archipelago that consists of more than 13,000 islands, but even more narrowly, a Jakarta-centric envisioning of the entire nation. In 1998 the Reformasi started and these women authors, who are situated at the intersection of authoritarianism and democracy, attempted to redefine the nation from diverse perspectives as women, while at the same time struggling against the pull to reinscribe the New Order's discourse of a monolithic national identity. Different authors offer a range of viewpoints: from spatial angles that encompass urban, archipelagic, and cosmopolitan outlooks, to cultural dimensions that include Islam, adat, and ethnicity. These strategies of representation are analyzed using various feminist theories and approaches, especially those which are concerned with the notion of "symbolic space" as a "para-site" located in the margin of the dominant power, as proposed by scholars such as Ien Ang , Rey Chow (1993), and bell hooks (1990). This study not only opens up a new approach to reading post-1998 Indonesian women's fiction in the context of constructions of Indonesianness, but also furthers understanding of how cultural production in present-day Indonesia struggles to distance itself from the cultural and political legacy of the New Order, and at the same time is influenced by the long-lasting effects of that legacy.
Stereotypes as the Ideology of Feminism in Novels Authorized by Indonesian Female Authors
International Journal of Linguistics, Literature, and Culture, 2018
This study aims at (1) discovering women stereotypes based on words of the characters' in the novel in form of text quotations. (2) examining ideology and gynocritics aspect that is how the special characteristics of the feminists' creative process in terms of style and expression. This study is a qualitative research conducted through descriptive and analytical data analysis by giving exposure and depiction of data in the form of description. Data were collected by using literature study to dismantle aspects of women stereotypes contained in the novel through linguistic expression in the form of text citation since the data sources in this study were dominated by the written data. The data were analyzed grounded on two theories of feminist literary criticism namely ideological and gynocritical feminist criticism theories. The theories are used to discover figures, stereotypes, history, style, theme, genre, structure, profession, customs, traditions and cultures that influence the mindset of female authors. The results show that many women stereotypes paint the works of female authors. Based on three novels authorized by Indonesian female authors studied show that they are obviously consistent in exposing the stereotypes in every writing of their novels. The stereotypes revealed in these novels serve as the basis for the struggle of female authors and their expression in an attempt to voice the dignity of Indonesian women in various sectors of life including politics, social, economic, and culture, in order to align with men. As a result, the struggle give birth to a movement called feminism.
Proceedings of the Second Conference on Language, Literature, Education, and Culture (ICOLLITE 2018), 2019
Until this time, most women's roles have been constructed by the community and subsequently socialized through literary works. In a patriarchal society, the roles of women are constructed only according to the patriarchal point of view. This study described how the roles of women were constructed in patriarchal culture contained in Indonesian novels such as Sitti Nurbaya by Marah Rusli, Azab dan Senggsara by Merari Siregar, Kehilangan Mestika by Hamidah, and Manusia Bebas by Suwarsih Djojopuspito. Based on the results of analysis on the four novels, it was found that in general women were constructed to fulfill the roles in the domestic world as wife, child, and mother, also play a role in the public who participate in the world of education and social organizations. The constructed role of women benefits men and corresponds to patriarchal ideology.
Female Identity and Sexuality in Contemporary Indonesian Novels
2020
This project focuses on female characters' identity and sexuality in four contemporary Indonesian novels, selected based on historical settings highly significant to the discussion. First, The Girl from the Coast (2002) by Pramoedya Ananta Toer takes place during Dutch colonialization, and the second, The Dancer (1982) by Ahmad Tohari, during the transition of power from President Soekarno to General Suharto, a period when the Indonesian Communist Party was still active. Durga/Umayi (2004) by Y. B. Mangunwijaya and Saman, a Novel (1998) Although their choices can be difficult, painful, and even sacrificial, they are able to chooseunlike Toer's girl and Tohari's ronggeng.