Within the framework of a larger debate on literary history and censorship studies, this research delves deeper into the role of literature in narrating Indonesia’s bleakest pages of history,... Show moreWithin the framework of a larger debate on literary history and censorship studies, this research delves deeper into the role of literature in narrating Indonesia’s bleakest pages of history, namely the events of 1965-66 and the mass killings that followed. The historical legacy of the events was a matter of grave contention within Indonesia and to speak directly and write with honesty about them could become fraught with danger. Throughout most of the 1970s, creative literature in Indonesia was almost totally silent on the background and meaning of the killings of 1965-66, the very specific topic that did not collocate with the values of the authoritarian New Order regime. The aftermath in the lives of individuals who witnessed this tragedy was also skipped over in Indonesian literature. In addition, the traumatic nature of the experience seemed to have been expunged from the memories of witnesses and inhibited a wider group of people from talking. However, against all odds, a few literary authors spoke up and openly addressed this theme in their novels. They were even sympathetic in portraying the victims even though the regime was at the height of its power and exerting maximum social and political control through rampant censorship. In this regard, this dissertation addresses the broader question about what this case of literary production tells us about the nature of censorship under the New Order. Show less
This dissertation is about the broadcasting of dakwah on Indonesian TV stations. It deals with the production and circulation of dakwah programmes on TV and elucidates the social and educational... Show moreThis dissertation is about the broadcasting of dakwah on Indonesian TV stations. It deals with the production and circulation of dakwah programmes on TV and elucidates the social and educational backgrounds of popular TV preachers in order to understand the rise of the programmes in post-Suharto Indonesia. Furthermore, this dissertation discusses the competition among various Muslim organisations to influence the production of dakwah programmes and the formation of religious authority through the broadcasting of dakwah programmes on TV channels. This dissertation is based on one-year ethnographic fieldwork in Jakarta, Medan, and Bali, which includes observations and interviews with the producers, preachers, and audiences of dakwah programmes, Muslim leaders, and members of Indonesian Broadcasting Commission (KPI). This dissertation shows the important role of TV in the construction of religious authority, which becomes more fragmented in Muslim societies like in Indonesia partly because of televised dakwah. Most of the current researches on dakwah activities focus mainly on social media like Facebook, YouTube, and Instagram but neglect the role of other media like TV. In fact, TV still plays an important role in daily activities of Indonesian society with its programmes. Muslims watch TV programmes such as dakwah, news, soap operas, talk and reality shows during their leisure and busy time. Muslim leaders make use of TV to disseminate their teachings and enhance their charisma among Muslim audiences. Presidential candidates and political leaders use TV stations to promote their political agendas to gain supports from the society. Show less
This thesis discusses the ways in which local officials deal with the tensions concerning regulations on Muslim marriage and social practices that emerge as a response to such regulations. By... Show moreThis thesis discusses the ways in which local officials deal with the tensions concerning regulations on Muslim marriage and social practices that emerge as a response to such regulations. By looking at the implementation of legal norms on marriage, the functioning of marriage bureaucracy and the people's attitudes towards state recognition of marriage in the local setting, this thesis suggests that Indonesia is experiencing a continuing process of the penetration of state law into society. At the law-making level, instead of reforming the substance of the marriage law, which would only stir up controversy and debates, the government has used a citizens’ rights approach to control marriage practice. This citizens’ rights approach is helpful in guiding people towards compliance with the state legal framework.Furthermore, the central state is also endeavouring to remove all forms of informality from the procedures involved. Nevertheless, in practice, it seems it is an uphill battle to reduce informal intervention. In the end, the willingness of the state officials to give a less than strict interpretation of legal rules is key to guaranteeing the functioning of the state law and will be good for the legal development of Indonesia in the future. Show less
This dissertation examines the dynamics of memory of violence in present-day society, by zooming in to memory of the anti-communist violence in Indonesia in 1965. The problem starts with the... Show moreThis dissertation examines the dynamics of memory of violence in present-day society, by zooming in to memory of the anti-communist violence in Indonesia in 1965. The problem starts with the contrasting narrative about this particular event. On the one hand, the national narrative by the state commemorates the death of six generals and one low rank army officer during the September 30th Movement or Gerakan 30 September 1965/ G30S. The military accused the Indonesian Communist Party or Partai Komunis Indonesia/ PKI as the mastermind behind the movement. The movement was followed by a regime shift from Sukarno to Suharto in 1966. On the other hand, this new regime initiated a nation-wide purge against communists, leftists, and their affiliates in 1965-66 and in 1968 in some parts of East Java. This violent bloodbath continued to be excluded from Indonesia’s national historiography until today. They became the counter-narrative.This dissertation goes beyond this binary approach of state versus counter narrative. Through a case study in rural area of Donomulyo district in East Java, this research discovered that memories of violence are multi-layered. They are not exclusively determined by the repressive memory project of the state, but are actually embedded in social relations and local context where the violence occurred. Moreover, this case study shows that memories of violence did not diminish over time, not even under state repression. Narratives of violence travel within communities through stories of places, or sites of memory, and also through family narratives. Show less
This thesis is the first large-scale study of Buddhist and Hindu metal statues (i.e. bronze, gold and silver alloys) from the western islands of the Indonesian Archipelago (Java, Sumatra,... Show moreThis thesis is the first large-scale study of Buddhist and Hindu metal statues (i.e. bronze, gold and silver alloys) from the western islands of the Indonesian Archipelago (Java, Sumatra, Kalimantan, Bawean, Bali, Lombok) since the publication of the catalogue Divine Bronze 31 years ago (Lunsingh Scheurleer & Klokke 1988). To overcome limitations of past studies, I use a network approach inspired by De Casparis’s idea of a “complicated network of relations” linking maritime Southeast Asia and India (1983). Additionally, I apply a multidisciplinary methodology combining art historical methods of stylistic and iconographic analyses with archaeometallurgy (visual examinations, X-ray radiography, neutron tomography, elemental analyses), archaeology for mapping find-spots, as well as religious studies to understand the history of use and ritual functions of sacred images. Examining five case studies drawn from the largest corpus ever considered of Indonesian metal images from museum collections today kept in Indonesia, Europe, and the U.S., my study highlights connections between the Archipelago and other Asian regions—including not only South Asia, but also East Asia—within a large cosmopolitan sphere of interaction and over a long period of time. Show less
Producing the local: Javanese performance on Indonesian television explores how television represents Javaneseness, as a factor designed to catch and keep the attention of its putative... Show moreProducing the local: Javanese performance on Indonesian television explores how television represents Javaneseness, as a factor designed to catch and keep the attention of its putative audiences. Central is the question of how people make use of national, regional, local, public and private television in Indonesia – each in their own way and with their own goals – to represent the local and, in particular, how they construct images of Javaneseness through the production and dissemination of performance. Performance in Javanese has been used by the Indonesian television industry to achieve various purposes: to entertain and inform its audiences, to represent the local/the regional, to preserve and nurture the traditional and to build national culture, for persuasive (commercial or propaganda) aims, as a counter-voice of diversification towards global or Jakartan influences, and to express multiculturalism. These issues have been put into the framework of discursive practices about local, national and global cultures in the electronic audiovisual media in Indonesia. Three main themes structure the study: representing tradition, localizing persuasion and mediating the local. Above all, this dissertation is a plea for a more thorough study of the role of proximity in the production, dissemination and reception of local television programmes. Show less
This dissertation explores a recent development in the wayang kulit purwa (shadow puppetry) tradition of Surakarta, Central Java, Indonesia, known as pakeliran garap semalam or all-night... Show more This dissertation explores a recent development in the wayang kulit purwa (shadow puppetry) tradition of Surakarta, Central Java, Indonesia, known as pakeliran garap semalam or all-night contemporary-interpretive style. This style was created and debuted in Surakarta by the dhalang (puppeteer) Purbo Asmoro (born 1961 in Pacitan, East Java) in 1989. He spent the next decade developing his new system, and post-2000 it has became the most popular approach to performance practice among puppeteers Purbo Asmoro's generation and younger. This research examines the history of Purbo Asmoro's style, its essential elements and identifying characteristics, his creative processes in developing and working within this style, and the effect his new approach to story-telling has had on other dhalang and on audiences. It also explores Purbo Asmoro’s musings, decisions, motives, and strategies. Most importantly, this work analyzes how all-night contemporary-interpretive style, in Purbo Asmoro's hands, has evolved into an entirely new system of performance practice rather than simply being stylistically innovative in a few characteristic ways. Six live performances over a one year period, 2007–2008, is the primary source material for the analysis. In these recordings, Purbo Asmoro performed two different stories three times each: in classical style, contemporary-interpretive style, and condensed style. Show less
This book explores chronologically, for the first time, the representation and redefinition of Indonesia__s regional cultures through recording media, from the introduction of the gramophone record... Show moreThis book explores chronologically, for the first time, the representation and redefinition of Indonesia__s regional cultures through recording media, from the introduction of the gramophone record through the current video compact disc (VCD) era, taking as case study the Minangkabau ethnic group. Based on extensive fieldwork and historical research, the author follows the Dutch East Indies colonial society__s initial encounter with recording media and the later adoption and social uses of various types of recording media among the Minangkabau of West Sumatra and its diaspora. The transformation of Minangkabau culture and identity that came with the extensive reproduction of Minangkabau cultural sounds on commercial recordings is examined. This transformation was facilitated by the West Sumatran recording industry, founded in the early 1970s along with the spread of the audio-cassette in Indonesia. The author describes the workings of the West Sumatran recording industry and how its products become the preferred medium of cultural expressions of the Minangkabau ethnic group to hold on to its identity and existence in the face of a changing world. The representations of Minangkabau culture in regional commercial recordings explored in this study demonstrate the use of recording media technology by a local society to contextualize and maintain the viability and existence of their culture and identity, whose features are changing, adaptive, and fluid Show less
This is a study of oral tradition focusing on family stories that relate to historical events and social issues of contemporary Mentawai kin groups. I give descriptive answers for the central... Show moreThis is a study of oral tradition focusing on family stories that relate to historical events and social issues of contemporary Mentawai kin groups. I give descriptive answers for the central research question of how and to what extent oral narratives are involved in dealing with current issues about place of origin, the notion of identity, and discourses about land and land rights in Mentawai society in Indonesia. The family stories are an important source of information with regard to identity, forming a verbal reflection of the kin groups__ identity and justifying certain claims with regard to ancestral land. A family story must be properly preserved by its owners by carefully transmitting the content and significance of the story to following generations. The power of human memory plays an important part in maintaining and transmitting the significance of past events. In the field of oral tradition, family stories can thus be regarded as a specific genre of oral narratives. When studying oral narratives it is, in my opinion, important to pay special attention to family stories. Not in the last place so, because the communities still using family stories frequently consider them indispensable. Show less
