Other Languages, Societies, and Cultures Commons^™

Woman Becoming… Gender Possibilities In Selected Speculative Short Stories Of Intan Paramaditha And Isabel Yap, Grace V.S. Chin

Wacana, Journal of the Humanities of Indonesia

The ontological question of woman’s nature forms the focus of this essay, which develops the theory of “woman-becoming…” to examine how the hegemonic patriarchal discourses and constructs of woman and femininity are subverted and reinterpreted in two speculative short stories by transnational Southeast Asian women writers, namely Intan Paramaditha’s “Beauty and the Seventh Dwarf” (2018) and Isabel Yap’s “Good Girls” (2021). Of interest here are the gender possibilities of the female characters, which uphold women’s freedom, agency, thinking, feeling, creation, narration and expression in the making of herstory—indeed, everywoman’s potential for change and transformation, and to become more than what …

Mount Merapi In Drawings And Paintings; A Dynamic Reflection Of Nature, 1800-1930, Ghamal Satya Mohammad

Wacana, Journal of the Humanities of Indonesia

Mount Merapi in Central Java is one of the world’s most studied volcanoes. The frequent eruptions of this volcano and the densely populated areas on its slopes make Merapi particularly important to scholars of the natural and social sciences. Considerable attention has been devoted to contemporary aspects of this volcano, including research into forecasting and monitoring possible volcanic activity and eruptions. However, research investigating artistic representations of Merapi in a historical context, particularly local artworks referring to how people responded to a natural hazard such as a volcanic eruption, is still rare. In this paper, I explore how artists in …

Where Is Home? Changing Conceptions Of The Homeland In The Surinamese-Javanese Diaspora, Rosemarijn Hoefte, Hariëtte Mingoen

Wacana, Journal of the Humanities of Indonesia

In 1890 the first Javanese indentured labourers arrived in Suriname to work on the colony’s plantations. In total almost 30,000 indentured and free immigrants arrived in this small Caribbean colony. Fifty years later, at the end of the migration period, they formed more than one fifth of the population. Consequently, they constituted a substantial community which had to adapt to a different socio-cultural environment but, at the same time, managed to keep in touch with their homeland. The Javanese thus shaped their own cultural expressions and traditions in Suriname.

We attempt to analyse the processes of identity formation, adaptation, and …

Searching Transnational Relations Between Moluccans In The Netherlands And The Moluccas, Fridus Steijlen

Wacana, Journal of the Humanities of Indonesia

This article deals with the transnational relations between Moluccans in the Netherlands and the Moluccas. Former Moluccan colonial soldiers and their families were forced to go to the Netherlands because of political developments in Indonesia after the transfer of sovereignty in 1949. They hoped to return soon to an independent South Moluccan Republic but, more than seventy years later, they still live in the Netherlands. This article first describes how and why Moluccans came to the Netherlands and began to build a community. At the very beginning, the foundations for a transnational relationship were laid through village-based organizations and political …

The Drum In The Mosque; A Modern Short Story By Djajus Pete, George Quinn

Wacana, Journal of the Humanities of Indonesia

The short story “Bedhug” (The drum in the mosque) by Djajus Pete (born 1948) was first published in the Javanese-language magazine Panjebar Semangat in 1997. It describes what happens in a small village when well-intentioned local people unsuccessfully attempt to replace an old mosque drum with a bigger, more resonant one. In many Muslim communities, the call to prayer is made by beating a drum in the mosque’s vestibule. The story gives a glimpse of how Islam is changing, and not changing, in Java. It is critical of village institutions and functionaries, but also humorous and deeply affectionate.

Vowel Fronting, Raising, And Backing In Luzon And North-Central Sulawesi, Jason William Lobel

Wacana, Journal of the Humanities of Indonesia

This article presents an overview of four shifts – low vowel fronting, low vowel backing, back vowel fronting, and mid vowel raising – found in a number of languages on or near the Pacific coast of Luzon in the Philippines and in north- central Sulawesi in Indonesia. A more extensive illustration of low vowel fronting is given for Umiray Dumaget than has previously been made available, and a second, sporadic correspondence in Umiray Dumaget is shown to be only irregular and unconditioned. Interactions with Philippine-type morphology are also shown to result in synchronically productive alternations in Umiray Dumaget and several …

Panji In The Age Of Motion; An Investigation Of The Development Of Panji-Related Arts Around Java, Adrian Perkasa

Wacana, Journal of the Humanities of Indonesia

The first half of the twentieth century in Indonesia is often remembered as the Age of Motion. The term “motion” (pergerakan) is invariably used in history textbooks for students and in the official Indonesian historiography: Sejarah nasional Indonesia (Kartodirdjo, Poesponegoro, and Notosusanto 1975; Poesponegoro and Notosusanto 2008) and in the new edition, Indonesia dalam arus sejarah (Lapian and Abdullah 2012). Political movements in Indonesia always dominated the discourses of pergerakan at the expense of developments in other sectors, including culture. This cultural development, particularly in Java, was intricately intertwined with the upsurge in Javanese and then Indonesian nationalism, an expansion …

Gods, Birds, And Trees; Variation In Illustrated Javanese Pawukon Manuscripts, Dick Van Der Meij

Wacana, Journal of the Humanities of Indonesia

Many libraries in the world own illustrated manuscripts containing calendrical divination based on the Javanese 30 seven-day wuku cycle. Although the contents of these pawukon manuscript have been studied, the illustrations they often contain have almost been ignored. Apart from stating that these illustrations usually depict the gods, trees, buildings, and birds associated with each individual wuku, the variety among these illustrations has escaped scholars so far. Variation is found at many levels such as the general lay-out of the illustrations, the depiction of the various gods, trees, et cetera but also with reference to the position of the illustrations …

Finding A Place For Art Archives; Reflections On Archiving Indonesian And Southeast Asian Art, Farah Wardani

Wacana, Journal of the Humanities of Indonesia

This article is a collection of reflections of art archiving work in Indonesia and Southeast Asia, focusing on building an Indonesian art archive at Indonesian Visual Art Archive (IVAA), 2006-2015, and Southeast Asian art archives at National Gallery Singapore, from 2015 to the present. The article provides insights, learning points, and perspectives on the importance of art archives to support art historical research and the development of art history in Southeast Asia. It sheds light on the challenges, opportunities, and current developments in the field of building archives.

Virtual Meeting Ground For Colonial (Re)Interpretation Of The Banda Islands, Indonesia, Joëlla Van Donkersgoed

Wacana, Journal of the Humanities of Indonesia

The history of the Banda Islands is revealed in material and immaterial heritage which can still be narrated, visited and experienced today. Using the technological tools available in the Digital Humanities, this paper proposes a project to create a virtual interactive platform in which documents and stories related to the colonial past can be gathered. Tools like crowd-sourcing and crowd-mapping can be used to establish this archive from the bottom-up, creating a platform allowing both the former colonizer and colonized to reflect on the past. Moreover, it will provide scholars with a source of information to revisit the history of …

Endangered; When Newspaper Archives Crumble, History Dies, Gerry Van Klinken

Wacana, Journal of the Humanities of Indonesia

Historians accept the death of oral sources, but expect newspaper archives in state institutions to be available for ever. Yet the majority of Indonesian newspaper titles in the National Library are today endangered. These crumbling papers are often the only copy in the world. This article frst reviews the role these archives have played in pathbreaking historical work, both Indonesian and foreign. Provincial newspapers record the chatter of a new, literate middle class that emerged in the middle of the tumultuous twentieth century. Indonesian historiography is transformed by the many surprises scholars experience when reading their lives there. When those …

The Chinese From Indonesia In The Netherlands And Their Heritage; Chinese Indonesian Heritage Center (Cihc), Patricia Tjiook Liem

Wacana, Journal of the Humanities of Indonesia

Chinese from Indonesia in the Netherlands are (post)colonial migrants who share a long historical tie with the Dutch. In this article the author brings together and focuses on three interconnected subjects: Chinese from Indonesia in the Netherlands; the historical development and present meaning of "heritage"; and the Chinese Indonesian Heritage Center (CIHC). For her research on the Chinese Indonesians in the Netherlands, the author has used the literature available on this minority group. The scarce specific data for this group are part of the explanation of its "invisibility" in society and research, and of the difficulty in quantifying them. The …

Telling And Selling; Literary Fiction In Early Malay Language Newspapers In Colonial Indonesia, Joachim Nieβ

Wacana, Journal of the Humanities of Indonesia

When newspapers in the colloquial Malay language appeared in the Dutch East Indies in the middle of the nineteenth century, they did more than just publish news reports and advertisements. They also created a new platform for the telling and distribution of literary fiction. In effect, literary texts soon played an important role in the vernacular print media. The first part of this article analyses the attraction of newspaper literature from the perspective of both the reader and the editor in general and gives a survey of the various forms of literary genres which can be found in newspapers in …

"It's Getting Gangsa Up In Here": Balinese Gamelan In The Western Academy, Ruadhan Davis Ward

Senior Projects Spring 2016

Senior Project submitted to The Division of Arts of Bard College.

The Urban Anthropologist As Flâneur; The Symbolic Pattern Of Indonesian Cities, Peter J.M. Nas

Wacana, Journal of the Humanities of Indonesia

Cities are places full of symbols. In the past decades, Indonesian cities have become the cradle of urban symbolism studies. In this article, the author presents the results of these studies. The cities researched differ tremendously, ranging from the national capital to provincial capitals and small towns; some of them, such as Jakarta, are purely colonial in origin, while others are more or less traditional in character. Some of them have a top-down symbolic structure, largely the product of government activities, while others have symbolic configurations which have a more grassroots character and are based in the religious domain. The …

Mending The Imaginary Wall Between Indonesia And Malaysia; The Case Of Maritime Delimitation In The Waters Off Tanjung Berakit, I Made Andi Arsana

Wacana, Journal of the Humanities of Indonesia

Due to its geographical location, Indonesia shares border areas with at least ten neighbouring countries with which maritime boundaries must be settled. As of March 2011, Indonesia is yet to finalize its maritime boundaries with various States including Malaysia with which four maritime boundaries need to be settled: the Malacca Strait, the South China Sea, the Sulawesi Sea, and the Singapore Strait (off Tanjung Berakit). It is evident that pending maritime boundaries can spark problems between Indonesia and Malaysia. The dispute over the Ambalat Block in 2005 and 2009 and an incident in the waters off Tanjung Berakit on 13 …