From ethnic prejudice to ethnic solidarity: representation of muslim women in pre-independence Indonesian peranakan Chinese literature
Javanese women, particularly Muslim women, in the colonial era were often portrayed as passive, gentle, obedient, and powerless parties. Whereas Muslim women also took part in the resistance movement against tradition and the oppressive colonial system. Studies on the representation of Muslim...
| Main Authors: | , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Penerbit Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia
2024
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| Online Access: | http://journalarticle.ukm.my/23586/ http://journalarticle.ukm.my/23586/1/Gema%20Online_24_1_9.pdf |
| _version_ | 1848815886766440448 |
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| author | Dewojati, Cahyaningrum Arifin, Moch. Zainul |
| author_facet | Dewojati, Cahyaningrum Arifin, Moch. Zainul |
| author_sort | Dewojati, Cahyaningrum |
| building | UKM Institutional Repository |
| collection | Online Access |
| description | Javanese women, particularly Muslim women, in the colonial era were often portrayed as passive,
gentle, obedient, and powerless parties. Whereas Muslim women also took part in the resistance
movement against tradition and the oppressive colonial system. Studies on the representation of
Muslim women in the colonial era are generally studied from manuscripts and literary works from
the palace, and rarely from Indonesian Peranakan Chinese literature. This article aims to fill this
gap by examining the representation of Muslim women in Peranakan Chinese literature in the
Indonesian pre-independence era, the golden age of Peranakan Chinese literature. To understand
the shift in the portrayal of Muslim women, the research employed Nielsen’s theory of ethnic
solidarity and Lugones’ decolonial feminism. As a research approach, Fairclough's Critical
discourse analysis (CDA) was applied. The findings of this study were that the representations of
Muslim women in the texts of Peranakan Chinese literature varied in each decade. In the 1910s,
Muslim women were represented as Javanese women with aristocratic social class (priyayi),
European-educated, but irrational. In addition, Muslim women were positioned as a lower social
class, namely servants in Chinese families. Meanwhile, in the 1920s, Muslim women were not
only servants in Chinese families but were also illiterate and easy to be bribed. Both eras showed
the existence of ethnic prejudice and the coloniality of gender. In the era leading up to Indonesian
independence in the 1930s to be precise, Muslim women were portrayed as embodying decolonial
subjectivity and as parties capable of fighting alongside other ethnicities, notably the Chinese,
against the Dutch colonial authorities. As a result, ethnic prejudice has diminished and been
replaced by ethnic unity. These ethnic groups are acknowledged as Indonesian citizens via
decolonial subjectivity. |
| first_indexed | 2025-11-15T00:57:06Z |
| format | Article |
| id | oai:generic.eprints.org:23586 |
| institution | Universiti Kebangasaan Malaysia |
| institution_category | Local University |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2025-11-15T00:57:06Z |
| publishDate | 2024 |
| publisher | Penerbit Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia |
| recordtype | eprints |
| repository_type | Digital Repository |
| spelling | oai:generic.eprints.org:235862024-05-24T01:08:40Z http://journalarticle.ukm.my/23586/ From ethnic prejudice to ethnic solidarity: representation of muslim women in pre-independence Indonesian peranakan Chinese literature Dewojati, Cahyaningrum Arifin, Moch. Zainul Javanese women, particularly Muslim women, in the colonial era were often portrayed as passive, gentle, obedient, and powerless parties. Whereas Muslim women also took part in the resistance movement against tradition and the oppressive colonial system. Studies on the representation of Muslim women in the colonial era are generally studied from manuscripts and literary works from the palace, and rarely from Indonesian Peranakan Chinese literature. This article aims to fill this gap by examining the representation of Muslim women in Peranakan Chinese literature in the Indonesian pre-independence era, the golden age of Peranakan Chinese literature. To understand the shift in the portrayal of Muslim women, the research employed Nielsen’s theory of ethnic solidarity and Lugones’ decolonial feminism. As a research approach, Fairclough's Critical discourse analysis (CDA) was applied. The findings of this study were that the representations of Muslim women in the texts of Peranakan Chinese literature varied in each decade. In the 1910s, Muslim women were represented as Javanese women with aristocratic social class (priyayi), European-educated, but irrational. In addition, Muslim women were positioned as a lower social class, namely servants in Chinese families. Meanwhile, in the 1920s, Muslim women were not only servants in Chinese families but were also illiterate and easy to be bribed. Both eras showed the existence of ethnic prejudice and the coloniality of gender. In the era leading up to Indonesian independence in the 1930s to be precise, Muslim women were portrayed as embodying decolonial subjectivity and as parties capable of fighting alongside other ethnicities, notably the Chinese, against the Dutch colonial authorities. As a result, ethnic prejudice has diminished and been replaced by ethnic unity. These ethnic groups are acknowledged as Indonesian citizens via decolonial subjectivity. Penerbit Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia 2024-02 Article PeerReviewed application/pdf en http://journalarticle.ukm.my/23586/1/Gema%20Online_24_1_9.pdf Dewojati, Cahyaningrum and Arifin, Moch. Zainul (2024) From ethnic prejudice to ethnic solidarity: representation of muslim women in pre-independence Indonesian peranakan Chinese literature. GEMA: Online Journal of Language Studies, 24 (1). pp. 153-172. ISSN 1675-8021 https://ejournal.ukm.my/gema/issue/view/1648 |
| spellingShingle | Dewojati, Cahyaningrum Arifin, Moch. Zainul From ethnic prejudice to ethnic solidarity: representation of muslim women in pre-independence Indonesian peranakan Chinese literature |
| title | From ethnic prejudice to ethnic solidarity: representation of muslim women in pre-independence Indonesian peranakan Chinese literature |
| title_full | From ethnic prejudice to ethnic solidarity: representation of muslim women in pre-independence Indonesian peranakan Chinese literature |
| title_fullStr | From ethnic prejudice to ethnic solidarity: representation of muslim women in pre-independence Indonesian peranakan Chinese literature |
| title_full_unstemmed | From ethnic prejudice to ethnic solidarity: representation of muslim women in pre-independence Indonesian peranakan Chinese literature |
| title_short | From ethnic prejudice to ethnic solidarity: representation of muslim women in pre-independence Indonesian peranakan Chinese literature |
| title_sort | from ethnic prejudice to ethnic solidarity: representation of muslim women in pre-independence indonesian peranakan chinese literature |
| url | http://journalarticle.ukm.my/23586/ http://journalarticle.ukm.my/23586/ http://journalarticle.ukm.my/23586/1/Gema%20Online_24_1_9.pdf |