Refereed Journal Articles by Sony Karsono
The paper examines New Order Jakarta and Afrizal Malna's engagement with it through his poetry an... more The paper examines New Order Jakarta and Afrizal Malna's engagement with it through his poetry and short stories. In late New Order Indonesia, industrialization generated among Jakarta’s intellectuals a sense of entrapment in an ‘onrushing century’ where the storm of progress had thrown their life into turmoil. What did it mean for them to find their urban experiences structured by this turmoil, which poet Afrizal Malna called an ‘architecture of rain’? Sensing that corporeal and material history may hold the key to this question, I look into why a section of New Order Jakarta’s intellectual class felt they were leading a hyper-fast, overheated life, and how they tried to come to terms with it. Focusing on thing-centred and embodied experiences, I use the tension between Jakarta’s social history and Afrizal Malna’s biography and literary work to spark a different understanding of contemporary Indonesian urbanism.
Asian Studies Review, 2021
Using as a prism the symbiosis between flânerie and the consumption and production of popular cul... more Using as a prism the symbiosis between flânerie and the consumption and production of popular culture, this article reconstructs the intellectual history of Jakarta’s encounter with economic modernisation under Indonesia’s New Order (1966–98). By analysing the life of novelist Teguh Esha (b. 1947) and his Ali Topan trilogy, the article highlights the popularly held ideas that mirrored and modulated Jakarta’s experience of New Order modernisation. These ideas suggest that, as a way of life and a system of government, the New Order failed to produce a modernity where people could feel at home. What it summoned into being in Jakarta was a modernity with “flies in the ointment”, such as social alienation, an overpowering sense of homelessness, unbridled corruption, general moral collapse and prostitution in various professions. Rejecting the New Order’s pragmatic modernism, a section of the city’s urban youth put together and practised ideological modernism, which manifested itself in Islamic revival, Muslim pop and heterodox Islam.
KEYWORDS: Flâneur, flânerie , popular culture, popular fiction, urban modernity, Jakarta, New Order Indonesia, Teguh Esha, intellectual history
Indonesia and the Malay World, 2016
By examining the life and works of the popular novelist Motinggo Busye (1937-1999), this article ... more By examining the life and works of the popular novelist Motinggo Busye (1937-1999), this article explores the Indonesian middle class’ emotional experience of economic modernization under the New Order (1966-1998). One of the unintended consequences of rapid economic growth during this period was what some middle class Indonesians saw as the disintegration of one of their central institutions, that of the nuclear family. Its fragmentation, they felt, had negated material progress as a means to a happy, peaceful, and meaningful life. Another corrosive effect of accelerated economic modernization was that they felt they had failed to live by their class core values, to which they remained firm adherents, and which appear—from a world historical perspective—to have been the Indonesian variant of late ecumenical Victorian ideals. From the late 1960s to the late 1970s, Motinggo’s popular novels offered his readers a middlebrow literary medium for self-reflection and social diagnosis. As a loyal critic of the New Order, Motinggo endeavored not to disown it but to help make it work. His life and oeuvre show the contradictory ways he pursued his goals as a family man and a professional writer.
Keywords: Motinggo Busye, middle-class modernity, emotional experience, New Order Indonesia
동남아연구 / Southeast Asia Journal, Aug 31, 2024
If people in Southeast Asia today continue (as do their counterparts elsewhere) to live under the... more If people in Southeast Asia today continue (as do their counterparts elsewhere) to live under the impact of Janus-faced, contradictory modernity (both constructive and corrosive); if postmodernism has shown itself as just one of modernity’s many faces; and if several of Southeast Asia’s postcolonial modernities have colonial roots; then it seems rewarding, theoretically and practically, for us to perform, today, a creative re-reading of some of the major works on Southeast Asia’s modernity. One such work is Rudolf Mrázek’s 2002 study on Indonesia’s modernity: Engineers of Happy Land: Technology and Nationalism in the Colony (hereafter EHL). Now that EHL is more than 20 years old, we are in a better position to see and unlock its hidden potential. More than just another scholarly contribution to the progress of Southeast Asian Studies, EHL has begun to reveal itself as a tool for the general reader (in contemporary Southeast Asia and beyond) to interpret and manage his or her own experience of modernity. As a first step toward such an alternative application of EHL, this paper tries to show that it is best understood as a work of “surrealist historiography,” one that may help today’s readers to dispel the myths of modernity, colonial and postcolonial. This political awakening is a crucial element in collective action for social transformation.
The Southeast Asian Review, 2023
Every year, millions of Indonesian Muslims travel across the country to their places of origin to... more Every year, millions of Indonesian Muslims travel across the country to their places of origin to celebrate Lebaran (Eid al-Fitr) with their relatives. The seasonal mass migration is a disruptive, resource-consuming, and sometimes dangerous undertaking. Besides being a real drain on the travelers' time, finances, and energy, the annual exodus turns major cities, for a while, into ghost towns, puts enormous strain on the infrastructure, and causes traffic accidents. To understand the mudik tradition, the current study investigates what it means for Indonesia's urban Muslims to undertake it. A thematic analysis was performed on a mixed dataset, which comprised web-based interview transcripts and survey data, as well as Lebaran-themed short stories, a feature film, a YouTube video, a song, cartoons, and blog narratives. The study discovers and throws into relief a set of meanings that contemporary Indonesian Muslims attach to the act of mudik and which give an indication of why the tradition continues at all costs.
In the early 20 th-century Dutch East Indies, through domestic espionage and scholarly research, ... more In the early 20 th-century Dutch East Indies, through domestic espionage and scholarly research, the colonial state produced strategic knowledge about its Native subjects. The state used such knowledge to keep the Natives under control. House of Glass, the fourth and last novel in Pramoedya Ananta Toer's "Buru Quartet," offers a fictionalized historical account of how the domestic spy work and scholarly studies responded to the emergence of Native nationalist movement. This paper examines one product of the colonial state's knowledgeproduction activities: the colonial discourse on Natives revolving around the notions of race, reason, and emotion. A critical reading of this discourse suggests that it contains not merely racial prejudices on the part of European colonial masters against Natives but also elements of truth about them. Pramoedya seems to have used the narrator Jacques Pangemanann to draw attention to the troubling weaknesses he saw in Indonesians, both in the colonial era and under the New Order.
Journal Articles by Sony Karsono
Books by Sony Karsono
Anagram, 2023
A collection of seven short stories and one novella written in 1994–2003 by Sony Karsono, with an... more A collection of seven short stories and one novella written in 1994–2003 by Sony Karsono, with an afterword by Afrizal Malna, published in 2023 by Anagram.
Gagasan-dalam interaksi pelaksanaannya dengan kekuatan ekonomi, politik, sains & teknologi-ikut b... more Gagasan-dalam interaksi pelaksanaannya dengan kekuatan ekonomi, politik, sains & teknologi-ikut berperan strategis dalam perubahan aksi-aksi sosial baik detruktif maupun konstruktif. Apakah gagasan kunci dan aksi-aksi yang turut membentuk Indonesia di era kontroversial bernama "Orde Baru"? Dari mana datangnya gagasan-gagasan itu? Mengapa, bagaimana, dan dengan dampak seperti apa berbagai ide pemikiran itu diterapkan oleh para cendekiawan dan aktivis yang mengusung gagasan tersebut? Apa dan bagaimana latar belakang sosial-budaya dan corak pemikiran mereka? Jika kita ingin memajukan studi sejarah intelektual atas Indonesia era Orde Baru, topik ini adalah sebagian dari "teka-teki" menarik yang perlu kita pecahkan.
Dalam upaya memecahkan teka-teki itu, buku ini mengkaji fragmen-fragmen signifikan dalam kehidupan, pemikiran, dan kiprah sosial Nono Anwar Makarim, Ismid Hadad, dan M. Dawam Rahardjo. Pada awal dasawarsa 1970-an hingga pertengahan dasawarsa 1980-an, di bawah kepemimpinan tiga cendekiawan mantan aktivis Angkatan 1966 ini, LP3ES (Lembaga Penelitian, Pendidikan, dan Penerangan Ekonomi dan Sosial) memainkan peran vital dalam modernisasi Indonesia melalui pendekatan yang mereka pandang holistik, berimbang, dan partisipatif. Dengan menyajikan studi biografi intelektual atas tiga pemimpin awal LP3ES, buku ini menawarkan sebuah "lensa" analitis yang membantu Anda memahami bagaimana pemikiran dan aksi sosial turut menciptakan masyarakat Orde Baru.
"Dolorosa Sinaga: Body, Form, Matter" brings together 40 years of work explored through interdis... more "Dolorosa Sinaga: Body, Form, Matter" brings together 40 years of work explored through interdisciplinary readings. Dolorosa Sinaga (b. 1952) is one of the most accomplished, well-known and intriguing figures in Indonesia’s contemporary art. Dolorosa’s human figures anatomise deepest feelings and social protests in sculptural language as body, form and matter. Her artistic practice is inseparable from her role as an educator and political activist; her teaching methods combine discipline and care. Maintaining her activism as paramount, Dolorosa goes against the grain: the older she gets, the more radical she becomes. She has released unlimited editions of some of her politically-charged works, which are sought after by art collectors internationally. While acting as Dean of Jakarta Arts Institute, Dolorosa materialised her political activism and made time for street demonstrations, which she continuously does to the present day. Against this colourful background, this book, which discusses Dolorosa’s complete works and wide-ranging activities, is much-needed and long-overdue.
Book Chapters by Sony Karsono
Catatan Sony Karsono tentang buku kumpulan puisi Hendro Siswanggono, "Cermin Yang Memantulkan Waj... more Catatan Sony Karsono tentang buku kumpulan puisi Hendro Siswanggono, "Cermin Yang Memantulkan Wajah Lain" (Yogyakarta: JBS, 2024).
"Dolorosa Sinaga: Perjalanan Hidup, Seni, dan Politik." Dalam Dolorosa Sinaga: Tubuh, Bentuk, Substansi: Analisis, Asal-Usul Artistik dan Arsip, disunting oleh Alexander Supartono dan Sony Karsono, 42–99. Jakarta: Somalaing Art Studio, Red & White Publishing, IKJ Press, 2019.
"The Making of a Sculptor: The Life, Art, and Politics of Dolorosa Sinaga." In Dolorosa Sinaga: Body, Form, Matter: Analysis, Artistic Genealogy, and Archive, edited by Alexander Supartono & Sony Karsono, pp. 42-99. Jakarta: Somalaing Art Studio, Red & White Publishing, IKJ Press, 2019. In this paper I reconstruct the interconnected evolution of the life, art, and activism of Doloro... more In this paper I reconstruct the interconnected evolution of the life, art, and activism of Dolorosa Sinaga, one of Indonesia’s leading sculptors. I examine her body of work in the context of the interaction between her personal development and her changing environment (Jakarta, Indonesia, and the world). Using the approaches of art history,
biographical study, and social history, I seek to fill some gaps in the existing literature on the history of modern Indonesian sculpture. I pursue this goal by grappling with several questions. First, what were the ideas and social forces that played a vital role in the making of Dolorosa as a modern Indonesian sculptor? Second, how, why, and with what consequences has she combined art and political activism after the 1980s? Third, what does it mean for an upper-middle-class Indonesian woman like Dolorosa to live a life as a modern professional artist? Fourth, and finally, what can be gained for the study of Indonesian art history by using biography and social history?
PhD Dissertation by Sony Karsono
This dissertation tackles one central problem: What were the intellectual and social origins of N... more This dissertation tackles one central problem: What were the intellectual and social origins of New Order Indonesia (1966-1998)? The analytical lens that this study employs to examine this society is the Indonesian middling classes’ pursuit of modernity. The dissertation comes in two parts. Part One reconstructs the evolution of the Indonesian middling classes and their search for progress. Part Two uses three case studies to analyze the middling classes’ search for Indonesian modernity under the New Order. The first explores the top-down modernization undertaken by President Soeharto’s assistants at the National Development Planning Board, the Center for Strategic and International Studies, and the Agency for the Assessment and Application of Technology. The second case study investigates the “bottom-up” modernization performed by the Institute for Economic and Social Research, Education, and Information. The third case study deals with how several authors used popular fiction to criticize the kind of Indonesian modernity that emerged in the New Order era. This research yields several findings. First, the Indonesian middling classes championed a pragmatic, structural-functional path to modernity. Second, to modernize the country rapidly and safely, the modernizers proceeded in an eclectic and pragmatic manner. Third, between the Old and the New Order, there existed strong continuity in ideas, ideals, skills, and problems. Fourth, the middling classes’ modernizing mission was fraught with contradictions, naïvetés, ironies, and violence, which had roots in the nationalist movement in the first half of the twentieth century. The New Order was neither wholly new nor an aberration from the “normal” trajectory of Indonesia’s contemporary history. The sort of modernity that the Indonesian middling classes ended up creating was Janus-faced.
MA Thesis by Sony Karsono
This thesis discusses one central problem: What happened to Indonesian historiography in the New ... more This thesis discusses one central problem: What happened to Indonesian historiography in the New Order (1966-98)? To analyze the problem, the author studies the connections between the major themes in his intellectual autobiography and those in the metahistory of the regime. Proceeding in chronological and thematic manner, the thesis comes in three parts. Part One presents the author’s intellectual autobiography, which illustrates how, as a member of the generation of people who grew up in the New Order, he came into contact with history. Part Two examines the genealogy of and the major issues at stake in the post-New Order controversy over the rectification of history. Part Three ends with several concluding observations. First, the historiographical engineering that the New Order committed was not effective. Second, the regime created the tools for people to criticize itself, which shows that it misunderstood its own society. Third, Indonesian contemporary culture is such that people abhor the idea that there is no one single truth.
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Refereed Journal Articles by Sony Karsono
KEYWORDS: Flâneur, flânerie , popular culture, popular fiction, urban modernity, Jakarta, New Order Indonesia, Teguh Esha, intellectual history
Keywords: Motinggo Busye, middle-class modernity, emotional experience, New Order Indonesia
Journal Articles by Sony Karsono
Books by Sony Karsono
Dalam upaya memecahkan teka-teki itu, buku ini mengkaji fragmen-fragmen signifikan dalam kehidupan, pemikiran, dan kiprah sosial Nono Anwar Makarim, Ismid Hadad, dan M. Dawam Rahardjo. Pada awal dasawarsa 1970-an hingga pertengahan dasawarsa 1980-an, di bawah kepemimpinan tiga cendekiawan mantan aktivis Angkatan 1966 ini, LP3ES (Lembaga Penelitian, Pendidikan, dan Penerangan Ekonomi dan Sosial) memainkan peran vital dalam modernisasi Indonesia melalui pendekatan yang mereka pandang holistik, berimbang, dan partisipatif. Dengan menyajikan studi biografi intelektual atas tiga pemimpin awal LP3ES, buku ini menawarkan sebuah "lensa" analitis yang membantu Anda memahami bagaimana pemikiran dan aksi sosial turut menciptakan masyarakat Orde Baru.
Book Chapters by Sony Karsono
biographical study, and social history, I seek to fill some gaps in the existing literature on the history of modern Indonesian sculpture. I pursue this goal by grappling with several questions. First, what were the ideas and social forces that played a vital role in the making of Dolorosa as a modern Indonesian sculptor? Second, how, why, and with what consequences has she combined art and political activism after the 1980s? Third, what does it mean for an upper-middle-class Indonesian woman like Dolorosa to live a life as a modern professional artist? Fourth, and finally, what can be gained for the study of Indonesian art history by using biography and social history?
PhD Dissertation by Sony Karsono
MA Thesis by Sony Karsono
KEYWORDS: Flâneur, flânerie , popular culture, popular fiction, urban modernity, Jakarta, New Order Indonesia, Teguh Esha, intellectual history
Keywords: Motinggo Busye, middle-class modernity, emotional experience, New Order Indonesia
Dalam upaya memecahkan teka-teki itu, buku ini mengkaji fragmen-fragmen signifikan dalam kehidupan, pemikiran, dan kiprah sosial Nono Anwar Makarim, Ismid Hadad, dan M. Dawam Rahardjo. Pada awal dasawarsa 1970-an hingga pertengahan dasawarsa 1980-an, di bawah kepemimpinan tiga cendekiawan mantan aktivis Angkatan 1966 ini, LP3ES (Lembaga Penelitian, Pendidikan, dan Penerangan Ekonomi dan Sosial) memainkan peran vital dalam modernisasi Indonesia melalui pendekatan yang mereka pandang holistik, berimbang, dan partisipatif. Dengan menyajikan studi biografi intelektual atas tiga pemimpin awal LP3ES, buku ini menawarkan sebuah "lensa" analitis yang membantu Anda memahami bagaimana pemikiran dan aksi sosial turut menciptakan masyarakat Orde Baru.
biographical study, and social history, I seek to fill some gaps in the existing literature on the history of modern Indonesian sculpture. I pursue this goal by grappling with several questions. First, what were the ideas and social forces that played a vital role in the making of Dolorosa as a modern Indonesian sculptor? Second, how, why, and with what consequences has she combined art and political activism after the 1980s? Third, what does it mean for an upper-middle-class Indonesian woman like Dolorosa to live a life as a modern professional artist? Fourth, and finally, what can be gained for the study of Indonesian art history by using biography and social history?