Keywords
Indonesia New Order
Feminist historiography
Decolonial feminist analysis
How to Cite
Abstract
This article revisits the struggles of grassroots women during Indonesia’s New Order regime to highlight forms of feminist agency that were never formally labeled as “feminist.” Building on long-term fieldwork and reflections with rural women’s communities, it challenges elite-centered feminist historiography that privileges urban, middle-class, donor-supported organizations. Instead, it foregrounds the lived practices of subaltern women - defending communal land, sustaining livelihoods, and navigating the state ideology of Ibuisme Negara through everyday strategies of survival and resistance. These often-silent yet powerful acts demonstrate that feminism in Indonesia has always been broader than its official archives. By recovering and centering their narratives, this article offers a feminist historiography that is more inclusive, decolonial, and rooted in local agency - recognizing “unlabeled feminisms” as foundational to both past struggles and future movements.
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