
Systemic Silencing
Activism, Memory, and Sexual Violence in Indonesia
Katharine E. McGregor(Author)
University of Wisconsin Press
Published on 30. August 2023
Book
Hardback
340 pages
978-0-299-34420-7 (ISBN)
Description
Recognizing and addressing enforced military prostitution in occupied Indonesia.
The system of prostitution imposed and enforced by the Japanese military during its wartime occupation of several countries in East and Southeast Asia is today well-known and uniformly condemned. Transnational activist movements have sought to recognize and redress survivors of this World War II-era system, euphemistically known as "comfort women," for decades, with a major wave beginning in the 1990s. However, Indonesian survivors, and even the system's history in Indonesia to begin with, have largely been sidelined, even within the country itself.
Here, Katharine E. McGregor not only untangles the history of the system during the war, but also unpacks the context surrounding the slow and faltering efforts to address it. With careful attention to the historical, social, and political conditions surrounding sexual violence in Indonesia, supported by exhaustive research and archival diligence, she uncovers a critical piece of Indonesian history and the ongoing efforts to bring it to the public eye. Critically, she establishes that the transnational part of activism surrounding victims of the system is both necessary and fraught, a complexity of geopolitics and international relationships on one hand and a question of personal networks, linguistic differences, and cultural challenges on the other.
The system of prostitution imposed and enforced by the Japanese military during its wartime occupation of several countries in East and Southeast Asia is today well-known and uniformly condemned. Transnational activist movements have sought to recognize and redress survivors of this World War II-era system, euphemistically known as "comfort women," for decades, with a major wave beginning in the 1990s. However, Indonesian survivors, and even the system's history in Indonesia to begin with, have largely been sidelined, even within the country itself.
Here, Katharine E. McGregor not only untangles the history of the system during the war, but also unpacks the context surrounding the slow and faltering efforts to address it. With careful attention to the historical, social, and political conditions surrounding sexual violence in Indonesia, supported by exhaustive research and archival diligence, she uncovers a critical piece of Indonesian history and the ongoing efforts to bring it to the public eye. Critically, she establishes that the transnational part of activism surrounding victims of the system is both necessary and fraught, a complexity of geopolitics and international relationships on one hand and a question of personal networks, linguistic differences, and cultural challenges on the other.
Reviews / Votes
An innovative work with an original, comparative, transnational perspective and impeccable scholarship. The author navigates the history of sexual slavery and human rights activism in Indonesia deftly and with clarity." - Saskia Wieringa, University of Amsterdam"This is an absolutely outstanding work, an important and devastating account of more than a century of Indonesian history. Readers are given the full context of the conditions that made women and girls vulnerable to extreme exploitation once the Japanese army arrived, and then to silencing and shame under successive regimes until the present day." - Ruth Barraclough, Australian National University
More details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
Wisconsin
United States
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Product notice
Laminated cover
Illustrations
4 b-w illustrations, 2 maps
Dimensions
Height: 229 mm
Width: 152 mm
Thickness: 21 mm
Weight
625 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-299-34420-7 (9780299344207)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Persons
Katharine E. McGregor is a professor of Southeast Asian history in the School of Historical and Philosophical Studies at the University of Melbourne. She is co-editor, most recently, of Gender, Violence and Power in Indonesia: Across Time and Space.
Content
List of Illustrations
Preface
Notes on Name Order, Spelling, and Translations
Abbreviations
Introduction
1. Tragedy in the Balkans
2. History as Irony
3. Sublime and Grotesque
4. Modern Tragedy
Coda: Death of a Poet
Glossary
Notes
Bibliography
Index
Preface
Notes on Name Order, Spelling, and Translations
Abbreviations
Introduction
1. Tragedy in the Balkans
2. History as Irony
3. Sublime and Grotesque
4. Modern Tragedy
Coda: Death of a Poet
Glossary
Notes
Bibliography
Index