Words in Motion: Language and Discourse in Post-New Order Indonesia

by Keith Foulcher (Editor), Mikihiro Moriyama (Editor), Manneke Budiman (Editor)

Political changes since the fall of the Suharto regime in 1998 have had a significant impact on linguistic and discursive practices in Indonesia. The language policy of the state has become less restrictive than in the past, when Indonesian (Bahasa Indonesia) was vigorously promoted as one of the symbols of the unity of the country's diverse ethnic groups. Monolingualism in public space has given way to more fluid and pluralistic language use, and regional autonomy legislation enacted in 1999 has encouraged expressions of regional identities and aspirations, opening up a space for the promotion and use of regional languages in the media, education and the bureaucracy. Concurrently, technological development, in particular widespread access to the internet, has exposed Indonesian society much more directly than before to global flows of information, giving rise to changes stemming in part from sources outside Indonesia, but interpreted and shaped according to local conditions and socio-cultural practices. The meeting of these two vectors, one generated internally and the other coming from exposure to global trends, is producing a situation of diversity, fluidity and change in language use and discursive practice in contemporary Indonesian society. While contributors to this volume discuss Indonesian-language expression at the national level, a particular focus of the collection is on regional, local and minority languages, where problems associated with decentralization find their counterpart in the role that language plays in the workings of regional and national identity politics.

312 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2012

About the author

Dr Keith Foulcher PhD retired in February 2006 as lecturer and coordinator of the Indonesian Studies program. Before his appointment to the University of Sydney in 1996, he taught at Monash University in Melbourne and Flinders University in Adelaide. He has an international reputation for his work on modern Indonesian literature, and has been an invited speaker at various universities and associations in Indonesia, Singapore, The Netherlands and the United States.

His writings:
* "On Being a Modern Writer: Translation and the Angkatan 45" in Henri
Chambert-Loir (ed.), Translation in Indonesia (EFEO, Paris)
* "Moving Pictures: Western Marxism and Vernacular Literature in Colonial
Indonesia" in Doris Jedamski (ed), Chewing Over the West (Rodopi,
London)
* Social Commitment in Literature and the Arts: The Indonesian "Institute of People's Culture," 1950-1965 (Monash University: Centre of Southeast Asian Studies, 1986) 234 pp.
* "The Construction of an Indonesian National Culture: Patterns of Hegemony and Resistance" in Arief Budiman (ed.) State and Civil Society in Indonesia (Monash University: Centre of Southeast Asian Studies, 1990) pp. 301-320.
* Pujangga Baru: Kesusastraaan dan Nasionalisme di Indonesia 1933-1942 (Jakarta: Girimukti Pasaka, 1991) 137 pp.
* "Literature, Cultural Politics and the Indonesian Revolution" in D.M.Roskies (ed.) Text/Politics in Island Southeat Asia (Ohio University: Center for International Studies, 1992) pp. 221-256.
* “Sumpah Pemuda: The Making and Meaning of a Symbol of Indonesian Nationhood”, Asian Studies Review (Australia) 24/3, September 2000, pp.377-410.)
* (with Tony Day, joint editor), Clearing a space: Postcolonial readings of modern Indonesian Literature (Leiden: KITLV Press, 2002)
* “Community and the metropolis: A Lenong Performance in Early New Order Jakarta”, Review of Indonesian & Malaysian Affairs (RIMA) 37/2, 2003, pp. 27-66
* “Biography, History and the Indonesian Novel: Reading Salah Asuhan”, Bijdragen tot de Taal-, Land- en volkenkunde (Leiden), 161/2-3, 2005, pp. 247-268.