The Left and Indonesia’s 1960s: the politics of remembering and forgetting

Abstract

This article examines a pivotal decade in the recent history of Indonesian society: the 1960s. It examines the context within which the Left came to be decisively, and violently, defeated as a social and political force. It then studies the consequences of this defeat for Indonesia’s subsequent historical trajectory. The article also suggests that history‐writing anywhere is nothing less than the politics of remembering (and forgetting). What is at stake in these exercises is ultimately tied up with the legitimacy of entire social orders and systems of power. Thus, in Indonesia, the trauma of 1965 and its aftermath banished, from the collective memory of Indonesians, the political role of the Left – except in the form that runs through New Order‐era discourse on Indonesian communism. For Indonesians born or raised after 1965, the ‘communist treason’ became, arguably, the most critical element of the grand narrative of post‐colonial Indonesian history, which was so important in legitimising New Order authoritarianism. The current inability of Indonesian society and its elites to acknowledge and confront the reality of the horrors of the 1960s might prove to be a major impediment to a more genuine and substantive democratisation process.     

‘A Million Little Bonds’: Infidelity,Divorce and the Emotional Worlds of Marriage in British Women’s Magazines of the 1930s

This article examines infidelity discourse within women's magazines of the 1930s. Marking a departure from existing studies that have explored representations of ideal marriage, it uses discussions of marital breakdown as a lens through which to consider conceptualisations of love within marriage. It demonstrates how, in the interwar period, notions of mutual emotional investment were used to reinforce marriages that were deemed to be in breakdown. Muddying the perceived binary between individuals and the institution of marriage, this research highlights how the latter could be bolstered, rather than challenged, by recourse to the emotional worlds of spouses.     

Popular Politicians: The Interaction Between Politics and Popular Culture in the Netherlands, 1950s–1980s

ABSTRACT

From the late 1950s onwards, the Netherlands witnessed a transformation of the emotional codes of politics. A culture of political leadership marked by notions of duty and restraint, made way for self-expression and authenticity. This article argues that the interaction between the spheres of politics and popular culture played a vital role in this transformation. The practices and discourses of popular culture became a significant part of the repertoire through which politicians articulated representative claims. The article traces how politicians negotiated their interaction with popular culture, started to cultivate a private persona and eventually turned into political celebrities.     

Young Adults’ Trait Affection Given and Received as Functions of Hofstede’s Dimensions of Cultures and National Origin

Based on the work conducted by trait psychologists, this cross-cultural investigation sought to examine young adults’ trait affection given and trait affection received in the U.S., Russia, and Slovakia as functions of (a) Hofstede’s four primary dimensions of national cultures (i.e. masculinity–femininity, individualism–collectivism, uncertainty avoidance, and power distance), and (b) national origin. Undergraduate students (N = 558) from the U.S. (n = 214), Russia (n = 169), and Slovakia (n = 210) completed a questionnaire in their native languages. The results of regression analyses and analyses of variances supported the notion that the four dimensions of national cultures influence people’s trait-like attributes and therefore also result in significant differences among the three countries examined in this investigation.     

“A living archive of modern protest”: Memory-making in the Women’s March

ABSTRACT

The Women’s March, held on January 21, 2017, the day after Donald Trump’s inauguration as President of the United States, made news across the world as a surprisingly powerful current event that signaled possible political and social futures. Yet this event was also threaded with the past. This essay examines the uses and constructions of memory in the marches and their mediation, drawing on news and social media coverage, on my own on-site experience at the Washington, DC, march, and interdisciplinary scholarship that may provide theoretical context for understanding the event’s nature and lasting importance. It considers the rhetorical and material memory work, on the ground, of both the official ceremonies and the marchers’ more vernacular expressions, as well as the complex interplay of mediation, resulting in definitions of the event as historic in its own right and as a map for the future.     

Culture Conflict and Respect in The Joy Luck Club

The Joy Luck Club tells stories of four Chinese mothers and their Chinese-American daughters. The paper discusses culture conflict and culture respect revealed in this book.     

David Underdown’s Revel,Riot and Rebellion: Popular Politics and Culture in England, 1603–1660

Abstract

This article examines the strategies and tactics of surveillance that were used by Manchester City Police in relation to anxieties about gender, sexuality, juvenile delinquency and drugs misuse in post-war England. In the early 1960s the members-only ‘coffee beat club’ became a target of police activity, resulting in a series of raids, minor prosecutions and the intensification of the licensing laws. Commenting on the relationship between police culture and youth culture, including the leisure practices of adolescent girls, this article argues that the targeting of the ‘coffee beat club’ became a motif for the defence of an older imagined social order.     

Culture in acculturation: Refugee youth’s schooling experiences in international schools in New York City

As the number of refugee children and youth across the world continues to grow at an alarming rate, the needs of refugee populations require more and sustained attention. This qualitative study explores the specific academic and socio-emotional needs of refugee students in New York City (NYC), a city that has received refugees and asylum seekers from over 50 countries. Using qualitative research methods and drawing on the literature on refugee students’ school experiences and acculturation theory, in this article we ask how refugee students describe the key features of international high schools that foster students’ academic success, social and cultural integration, and academic well-being. Moreover, we examine how the notion of culture itself can interfere with these efforts.     

The left‐wing movement in Malaya,Singapore and Borneo in the 1960s: ‘an era of hope or devil’s decade’?

Abstract

The 1960s was a period of Leftwing resurgence in the world. As Britain was disengaging from its empire, the ethnically plural societies she had generated within her protectorates and colonies in Malaya, Singapore, Sarawak, North Borneo and Brunei threw up anti‐colonial movements that began struggling towards self‐determination and national independence. These movements manifested the ideologies of communism, socialism, nationalism and communalism. As British imperialism began planning its retreat, the competition for power among the local movements became intense. In Malaya, the largest of the five colonial territories, the communist party launched an armed rebellion in 1948 in the name of national liberation and independence, but made little headway. As Singapore and Malaya were closely linked and ruled, Britain introduced emergency rule in both territories. Most leftwing parties disappeared. Nationalist and communalist parties in Malaya emerged and eventually succeeded in securing national independence from Britain in 1957. Singapore was given a measure of limited self‐government in 1955, while Sarawak, North Borneo and Brunei were gradually awakened towards self‐government. Leftwing parties re‐surfaced in Malaya, and in Singapore, Sarawak, North Borneo and Brunei in the 1950s and 1960s, and made some headway in parliamentary elections. This paper presents a historical account of their resurgence, which was however short‐lived.     

The great upsurge of South Korea’s social movements in the 1960s

Abstract

I intend to show the characteristics and limitations of South Korea’s social movements in the 1960s and examine its formative potentialities in the growth of social movements thereafter. Whereas the 1960s in the Western world is characterized by the surge of ‘new social movements’ and waves of upheaval in the Third World, it would not be the case of South Korea. The ‘subject’ of the movements looks similar, but the context and raised issues proved markedly different. Some old‐school left‐wingers who conceived the strategy of socialistic national liberation survived the emergence of new ‘liberal’ generations in South Korea’s 1960s. The structural crisis of Korea’s anticommunist ruling class caused by the democratization movements and the growth of nationalism at the turn of the 1960s instigated the military coup of 1961, which finally brought Yushin dictatorship in 1972. Although South Korea’s social movements remained isolated from the world through the ‘long 60s’, it may be viewed as a significant part of the division of the ‘liberal consensus’ in the American‐led East‐Asian bloc.     

The history of the unspeakable: Shimokawa Masaharu’s The forgotten history of evacuation

ABSTRACT

Histories of wartime Japan often focus on the Japanese home islands after Japan’s surrender to Allied forces on 15 August 1945. Japanese citizens living in Korea, Manchuria, and elsewhere in the far-flung Japanese Empire are usually left out of the historiographical record. In a new book about the evacuees—hikiagesha—from the defunct Empire, Shimokawa Masaharu presents a vivid, harrowing portrait of the suffering of those who had to make their way back to Japan after the end of the Greater East Asia War. In particular, Shimokawa focuses on Izumi Sei’ichi, who established a sanatorium and abortuary in Fukuoka for women who had been raped by enemy soldiers.     

‘An Era of Domesticity’? Histories of Women and Gender in Interwar Britain

ABSTRACT

This article considers one specific strand of discussion around HIV/AIDS, in order to think about the uses and limitations of human rights discourse in late twentieth century Britain. HIV/AIDS presented particular problems for prisons, which were initially presented as breeding grounds of infection. This shifted with the rise of human rights language and laws in the 1990s, but talk of rights for prisoners was not as comfortable a fit as talk of equivalence of care. This story is situated in the broader context of attitudes towards crime, HIV/AIDS, and rights in late twentieth century Britain.     

Exploring Media’s Impact on African American Women’s Healthy Food Habits in Kentucky

This qualitative study employs the uses and gratifications framework to explore the perspective of African American women in Kentucky, specifically urban Louisville and rural Hopkinsville, to understand their use of media as potential sources for gathering information about healthy food habits. Key findings include how the participants used media for instrumental purposes to educate themselves about healthy food habits, and that the specific media personalities were very important to the participants as they decided to make healthier food selections.