Reimagining the Archipelago

This book sets out to investigate the ways in which some fiction produced by Indonesian women authors since the downfall of Suharto in 1998 explores the notion of 'nation' that was established by the New Order during its thirty-two-year rule, and offers alternative perspectives. Different authors offer a range of viewpoints: from spatial angles that encompass urban, archipelagic, and cosmopolitan outlooks, to cultural dimensions that include Islam, adat, and ethnicity. It not only opens up a new approach to reading post-1998 Indonesian women's fiction in the context of constructions of Indonesianness, but also furthers understanding of how cultural production in present-day Indonesia struggles to distance itself from the cultural and political legacy of the New Order, and at the same time is influenced by the long-lasting effects of that legacy.