Nationalism and Confrontation in the Southeast Asian Islands: Sources of Indonesian Foreign Policy (Reinhardt, 1967)
PhD dissertation (Tulane, April 1967) by Jon McEwen Reinhardt in political science on the sources of Indonesian foreign policy under Guided Democracy: West Irian, Malaysia confrontation and the post-coup state. Gerwani appears only in a footnote (c. p. 95, n. 41), citing PKI claims that in October 1962 its four mass or
Indonesianizing Marxism-Leninism: Communist Polycentrism 1919-1966 (Silverman, 1967)
PhD dissertation in political science (Claremont, 1967) by Jerry Mark Silverman on national communism and polycentrism, 1919-1966, using the 'political community' framework with the PKI as case study (Section III, chs. 4-5 on PKI independence and ambivalence). It confines its Indonesian analysis to the period before 1
Pye's Theory of Political Development through the Indonesian Coup of 1965 (Sloan, 1967)
PhD dissertation in politics (New York University, 1967) by Stephen Sloan testing Lucian Pye's theory of political development through a case study of the 1965 Indonesian coup; chapters cover Pye's theory, barriers to nationhood, Nasakom politics and the coup and its aftermath. The excerpt contains no mention of Gerwan
The Politico-Military Role of the Indonesian Armed Forces, October 1965-1968 (Fox, 1968)
Edward J. Fox, University of Chicago MA dissertation (1968; the catalogue title says PhD) on the Indonesian armed forces' control programme and the pattern of violence from October 1965 to early 1968. Gerwani appears only in passing: a footnote cites 1.75 million members and notes its self-dissolution (p.32), and one u
The United States and the 'New Order' in Indonesia (Sullivan, 1969)
John H. Sullivan's 1969 American University PhD in international relations traces US-Indonesian relations c. 1963-68 and the emergence of the New Order, covering the anti-American period, the 30 September Movement and its aftermath, and regional, communist-bloc and economic relations. It is diplomatic and political his
Youth and the Wane of Soekarno's Government (Paget, 1970)
Roger Paget's 1970 Cornell PhD thesis on how student and youth action groups, culminating in KAMI, emerged after 1 October 1965 and helped undermine Sukarno. Gerwani appears in several passages: action fronts demanded its banning (p. 44) and its offices were ransacked (p. 63); Herlina denounced it for not fighting Mala
Chinese Policy in Indonesia, 1949-1967 (Mozingo, 1973)
PhD dissertation (Political Science, UCLA, 1973) by David Paul Mozingo on Chinese policy toward Indonesia, 1949-1967, arguing it was an extension of united-front strategy and was undone by the 1965 coup. Its only reference to Gerwani is one sentence in the chapter on the coup (pp. 258-259): young men and women from the
Dynamics of Tokyo-Djakarta Interactions, 1951-1966 (Nishihara, 1973)
Masashi Nishihara's 1973 Michigan PhD thesis on Japanese-Indonesian relations 1951-1966: war reparations, the Kishi-Sukarno settlement, lobbies, the Malaysia confrontation and the 'Sukarno groups'. Gerwani appears only once (pp. 285-286): the Nasution-Suharto group's claim that Pemuda Rakyat, Gerwani and SOBSI trained
Recruitment and Factional Patterns of the Indonesian Political Elite (Gregory, 1976)
Ann Gregory's Columbia PhD thesis (1976) on the recruitment, career patterns and factions of the Indonesian political elite under Guided Democracy and the New Order, based on elite biographies, with chapters on military and civilian factions. It is a quantitative study of Javanese dominance and clientelism. Gerwani is
A Traditional Leader in a Time of Change: the Kijaji and Ulama in West Java (Horikoshi, 1976)
Hiroko Horikoshi's 1976 University of Illinois anthropology PhD thesis on kijaji and ulama as traditional leaders in a West Java (Priangan, Cipari) Islamic village, covering kinship, rural economy, the life cycle, the ulama as educators and legal experts, and kijaji charisma. It has almost nothing on Gerwani: a single
Harian Rakjat, Daily Newspaper of the Communist Party of Indonesia (Groves, 1983)
Kerry Groves's ANU MA thesis (1983) on Harian Rakjat, the PKI daily: its stance on press freedom, administration, polemics (e.g. with Merdeka, 1964), content and treatment of leaders, drawing on Indonesian sources and interviews with ex-prisoners. Gerwani appears in Chapter VI (pp.142-149) on the paper's women's column
Losing a Revolution: The PKI versus the Army in Indonesia, 1949-1965 (Sutley, 1988)
Stewart K. Sutley's MA thesis (Political Science, McGill, 1988) applies Tilly and Aya's 'political conflict' model to the PKI-Army struggle of 1949-65, arguing the PKI's state-within-a-state depended on Sukarno and was destroyed after the army struck at the president. Gerwani is treated only as the PKI's 'women's front
Destruction of the Indonesian Communist Party: East Java and Bali compared (Sudjatmiko, 1992)
Iwan Gardono Sudjatmiko's 1992 Harvard sociology PhD thesis compares East Java and Bali to explain the PKI's destruction after 1965, arguing that it followed from the party's 1963 revolutionary strategy and that violence depended on public figures, army units and PKI size. It covers mobilisation, land reform and local
She Who Earns: The Politics of Prostitution in Java (Sunindyo, 1993)
Saraswati Sunindyo's PhD dissertation (Sociology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1993) is a feminist study of prostitution in Java based on 1987-88 fieldwork in three brothel resorts (Samas, Bandungan, Tretes), with life stories and a history of state policy. Gerwani appears mainly in Chapter 2 (pp. 29-39): it outlin
The Forgotten Years: Mass Slaughter in Jombang-Kediri 1965-1966 (Sulistyo, 1997)
Hermawan Sulistyo's 1997 Arizona State history PhD, 'The Forgotten Years', studies the 1965-66 killings in Jombang-Kediri, East Java, from interviews and documents, finding no single national pattern and stressing local conflict and military-backed operations. Gerwani appears in passing: its claimed 1.75 million member
The Women's Movement in Indonesia, with special reference to 'Aisyiyah (It, 2005)
Suraiya It's 2005 Temple University religion PhD dissertation on the Indonesian women's movement, with the Muhammadiyah women's section 'Aisyiyah as case study (Ch. 2 history from Kartini to the New Order; Ch. 3 religion and family law; Ch. 4-5 'Aisyiyah; Ch. 6 conclusion). Gerwani appears only in passing: Gerwis is li
The Construction of History under Indonesia's New Order: the Lubang Buaya official narrative (Djakababa, 2009)
Yosef Djakababa's 2009 Wisconsin dissertation on how the New Order built the official Lubang Buaya narrative (PKI sole mastermind, spontaneous people's response) via army history, Mahmillub trials, the monument, Hari Kesaktian Pancasila and the film. Key study of official memory.
Generating History: Violence and the Risks of Remembering for Families of Former Political Prisoners (Conroe, 2012)
PhD dissertation (University of Michigan, 2012) by Andrew Conroe: an ethnography of former political prisoners (eks-tapol) and their children and grandchildren in Yogyakarta, centred on the group Fopperham, on memory, silence and uncertain family histories. Gerwani appears through family accounts and events: Bu Marni,
The Cold War in the City of Heroes: US-Indonesian Relations and Anti-Communist Operations in Surabaya (Setiyawan, 2014)
PhD dissertation in History (UCLA, 2014) by Dahlia Gratia Setiyawan on U.S. anti-communist operations and the 1965-66 purge in Surabaya. Gerwani appears in context: as the PKI's women's affiliate (ch. 1), through the Surabaya women's coalition GOWS in the 27 September 1965 Grahadi demonstration (ch. 4), and in the Army
Ripples, Echoes, and Reverberations: 1965 and Now in Indonesia (Stroud, 2015)
Martha Stroud's 2015 UC Berkeley/UCSF medical-anthropology dissertation, based on fieldwork in Yogyakarta (2010-12), examines how the 1965-66 killings shape daily life through propaganda, surveillance, stigma, silence and justice. Gerwani appears mainly as the object of New Order propaganda: the Lubang Buaya mutilation
Years of Dressing Dangerously: Modern Women, National Identity and Moral Crisis in Sukarno's Indonesia (Sullivan, 2020)
Charles P. Sullivan's PhD dissertation (History, University of Michigan, 2020) reads Indonesian women's magazines (Wanita, Puspa Wanita, Varia) from 1945-66 to argue that the Lubang Buaya narrative about Gerwani worked as a 'post-text' of long-running anxieties over modernity, moral crisis and the 'Mother of the Nation
Fashioning Authoritarianism: Militarization of Society in Indonesia, 1930-1966 (Joshua, 2023)
PhD dissertation (Northwestern, 2023) by Norman Joshua on the militarization of Indonesian society, 1930-1966. It argues the Army intervened in non-military affairs through the 'twin logics' of emergency powers and counterinsurgency, culminating in the New Order. Gerwani appears only in passing: p. 428 gives its claime
The Butterfly Effect: Stealth Politics by the Reformist Women's Movement (Puspita, 2023)
PhD dissertation (Northwestern, June 2023) by Sabina Satriyani Puspita in political science on how the 'reformist' women's movement wins policy change through 'stealth politics', using the 2021 Regulation 30 on campus sexual violence. Gerwani appears in historical chapters: the 1965 stigmatisation and the sexual-dance/
Michal Bielecki's 2025 analysis of 'Selamatan Anak Cucu Sumilah', a participatory performance (30 Nov 2018, UGM) with the Kipper forum of women ex-prisoners, commemorating Maria Goreti Sumilah, arrested at fourteen by mistake and held at Plantungan. Memorialisation through performance.
The Heteronormative Family as Moral Infrastructure: Citizenship and National Belonging in Indonesia (Mirna Nadia, 2025)
PhD dissertation (Sociology, Northwestern, Dec. 2025) by Mirna Nadia arguing the heteronormative family acts as 'moral infrastructure' of Indonesian citizenship, via the Marriage Law, the AILA judicial review, the Family Resilience Bill, women household heads and LGBT people. Gerwani appears only in ch. 1's history of
Counter-Monuments: Art and Memory in Post-1965 Indonesia (Bontrager, 2026)
MA thesis (University of Georgia, 2026) by Alyx L. Bontrager on how Indonesian artists Rangga Purbaya, Dadang Christanto and Leyla Stevens use testimony, embodiment and place as memory activism against the silencing of the 1965-66 genocide, theorised as 'counter-monuments'. Gerwani appears only in passing: ch. 2 (p. 7)