The Dance That Makes You Vanish: Cultural Reconstruction in Post-Genocide Indonesia (Larasati, 2013)
Rachmi Larasati's 2013 introduction and chapter on how the New Order erased the dancing bodies of women labelled 'Gerwani' after 1965 and replaced them with state-trained 'clean' dancers performing the same traditions as national heritage. Autoethnographic study of dance and genocide.
Gerwani and women's political struggle (Rio Apinino, IndoPROGRESS, 2013)
Rio Apinino's 2013 IndoPROGRESS review essay of the Indonesian edition of Wieringa's Gerwani study: the film's Lubang Buaya scenes, Gerwis's founding in Semarang on 4 June 1950, PKI influence and the persistent 'whore' stigma. Chapter-by-chapter summary.
History of Gerwis and the emergence of Gerwani (detikNews, 2013)
detikNews feature (2013) on Gerwis's founding on 4 June 1950 by six organisations (Rupindo, Persatuan Wanita Sedar, Istri Sedar, Gerwindo, Wanita Madura, PPRI) and founders Trimurti, Salawati Daud, Umi Sardjono, Tris Metty and Sri Panggihan, with I.G.A.A. Ratih. Concise account of origins.
Arjo Sutiyem, Activist and Victim of 65 (Jurnal Perempuan, 2014)
Jurnal Perempuan profile (10 Oct 2014) of Arjo Sutiyem, a Boyolali farmer who joined Gerwis in the early 1950s, founded the Musuk branch (2 Feb 1952), led Boyolali's organisation and ran women's literacy schools, then was handed to the army in 1965. Grassroots Gerwis/Gerwani testimony.
Persisting Silence: Sexual Slander, Mass Murder and The Act of Killing (Wieringa, 2014)
Wieringa (2014) uses The Act of Killing to argue Indonesian indifference to the film reflects the enduring success of the military's sexual moral panic against communism; discusses a director's-cut scene and levels of silence about Gerwani. Memory and silence.
Koran Memo, 1 October 2014: Confession of a former Gerwani member in Blitar
Koran Memo (Kediri), 1 Oct 2014, p. 5: interview with Putmainah (86), former chair of Gerwani in Blitar regency and PKI member of the DPR-GR, ten years in Plantungan; recalls PKI and NU as allies in local parliament.
Saskia Wieringa essay (22 Aug 2015, IPT 1965 site) on the army's sexual slander of Gerwani, reconstructing how 'Jamilah, Srikandi of Lubang Buaya' appeared in near-identical newspaper confessions in Nov 1965 and how a teenage Jemilah was arrested in place of the Gerwani leader Atikah. Key analysis of slander as fabrica
Forbidden Memories: Women's Experiences of 1965 in Eastern Indonesia (Kolimon et al., 2015)
English translation (Monash, 2015) of Memori-memori terlarang, research by women pastors and theologians of the JPIT network on women survivors, witnesses and perpetrators across East Nusa Tenggara (Sabu, Kupang, Timor, Alor, Sumba). Regional women's testimony on 1965.
Janda PKI: stigma and sexual violence against communist widows (Pohlman, 2015)
Pohlman (2015) on 'janda PKI': women widowed in 1965-66 were doubly stigmatised as widows and as 'PKI' women demonised by Gerwani propaganda; four testimonies show sexual violence and exploitation. Gendered stigma analysis.
Women, Sexual Violence and the Indonesian Killings of 1965-1966 (Pohlman, 2015)
Annie Pohlman's 2015 monograph, the first book-length study of gendered violence in 1965-66, based on about 150 women survivors: patterns of arrest, torture, rape, sexualised mutilation, strip searches for the 'Gerwani mark', sexual slavery and 'wife-taking'. Key scholarly source.
Sexual Slander Revealed: the story of Jamilah-Jemilah and The Act of Killing (Wieringa, 2015)
Wieringa (Indonesian Feminist Journal, Aug 2015): the 'confession' of 'Jamilah, Srikandi of Lubang Buaya' printed identically in four army papers on 5-7 Nov 1965, and the real Jemilah (arrested by mistake for Gerwani leader Atikah, tortured, lost her baby), from Juki Ardi's Aku bukan Jamilah.
Batam Pos, 2 February 2015: 'World Dictionary: Gerwani'
Batam Pos, 2 Feb 2015, p. 2: reference box 'Gerwani' (from Kamus Sejarah Lengkap) defining Gerwani as a PKI-affiliated women's organisation, recounting Gerwis's founding at Semarang on 4 June 1950 from six groups, with an archival photo of a marriage-law rally.
Surviving in Impunity: Stories of Women Survivors Still Denied Justice (AJAR/Komnas Perempuan, 2015)
Book by AJAR with Komnas Perempuan (Oct 2015) from participatory research with women survivors. In the 1965 context chapter (pp. 39-40) it describes false rumours about Gerwani and the sexual slander of the generals, with violence against Gerwani members. Survivor testimonies name Christina Sumarmiyati (arrested again
Surviving in Impunity: Stories of Women Survivors Still Denied Justice (AJAR/Komnas Perempuan, 2015)
Book by AJAR with Komnas Perempuan (Oct 2015) from participatory research with women survivors. In the 1965 context chapter (pp. 39-40) it describes false rumours about Gerwani and the sexual slander of the generals, with violence against Gerwani members. Survivor testimonies name Christina Sumarmiyati (arrested again
Free English-language magazine issue edited by Soe Tjen Marching (Bhinneka Nusantara, Surabaya), October 2015, of victim testimonies. Ex-women prisoners Hartiti, Maria Goretti Sumilah and Theresia Kadmiyanti describe Gerwani-related interrogation: nude-dance and genital-mutilation accusations, searches for a 'Gerwani m
Free English-language magazine issue edited by Soe Tjen Marching (Bhinneka Nusantara, Surabaya), October 2015, of victim testimonies. Ex-women prisoners Hartiti, Maria Goretti Sumilah and Theresia Kadmiyanti describe Gerwani-related interrogation: nude-dance and genital-mutilation accusations, searches for a 'Gerwani m
Bhinneka, October 2015: Half a Century of the 1965 Genocide (Indonesian edition, women ex-prisoners' testimonies)
Bhinneka, October 2015 (Surabaya; ed. Soe Tjen Marching), a 1965 anniversary issue. Women ex-prisoners testify: Hartiti, a Gerwani member, was asked whether she joined the 'naked dance' and castrated the generals; Maria Goretti Sumilah was beaten and burned to confess she was Gerwani; Theresia Kadmiyanti ran a TK Melat
Bhinneka, October 2015: Half a Century of the 1965 Genocide (Indonesian edition, women ex-prisoners' testimonies)
Bhinneka, October 2015 (Surabaya; ed. Soe Tjen Marching), a 1965 anniversary issue. Women ex-prisoners testify: Hartiti, a Gerwani member, was asked whether she joined the 'naked dance' and castrated the generals; Maria Goretti Sumilah was beaten and burned to confess she was Gerwani; Theresia Kadmiyanti ran a TK Melat
Tempo.co, 2 October 2015: Putmainah, the Gerwani-PKI podium lioness who forgot September
Tempo.co profile (2 Oct 2015, by Bobby Chandra) of Putmainah, 77, former Gerwani chair and PKI faction member of the Blitar DPRD, now stroke-afflicted in Pakisrejo, Srengat. Her husband Subandi, Blitar Front Nasional and DPRD head, was killed after a PKI congress; she fled into the forest with seven children. Once a re
Tempo.co, 9 October 2015: The fall of the PKI, Suharto and the destruction of the women's movement
Tempo.co report (9 Oct 2015) on a Yogyakarta (UIN Sunan Kalijaga) discussion of Saskia Wieringa's book on the destruction of the women's movement. It summarises her argument that the military slandered Gerwani over Lubang Buaya as a pretext to kill; army press libel, and women forced to dance naked while soldiers photo
Suti, Gerwani Activist: In a Mother's Womb We Are All the Same (Jurnal Perempuan, 2016)
Jurnal Perempuan feature (Jan 2016) on a Jejer Wadon visit to Suti (Arjo Sutiyem), 96, in Musuk, Boyolali: her reasons for joining the women's movement, early life, chairing Gerwis Boyolali with 4,000 members from 1952. Adds biographical detail to the 2014 profile.
The Story of Suti, 96-Year-Old Gerwani Activist and 1965 Survivor (Rappler, 2016)
Rappler first-person account (2 Feb 2016) of Suti (Arjo Sutiyem), 96: born 1920 in Musuk, third wife in an arranged marriage, joined Gerwis in 1951, chaired Musuk and Boyolali Gerwani, then persecuted in 1965. Fullest of three texts on her.
Pohlman (2016) argues the demonisation of Gerwani created an enduring 'pathological discourse' constraining women's sexual and political citizenship; perpetrators invoked the slander to justify violence, as in the cases of Ibu Susiani and others.
Katharine McGregor's Aug 2016 gateway essay to the Indonesia section of the Women and Social Movements in Modern Empires database: anti-imperial activism, Gerwani and the WIDF, source guide (Api Kartini, congress reports) and thematic analyses. Introduction for researchers.
Gerwani and the pioneering of women's political struggle (Sundari, 2016)
Akhiriyati Sundari's 2016 Jurnal Perempuan review of the Indonesian translation of Wieringa's Sexual Politics in Indonesia (Penghancuran Gerakan Perempuan, 2010), recounting the Lubang Buaya slander as staged in the film and Gerwani's pioneering role. Book review.
Gerwani, pioneer of the socialist-feminist women's movement in Indonesia (Sundari, 2016)
Akhiriyati Sundari's second 2016 Jurnal Perempuan essay placing Gerwani in a typology of feminist theory as the most progressive socialist-feminist movement, strongest between its first and second congresses; marks 1965 and the IPT. Interpretive essay.
Tempo, 8 February 2016: Mintardjo and a fragment of Gerwis history
Tempo review (8 Feb 2016) of Elisabeth Ida Mulyani's video 'Supervivere' on 1965 exiles (Mintardjo and nine others in the Netherlands and Sweden), shown in Yogyakarta with a charcoal portrait 'Suti, Plight of Gerwani' by Dewi Candraningrum. It describes Suti, 95, founder of Gerwis Musuk/Boyolali in 1952, a literacy cam
Tempo.co, 25 May 2016: Former Gerwani chair dies; mourners watched by intelligence officers
Tempo.co obituary (25 May 2016, Abdul Djalil Hakim) of Putmainah, 90, former Blitar Gerwani chair and DPRD-GR member for the PKI faction, called the last Gerwani branch head. It covers her family background (father a Red Sarekat Islam leader killed at Madiun 1948), ties to Sukarno's family, and mourners including a Ban
Plantungan Camp, Witness to Gerwani Political Prisoners' Suffering (KBR/YPKP 1965, 2017)
KBR radio feature (reposted by YPKP 1965, 9 Jan 2017) following ex-prisoners Sumilah and Debora Oni to the Plantungan camp site with Komnas Perempuan; they recount being accused as Gerwani, stripped and beaten, and their prison itineraries. Survivor testimony on Plantungan.
Umi Sardjono, the Marxist feminist who steered Gerwani (Rahayu, 2017)
Ruth Indiah Rahayu's 2017 biographical portrait of Umi Sardjono (1923-2011), Gerwani chair, from Umi's own stories told 2004-09; opens with the film's Jamilah, whom Umi met in detention and apologised to. Intimate life history of a Gerwani leader.