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.
Communism in Indonesia, Vol. IV: The G30S/PKI Rebellion and its Suppression (1960-1965), Pusjarah TNI, 2009
Official Army history (Pusjarah TNI, Jakarta 2009), vol. IV of 'Komunisme di Indonesia', presenting Gerwani as a PKI mass organisation in the 1960-65 build-up and the G30S. It reports Gerwani's Nov-Dec 1964 housewives' seminar (p. 70), 'unilateral actions' (p. 122), the 27 Sept 1965 Surabaya governor's-office raid unde
Communism in Indonesia, Vol. IV: The G30S/PKI Rebellion and its Suppression (1960-1965), Pusjarah TNI, 2009
Official Army history (Pusjarah TNI, Jakarta 2009), vol. IV of 'Komunisme di Indonesia', presenting Gerwani as a PKI mass organisation in the 1960-65 build-up and the G30S. It reports Gerwani's Nov-Dec 1964 housewives' seminar (p. 70), 'unilateral actions' (p. 122), the 27 Sept 1965 Surabaya governor's-office raid unde
ICTJ and KontraS report (March 2011) on transitional justice since 1998: inquiries launched then stalled, Attorney General inaction on Komnas HAM files, zero convictions in human rights courts, reparations tied to missing verdicts. Context for the impunity facing 1965 victims.
The leader's steadfast road: obituary of Umi Sardjono (Lilik HS, 2011)
Lilik HS's IndoPROGRESS obituary of Umi Sardjono (born Suharti Sumodiwiryo, Gerwani chair 1954-65, d. 11 March 2011): her funeral at Matraman, a visit to the Waluya Sejati elderly home founded on Sulami's initiative, and former leaders' memories. Literary-journalistic portrait.
Frau L's fight for justice: 80-year-old Lestari wishes that no one fears her any more (Keller, 2012)
Anett Keller's 2012 reportage (südostasien, German) on Lestari, an 80-year-old Gerwani co-founder in a Jakarta house of ex-prisoners: Gerwani's literacy and kindergarten work, her husband a PKI East Java leader, flight, arrest in Malang, 1979 release and life as an 'ET' domestic worker. Life-history portrait.
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,
Heirs to World Culture: Being Indonesian 1950-1965 (KITLV Press, 2012)
Edited volume (KITLV Press, Leiden, 2012) by Jennifer Lindsay and Maya H.T. Liem on Indonesian culture and its international links, 1950-65. Gerwani appears only in passing: Michael Bodden's chapter on Lekra theatre says Gerwani, like Lekra and CGMI, was pressed by the PKI in 1964 to declare itself communist (p. 470, c
Heirs to World Culture: Being Indonesian 1950-1965 (KITLV Press, 2012)
Edited volume (KITLV Press, Leiden, 2012) by Jennifer Lindsay and Maya H.T. Liem on Indonesian culture and its international links, 1950-65. Gerwani appears only in passing: Michael Bodden's chapter on Lekra theatre says Gerwani, like Lekra and CGMI, was pressed by the PKI in 1964 to declare itself communist (p. 470, c
Vannessa Hearman's 2013 article on memories 'under duress', from interviews with over thirty ex-prisoners: screening and stigma forced concealment, name changes and silence; Gerwani appears via 'Leila' and 'Tuti' and Sukarno-era WIDF internationalism. Oral history methodology.
Child-raising, Childbirth and Abortion In Extremis: women's stories 1965-1966 (Pohlman, 2013)
Pohlman's 2013 article, from about 150 interviews, on women's stories of pregnancy, childbirth, raising, losing and aborting children during 1965-66 and detention, including cooperative childcare and a former Gerwani leader (Ibu Astuti). Gendered history of survival.
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.
1965 from women's wombs and inner lives: review of Istana Jiwa (Wahyuni, 2014)
Dewi Nova Wahyuni's review (2014) of Putu Oka Sukanta's novel Istana Jiwa through its women characters (a CGMI activist and others), read via the image of women's womb and inner life, contrasting with his prior novel on men in prison. Literary context.
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
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.
Saskia Wieringa, The Crocodile Hole reveals the 1965 genocide (Poerba, 2015)
Jurnal Perempuan report (28 Oct 2015) on the Jakarta launch of Saskia Wieringa's novel The Crocodile Hole, where she explains arriving in the late 1970s to find only 'domesticated' women's groups and being shocked at Gerwani's disappearance after New Order propaganda. Launch report.
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
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
Final Report of the IPT 1965 judges (20 July 2016, The Hague/Jakarta): origins after The Act of Killing, Saskia Wieringa and Nursyahbani Katjasungkana's roles, and legal reasoning on killing, detention, torture, sexual violence and propaganda. Key text on international legal findings.
Merdu yang Dipaksa Sunyi: Arman Dhani's Introductory Essay to Dunia Milik Kita (2016)
Seven-page liner essay by Arman Dhani, issued with the free download of Dialita's album Dunia Milik Kita (2016), framing it as hearing again voices silenced by 'collective sin' after 1965 and introducing the ten songs and their young arrangers. A guide to the women's choir's repertoire.
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.
Dunia Milik Kita: liner and production notes (Dialita, 2016)
Release page for Dialita's free album Dunia Milik Kita (17 Aug 2016, Yes No Wave): ten songs, most written in prison camps (Bukit Duri, Plantungan, Ambarawa, Salemba) or by Lekra composers, arranged by young indie musicians. Documents the choir of women ex-prisoners.
Twelfth Kowani Congress and its influence on the women's movement (Wijayanti, 2017)
Undergraduate article (2017) on the twelfth Kowani congress, Jakarta, 6-9 Feb 1961, arguing it tied the women's movement to government policy under Guided Democracy and sidelined polygamy and literacy issues; notes a Perwari-Gerwani split. Mostly general survey.
Wieringa's 2017 insider account, as chair of the IPT 1965 foundation, of the tribunal's rationale, genesis (a 2013 meeting with Oppenheimer, Stanley Prasetyo and Nursyahbani Katjasungkana), structure and July 2016 conclusions. Background on the tribunal's organisation.
Sexual violence against women after the 1965 events (Historia, 2017)
Historia report (17 Mar 2017) on a Komnas Perempuan/YLBHI/IPT 65 session on sexual violence after 1965, opening with Bedjo Untung's case of Zaenab, a 12-year-old in Pekalongan stripped and repeatedly raped by soldiers. Testimony on sexual violence.
Between Citizenship and Human Rights: the struggle for justice after the 1965 violence (Hearman, 2018)
Hearman's 2018 article on how 1965 survivors and NGOs shifted from an inclusive citizenship strategy (1998-2004) to a 'boomerang' appeal to international norms, with stalled domestic justice. Context on the post-1998 struggle for justice.
A heavy blow to the women's movement (Historia, 2018)
Historia article (2018) on the 1953 women's campaign against Government Regulation 19/1952 giving civil-service pensions to all widows of polygynous officials, including the 17 Dec 1953 mass meeting at Deca Park attended by Gerwani and others. Context on the anti-polygamy movement.
The role of Gerwani in Trikora 1961-1963 (Kurnia and Miftahuddin, 2019)
Journal article (2019) by Kurnia and Miftahuddin on Gerwani in Trikora 1961-63: Gerwani joined the Front Nasional on 17 Jan 1962 for 1.125 million members, and a delegation led by Sulami offered volunteers. Dated chronicle of Gerwani's West Irian mobilisation.
Filmed Memories of 1965 (Elsa Clavé, 2020)
Elsa Clave's introduction (Archipel 99, 2020) to a dossier on 1965 and cinema, arguing memory remains institutionalised in museums and monuments and stigma of communism is easily manipulated, as in the 2017 attack on LBH Jakarta. Context on film and memory.