GA-03032 2026 relevance C licensed / copyrighted
Counter-Monuments: Art and Memory in Post-1965 Indonesia
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) notes the propaganda that Gerwani sexually assaulted and mutilated the generals, and ch. 3 (p. 18) describes the Lubang Buaya monument frieze showing Gerwani dancing on the remains, as top-down New Order memory work.
Tesis MA (University of Georgia, 2026) oleh Alyx L. Bontrager tentang cara seniman Indonesia Rangga Purbaya, Dadang Christanto dan Leyla Stevens memakai kesaksian, tubuh dan tempat sebagai aktivisme memori melawan pembungkaman genosida 1965-66, yang dirumuskan sebagai 'kontra-monumen'. Gerwani hanya disinggung sepintas: bab 2 (hlm. 7) menyebut propaganda bahwa Gerwani menyerang secara seksual dan memutilasi para jenderal, dan bab 3 (hlm. 18) membahas relief monumen Lubang Buaya yang menampilkan Gerwani menari di atas jenazah sebagai kerja memori New Order dari atas ke bawah.
“p. 18: the Lubang Buaya monument's carvings 'demonize the PKI, showing them murdering the generals and the Gerwani happily dancing on their remains' (citing Santikarma 2005).”
People
Organisations
Places
Topics
Tags
Details
- Date
- 2026
- Creator
- Bontrager
- Document type
- thesis (thesis / dissertation)
- Language
- English
- Perspective
- Scholarship
- Source role
- secondary
- Country
- USA
- Period
- 1999–present
- Source archive
- ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global (Columbia) · source link
- Access
- library-licensed (Columbia University Libraries); personal research copy Library-licensed or subscription copy: show metadata and summary only; link to the source.
- File
- 02 Secondary Sources/2.6 Theses and Dissertations/Bontrager (2026) - Counter-Monuments, Art and Memory in Post-1965 Indonesia (PhD Georgia) [ProQuest 3352200545].pdf
- OCR / text
- Good (0.947) · proof-reading: no (script-cleaned only) · translation: not needed
- Collection
- 02 Secondary Sources › 2.6 Theses and Dissertations
- Summary basis
- structured reading (introduction, chapter openings, conclusion and all Gerwani/women's-movement passages)
Related items
Remembering and Forgetting at Lubang Buaya (Schreiner, 2003)
Klaus Schreiner's 2003 chapter reading the Monumen Pancasila Sakti at Lubang Buaya as a 'site of memory' and founding shrine of the New Order, noting the 1998 end of the annual film broadcast; applies Halbwachs, Nora and trauma theory. Memory-studies framing.
shared: Suharto, Untung, Lubang Buaya, commemoration
Construction of History under the New Order: making the Lubang Buaya narrative (summary, 2010)
Seven-page summary (LIPI journal, 2010) of Djakababa's dissertation arguing 1 Oct 1965 was chaotic and the New Order turned it into a good-versus-evil narrative via trials, the monument, commemoration and the film. Short companion to the full thesis.
shared: Suharto, Lubang Buaya, commemoration, Lubang Buaya and sexual slander
Dossier of a slaughter
Tribune (Sydney), 29 Jun 1966, p. 5: editorial attacking Western press whitewashing of the Suharto regime plus a long reconstruction of 30 Sep-1 Oct 1965 taken from the British New Left Review, portraying the movement as junior officers' action. It mentions that Halim auxiliaries from Pemuda Rakyat and Gerwani took par
shared: Suharto, Untung, Lubang Buaya, Lubang Buaya and sexual slander
Dossier of a slaughter
Tribune (Sydney), 29 Jun 1966, p. 5: editorial attacking Western press whitewashing of the Suharto regime plus a long reconstruction of 30 Sep-1 Oct 1965 taken from the British New Left Review, portraying the movement as junior officers' action. It mentions that Halim auxiliaries from Pemuda Rakyat and Gerwani took par
shared: Suharto, Untung, Lubang Buaya, Lubang Buaya and sexual slander
Dramatic funeral in Jakarta: lieutenant saved Nasution's life
Leeuwarder Courant, 7 October 1965, p. 1: report on the exhumation of the seven murdered army officers from the Lubang Buaya well and the generals' funeral, with Nasution's escape and Lt Tendean's death. It relays Suharto's televised claim that the bodies lay next to a base where the air force trained Pemuda Rakjat and
shared: Suharto, Untung, Lubang Buaya, Lubang Buaya and sexual slander
The trauma of 1965 itches and nags
Jan Bezemer's long Trouw weekend feature (30 Sep 1995) on the unresolved 1965 trauma. Covers the 30 September events, Suharto's role, US encouragement, massacres (Gatot's trial testimony) and the smear campaign against Gerwani. Draws on Saskia Wieringa's doctoral research: Gerwani was blamed for mutilating the generals
shared: Suharto, Untung, Lubang Buaya, Lubang Buaya and sexual slander
Sinar Harapan, 6 Dec 1966: 'Night of Terror, Dawn of Hope' (V), Clarence Hall serial
Sinar Harapan, 6 Desember 1966: 'Malam Teror Fajar Harapan' (V). Serial translation of Clarence Hall's 'Indonesia: Night of Terror, Dawn of Hope' ends with the claim that the kidnapped generals were 'handed over to about 100 screaming Gerwani members'; also an essay on education as protection against betrayal.
shared: Suharto, Untung, Lubang Buaya, Lubang Buaya and sexual slander
CIA Bi-Weekly Propaganda Guidance, 25 October 1965: WIDF 20th anniversary, Gerwani and the 30 September Movement
CIA Bi-Weekly Propaganda Guidance, 25 Oct 1965, calendar and background on the 30 September coup. It notes WIDF's 20th anniversary (26 Nov), lists GERWANI among PKI women's fronts (p.21), and repeats that about 3,000 PKI youth and women's group cadres were trained at Halim air base in September, with Gerwani and Pemuda
shared: Suharto, Untung, Lubang Buaya, Lubang Buaya and sexual slander