PANEL 1-B – Trajectories through a gender lens

PANEL 1-B TRAJECTORIES through a gender lens

Navigating across a plurality of sectors of research on social mobilizations

Chairperson: Saskia E. Wieringa, University of Amsterdam

This panel aims to highlight the itineraries of different figures of engaged research: grassroots intellectuals, movement theoreticians, university-based committed researchers, citizen-scholars and more militant productors of knowledge. How do the militant careers of thinkers-actors evolve between different kinds of categories, in a continuum or through trials, personal reassessment and disengagement? The presenters will also report on people who have chosen to maintain forms of distancing toward engagement in order to preserve what they conceive as their freedom for research, to be able to continue producing fresh outsider’s insights and to adopt more independent postures enabling people to speak to them with the least possible a priori. The portraits of intellectual-activists can be based on ethnographic observation, archival materials, interviews, and personal testimonies.

  • Erize Ladia, Charles (University of the Philippines Diliman, Department of Political Science) – Queering local governments: LGBTQ+ movement organizations as strategic brokers for sexual citizenship in Philippine local governments

The advocacy for sexual citizenship in the Philippines has been arduous. This manifests in the decades-long assertion of the LGBTQ+ movement for the passage of the Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Expression (SOGIE) Equality Bill which penalizes discriminatory acts based on categories of sexuality and gender. But the last decade witnessed success in localizing anti- discrimination legislation through the passage of many city and municipality ordinances. This political phenomenon created another space for LGBTQ+ organizations to assert sexual citizenship in government policy- and decision-making. This paper explores how these organizations broker for recognition, inclusion, and acceptance of the LGBTQ+ community in Quezon City and Manila. Using focused-group discussions with LGBTQ+ movement organizations and strategic brokerage as an analytical frame, this paper finds that queering local governments observes a process where organizations proactively bridge the gap between communities and governments. Their roles as strategic brokers start with linking community concerns to state officials, networking with other organizations, translating LGBTQ+ narratives for local governments, and transacting with local officials. In the process of brokering, these organizations not only fight for sexual citizenship but maintain the civic space by capacitating local communities to initiate engagement and reminding the government of its responsibilities mandated by the ordinances. Amidst the many challenges in brokering, LGBTQ+ organizations continue to persist and resist in and beyond these new spaces of contention and collaboration.

Keywords: LGBTQ+ movement organization; sexual citizenship; strategic brokering; local government; Metro Manila

cpladia@up.edu.ph

  • Kusuma, Bayu Mitra A. (PhD student, National Dong Hwa University, Taiwan) – L’ultimo Ultras: When Italian Movie Inspires the Progressive Women’s Football Fans Movement in Indonesia

Indonesia is not a country with a strong football tradition if judged by its achievements. Domestic competition that is influenced by political manipulation adds to the blurry face of Indonesian football. But behind all these dark sides, there is one aspect that makes many players challenged to compete in Indonesia, namely the fans. The fans’ fanaticism is amazing, but unfortunately often expressed in various negative actions such as racism, riot, and physical violence that lead to death. Brutality creates a stigma that being a football fan in Indonesia is only for masculine men. In these situations, a women’s fans group emerges and changes the football fans landscape. They are Ladies Curva Sud (LCS), fans of PSS Sleman Football Club, which was founded based on inspiration from the Italian movie L’ultimo Ultras. This study aims to reveal how L’ultimo Ultras influenced the LCS movement in changing the Indonesian football fans’ image using resource mobilization theory as an analytical tool. In this theory, the term mobilization refers to a contextual process consisting of mass formation to achieve certain goals. The research results show that: First, LCS is a form of progressive football fans social movement initiated by educated youth women. The name Curva Sud is taken from the Italian language which means “South stands”. Second, LCS leadership is collective, which is bound in the motto “no leader, just together”. They organize members in an ultras style but abandon the culture of violence. Third, LCS is a financially independent organization. Their income is obtained from the sale of merchandise with ultras distinctive colors and characters. Fourth, LCS has a strong and wide network among students, especially universities in the Yogyakarta Special Province area. Fifth, LCS has changed people’s views on the football fans image, from brutality to creativity, from masculinity to gender equality.

Keywords: Italian Movie, Indonesian Football, Progressive Fans, Educated Youth Women, LCS

Biography: Bayu Mitra A. Kusuma is a Student at the Ph.D. Program in Asia Pacific Regional Studies, College of Humanities and Social Sciences, National Dong Hwa University, Taiwan. He holds a Bachelor of Public Administration and Master of Public Administration from the Faculty of Administrative Science, University of Brawijaya, Indonesia. He earned his second master’s degree in Political Science (Security Studies) from the Faculty of Political Science and Law, Burapha University, Thailand. Since 2015, he has been a Faculty Member at the Faculty of Da’wah and Communication, State Islamic University Sunan Kalijaga, Indonesia. His research interests include issues of public policy, state-society relations, and international studies.

81090B006@gms.ndhu.edu.tw

  • Kurniati, Erni (Graduate student at State Islamic University Syarif Hidayatullah Jakarta Indonesia; Junior researcher at Division for Applied Social Psychology Research; Junior researcher at Lab. Bantenologi State Islamic University Sultan Maulana Hasanudin Banten Indonesia) – Why does dating damage? Discourse analysis through the Instagram account of Indonesia Tanpa Pacaran

Indonesia Without Dating Movement (Indonesia Tanpa Pacaran) is a religion-based movement initiated by La Ode Munafar in September 2015. This movement is active online (such as on Instagram, YouTube, and Facebook) and offline activities, attracting many young Indonesian Muslims to follow this movement as the phenomenon of spiritual migration (hijrah) that occurred in Indonesia. This article aims to analyze the narratives used by the official account of Indonesia Without Dating Movement on Instagram that promotes an ideology to return to Al-Qur’an teachings. Since its establishment, as of April 2022, this movement has had 15 active branches throughout Indonesia which are tracked through Instagram accounts. Based on online research and discourse analysis, this article highlights (1) the narratives used in Instagram accounts from the period January 2022 to March 2022 in framing propaganda to invite the public against dating (pacaran), (2) the narratives used other than against dating, such as da’wah in Islamic teachings that invite people to be more religious, and (3) the visual images to propagate the ideology against dating that entertain young Indonesian Muslims. Thus, I argue that the propagandas show that Indonesia Without Dating Movement is a reaction to modernism (dating) which is seen as damage to the moral, political, and social aspects.

kurniati1402@gmail.com