On the Internet, no- one knows you’re from...
Transcript of On the Internet, no- one knows you’re from...
Arts
On the Internet, no-one knows you’re from Suroboyo
Howard Manns & Simon Musgrave Monash University #SLXG2015
On the internet, no-one knows you’re from Suroboyo
Ethnic identity in Indonesia from the digital margins to the mainstream core
Brief intro
Foregrounding tensions in the digital margins
Deconstructing tensions in the digital margins
Conclusion
Brief Intro
Post-Reform era
Continued shift to Indonesian
Influence of Jakarta Indonesian
Revalorization of the ethnic
Tensions between the national,
Jakarta & ethnic spheres
(language & identity)
On the internet, no-one knows you’re from Suroboyo
Post-Reform era
Tensions explored in a number of contexts (e.g. media, conversation)
Emphasis on Indonesian that is ‘good’ (appropriate to context)
Some disagreement about what constitutes ‘good’
Manns (2014a, 2014b) examined Indonesian youth radio in East Java:
- Javanese accents are yucky full-stop
- Station identity=‘young executives’= only colloquial Indonesian
- Station identity=‘friend, confidant’= some Javanese lexical items
On the internet, no-one knows you’re from Suroboyo
On the internet, no-one knows you’re from Suroboyo
Ethnic identity in Indonesia from the digital margins to the mainstream core
How do these tensions unfold in the digital margins?
What role do the digital margins play in the negotiation of these tensions?
Part II:
Foregrounding tensions
Stirring the ethnic pot: Kei Savourie
Jakarta-based relationship consultant
11 tweets about Surabaya, January 13 2013
On the internet, no-one knows you’re from Suroboyo
Tweet 2
On the internet, no-one knows you’re from Suroboyo
Every time I go to Surabaya, I always shake my head when I see the clash of cultures that takes place here. Surabaya has an identity crisis.
Tweet 3
On the internet, no-one knows you’re from Suroboyo
It has large malls, modern ways of hanging out, up-to-date fashion, but the language is Javanese. My brain can’t make sense of [literally ‘receive] this contrast.
Tweet 11
On the internet, no-one knows you’re from Suroboyo
If you want to be modern, you know, you have to be open and outward looking. [And] when you’re in the office, the school or the mall, you speak Javanese?
Tweet 8
On the internet, no-one knows you’re from Suroboyo
There’s nothing wrong with Javanese. But it strongly indexes ethnicity and exclusivism, [and] this isn’t appropriate in the modern era.
Tweet 5
On the internet, no-one knows you’re from Suroboyo
Surabaya isn’t as modern as Jakarta, but the people pretend to be modern. It isn’t as traditional as Jogja, but they pretend to be Javanese. Epic fail.
Tweet 1
On the internet, no-one knows you’re from Suroboyo
You can’t become global and speak English without being able to speak good Indonesian. How do you expect to expect to advance?
Tweet 9
On the internet, no-one knows you’re from Suroboyo
If you’re really like Jogja and Solo, and you’re truly concerned with preserving Javanese culture, then you have to speak Javanese.
Themes which emerge Hierarchies: languages, levels of development/modernity
medok as a stigmatised identity
– Indexed by a o vowel shift (Jowo) Open (= modern) v. exclusive (= traditional)
Semiotic registers are also located hierarchically
Authenticity: Surabaya is sok-sokan:
– Pretending to be modern (malls, fashion) – Pretending to be local (speaking Javanese)
Notably: Savourie constructs a (Jakartan) vision for modernity not unlike that of the New Order
On the internet, no-one knows you’re from Suroboyo
Part III:
Deconstructing tensions
Kaskus
On the internet, no-one knows you’re from Suroboyo
Kaskus and elevating the ethnic self
• Extensive response to Savourie’s tweets • Data from various threads on Kaskus • Two aspects:
– Deconstructing the Jakarta mould – Constructing an alternative: Surabaya mould
On the internet, no-one knows you’re from Suroboyo
Deconstructing Jakarta Three themes:
– Jakarta is something separated from the rest of the country – Jakarta linguistic practices are as locally specific as somewhere like Surabaya – Jakarta also has a collision of cultures
On the internet, no-one knows you’re from Suroboyo
Pulau Jakarta
On the internet, no-one knows you’re from Suroboyo
Jakarta feels like its own island. Like it’s not on the island of Java.
Three in one
On the internet, no-one knows you’re from Suroboyo
Really, what are the standards for what constitutes modern and ‘sociable’ language? Jakartan language and using lu gua lu gua? That’s totally a regional language, too, for the Betawi, and it’s been influenced and
mixed with a number of regional cultures.
Constructing an alternative Representing medok as a linguistic choice
(Re)-valuing multilingualism
– Giving distinctiveness – A place for accommodation
(Re)-valuing openness
On the internet, no-one knows you’re from Suroboyo
Representing medok
Savourie used vowel shift
– Differentiates language and culture • budaya Jawa • bahasa Jowo
Kaskusers embrace this
– Javanese is a common language choice in threads – But SR1 (Indonesian) is also used for many posts or as a matrix – Vowel shift used as marker of identity
On the internet, no-one knows you’re from Suroboyo
medok identity
On the internet, no-one knows you’re from Suroboyo
Wow, if you are a Javanese guy, can’t you be medok?
What do most of people in Surabaya use? Javanese, right? If Javanese people can’t speak Javanese, then who can?
Multilingualism
On the internet, no-one knows you’re from Suroboyo
He’s missed the point that from childhood the Javanese can already speak two languages and are bilingual. They speak Indonesian and Javanese.
Distinctiveness
On the internet, no-one knows you’re from Suroboyo
His research is unimportant and shallow. Surabaya should be forced to act if we’re derided for our accent? It’s just our special, defining feature.
Accommodation
On the internet, no-one knows you’re from Suroboyo
I studied in Jogja, yeah, and I tried to swear less.
Openness
On the internet, no-one knows you’re from Suroboyo
God, this person doesn’t make sense. Surabaya, you know, has become acculturated with a mix of cultures. And a culture that is open is a culture that absorbs foreign cultures without any conflict.
Look at lots of local cultures that have become acculturated with outside cultures.
Emerging themes
Emerging here a ‘Surabaya mould’:
– Openness is multidirectional – Multilingualism and multiculturalism are legitimate – Ethnic identity is compatible with modernity
On the internet, no-one knows you’re from Suroboyo
Part IV:
Conclusion
Hubs, peripheries, new registers Hub and periphery are:
– Relative notions – Contextually defined
Bahasa yang baik is a hub
– Javanese, gaul, alay, Jakarta, Kaskus are all peripheries SR1 is a hub, SR2 is relatively peripheral
Kaskus style is a hub online
– The Javanese style used online in this debate is peripheral – But it establishes its own centrality
The rigid alignments of New Order discourse can be broken
On the internet, no-one knows you’re from Suroboyo
Identity as action We have looked at a periphery (relative to ….)
More freedom:
– Tie to ideology is weaker at periphery – Medium has affordances
Plural identity is a choice which can be accessed using different styles
– Logically via Indonesian (SR1) – Emotionally via Javanese (SR2)
• With implication that other groups could use their own language in the same way
On the internet, no-one knows you’re from Suroboyo