Earning a Doctorate in Cultural Studies, I Gusti Ayu Andani Pertiwi Brings Resistance to Patriarchal Domination in Japanese Novels

• Posted by: Admin
• Senin, 26 Mei 2025
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On Monday, May 26, 2025, the Doctoral Program in Cultural Studies, Faculty of Humanities, Udayana University held an open examination in the Ir. Soekarno Room, Poerbatjaraka Building, FIB Unud. Promovenda named I Gusti Ayu Andani Pertiwi, SS, M.Sc., is the 291st (two hundred and ninety-one) doctor in the Doctoral Program in Cultural Studies, FIB Unud, and the 247th (two hundred and forty-seventh) in the Faculty of Humanities, Udayana University. The dissertation presented by promovenda entitled, "Resistance to Patriarchal Domination in Japanese Novels of the Heisei Era (1989–2019)" describes resistance to patriarchal norms and gender issues in Japanese society. Promovenda successfully defended her dissertation and was declared to have graduated with cumlaude or with honors.

This study raises three main issues related to the causal factors, forms, and implications of patriarchal resistance, with the approach of deconstruction theory, feminism, and the social body as well as qualitative methods. This research is a qualitative research with a Cultural Studies perspective that focuses on literary works as cultural texts, which was carried out intensively from January 2023 to May 2025 and began with a literature study and mapping of gender discourse issues in Japanese literature as a conceptual foundation. The primary data sources for this study are original Japanese novels and their Indonesian translations of three novels, Out by Natsuo Kirino, Susu dan Telur Novel by Kawakami Mieko, and the Gadis Minimarket novel by Sayaka Murata.

The results show that the resistance that occurred was triggered by gender injustice, economic independence, and awareness of self-identity, with the main form being the rejection of traditional women's roles (entering public spaces, not being married) and Japanese social norms (murder, being a single mother, rejecting narrow beauty standards, and working part-time even though not married). The implications of this resistance include the emergence of women's awareness of their rights and agency, the creation of new meanings for women with multiple roles, women's solidarity that opposes patriarchal norms, and the emergence of alternative family models. From there, we can see the dynamics of the relationship between patriarchal structures and women's resistance efforts to achieve freedom both as individuals and as a society.

In the end, from this study, it was confirmed that the three novels not only function as a critique of patriarchy, but also as a medium of reflection on social change in Heisei-era Japan. In fact, the three novels succeeded in playing their roles as both a critique and a reflection of social change in Heisei-era Japan. Closing the exam, the promoter Dr. Ida Ayu Laksmita Sari, S.Hum., M.Hum., in her short speech, said that there are many studies on Japan in Indonesia, but there are still few that have been published as a book. Therefore, it would be a good idea and input if this dissertation was edited and published to become a book to enrich the rapidly developing Japanese studies in Indonesia.