Can the State Listen? Reading Spivak in Indonesia’s Dark Protest 2025
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.35879/jik.v19i3.692Keywords:
subaltern, representation, epistemic violence, cultural studies, ethics of listeningAbstract
Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak's classic question, "Can the subaltern speak?" challenges not only the silence produced by colonialism and patriarchy, but also the way modern academic discourse establishes representations of "the other" as a technique of knowledge governance. This article revisits Spivak's argument and the subsequent reflections compiled by Rosalind C. Morris, then integrates them with the contemporary Indonesian context, particularly in the "Indonesia Gelap 2025" demonstration. Using a Cultural Studies approach and a hermeneutic-deconstructive framework, this paper examines how subaltern voices, which often appear as traces, cracks, or performances, attempt to negotiate audibility amid established representational apparatus. The main arguments of this article are: (1) subalternity is not an essential category, but rather a position in power relations that closes access to audibility; (2) "speaking" is not merely a vocal action, but rather an event of recognition in a discursive field that is often curated by the dominant party; (3) in the context of "Indonesia Gelap 2025," various symbolic, performative, and curatorial strategies (ranging from slogans, mass choreography, to happening art) reveal the politics of hearing: who has the right to hear, interpret, and decide. In turn, this article proposes an ethics of listening that transforms the scheme of "giving voice" into a practice of reading-listening that is sensitive to the unspeakable, thus opening up the possibility for subaltern agents to "speak back" without being immediately co-opted by the dominant voice.Downloads
References
Ahmed, S. (2014). The cultural politics of emotion (2nd ed.). Edinburgh University Press. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203700372
Baudrillard, J. (1994). Simulacra and simulation. University of Michigan Press.
Bhabha, H. K. (1994). The location of culture. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203820551
Bourdieu, P. (1984). Distinction: A social critique of the judgement of taste. Harvard University Press.
Bourdieu, P. (1990). The logic of practice. Stanford University Press.
Bourdieu, P., & Wacquant, L. J. D. (1992). An invitation to reflexive sociology. University of Chicago Press.
Butler, J. (1997). The psychic life of power: Theories in subjection. Stanford University Press.
Butler, J. (2015). Notes toward a performative theory of assembly. Harvard University Press. https://doi.org/10.4159/9780674495548
Canguilhem, G. (1991). The normal and the pathological. Zone Books.
Debord, G. (1994). The society of the spectacle. Zone Books.
Deleuze, G., & Guattari, F. (1987). A thousand plateaus: Capitalism and schizophrenia. University of Minnesota Press.
Fanon, F. (1967). Black skin, white masks. Grove Press.
Földényi, L. F. (2016). Melancholy. Yale University Press. https://doi.org/10.12987/9780300220583
Fraser, N. (1990). Rethinking the public sphere: A contribution to the critique of actually existing democracy. Social Text, (25/26), 56–80. https://doi.org/10.2307/466240
Gilroy, P. (2004). Postcolonial melancholia. Columbia University Press.
Habermas, J. (1989). The structural transformation of the public sphere: An inquiry into a category of bourgeois society (T. Burger, Trans.). MIT Press. (Original work published 1962). https://doi.org/10.7551/mitpress/5260.001.0001
Kompas.com. (2025, February 18). Ribuan warga nyalakan lilin dalam aksi “Indonesia Gelap 2025” di Yogyakarta. https://www.kompas.com/
Magnis-Suseno, F. (1984). Etika Jawa: Sebuah analisa falsafi tentang kebijaksanaan hidup Jawa. Gramedia.
Maitland, S. (2012). A book of silence. Granta Books.
Negara, Z. S. (Ed.). (2013). Jiwa ketok dan kebangsaan: S. Sudjojono, Persagi, dan kita. Galeri Nasional Indonesia.
Rosa, H. (2019). Resonance: A sociology of our relationship to the world. Polity Press. https://doi.org/10.1515/9781509519932
Rosidi, A. (1982). Pelukis S. Sudjojono. Pustaka Jaya.
Said, E. W. (1978). Orientalism. Pantheon Books.
Shaviro, S. (2012). Melancholia, or, the romantic anti-sublime. Sequence Press. https://doi.org/10.5040/9781501351226
Spivak, G. C. (1988). Can the subaltern speak? In C. Nelson & L. Grossberg (Eds.), Marxism and the interpretation of culture (pp. 271–313). University of Illinois Press. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-19059-1_20
Spivak, G. C. (2010). Can the subaltern speak? Reflections on the history of an idea. In R. C. Morris (Ed.), Can the subaltern speak? Reflections on the history of an idea (pp. 21–78). Columbia University Press.
Tempo.co. (2025, February 19). Polisi dan warga gelar doa bersama dalam aksi damai “Indonesia Gelap 2025”. https://www.tempo.co/
Tyler, I. (2013). Revolting subjects: Social abjection and resistance in neoliberal Britain. Zed Books. https://doi.org/10.5040/9781350222364
Wilson, S. (2001). Information arts: Intersections of art, science, and technology. MIT Press.
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2025 Jurnal Ilmu Kepolisian
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
