Subordinasi dan Sudut Pandang Perempuan Suku Malind Marga Mahuze dalam Film the Mahuzes (2015): a Feminist Standpoint Theory

Documentary films are one of the most suitable media to be used as a reference in seeing reality. Like the reality of subordination and women's point of view in The Mahuzes. In general, this film tells the story of the conflict that occurred between the Malind clan Mahuze in Merauke and corporations that entered their territory through the Merauke Integrated Food and Energy Estate (MIFEE) program, besides that there were horizontal conflicts between tribal members. This study aims to analyze the form of subordination and women's point of view seeing the problems of indigenous peoples dealing with corporations which are shown by the documentary film The Mahuzes in the perspective of Feminist Standpoint Theory. This study uses a qualitative approach and a critical paradigm by collecting data from various relevant sources. Events involving or relating to women were analyzed using three basic concepts of Feminist Standpoint Theory, namely standpoint, situated knowledge, and sexual division of labour. The results of the study indicate that women in The Mahuzes are a marginalized group, forced to take responsibility for the domestic space, and are limited to take part in the public sphere. Even so, they have a broad and comprehensive perspective in viewing horizontal conflicts between clan members and vertically between clans and corporations. Keywords: Subordinate; Feminist Standpoint; MIFEE; The Mahuze Abstrak: Film dokumenter menjadi salah satu media yang paling sesuai untuk dijadikan sebagai rujukan dalam melihat realitas. Seperti realitas subordinasi dan sudut pandang perempuan dalam The Mahuzes. Film ini, secara garis besar berkisah tentang konflik yang terjadi antara suku Malind marga Mahuze di Merauke dengan korporasi yang masuk ke wilayah mereka melalui program Merauke Integrated Food and Energy Estate (MIFEE), selain itu terdapat konflik horizontal antar anggota suku. Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk menganalisis bentuk subordinasi dan sudut pandang perempuan melihat permasalahan masyarakat adat berhadapan dengan korporasi yang ditampilkan oleh film dokumenter The Mahuzes dalam perspektif Feminist Standpoint Theory. Penelitian ini menggunakan pendekatan kualitatif dan paradigma kritis dengan mengumpulkan data dari berbagai sumber yang relevan. Agedan-agedan yang melibatkan atau berkaitan dengan perempuan dianalisis dengan menggunakan tiga konsep dasar Feminist Standpoint Theory, yaitu standpoint, situated knowledge, dan sexual division of labour. Hasil penelitian menunjukkan bahwa, perempuan dalam The Mahuzes merupakan kelompok yang terpinggirkan, dipaksa untuk bertanggung jawab pada ruang domestik, dan terbatas untuk berkiprah di ruang publik. Meskipun begitu, mereka memiliki sudut pandang yang luas dan menyeluruh dalam melihat konflik horizontal antar anggota marga maupun vertikal antara marga dan korporasi. Kata kunci: Subordinasi; Feminist Standpoint; MIFEE; The Mahuze

Problematising Testimony in Autobiographical Narratives by Dalit Women in the English Translation

Dalit autobiographical narratives are widely and habitually being categorised by critics as testimonios or sociobiographies, with an implication to be understood as representative life-stories. Because of the genre’s perceived emphasis on ‘authenticity’, ‘representation of collective suffering’, and immanent connotations of being a political genre of speech for the marginalised, scholars/critics of Dalit literature have been applying the term testimonio to describe autobiographical narratives, which has inadvertently led to a normativisation of the available modi of ‘truth production’ about Dalit lived experiences. The objective of this paper is to dispute the adulatory assessment of testimonio as a genre, by highlighting the instances where the relationship between the self and the community in autobiographical narratives by Dalit women appears uneasy, fraught with dissensus and problematic, when examined from a Dalit feminist standpoint. By looking into ways of reading agency in Karukku (2000), Sangati (2005), and Viramma, Life of an Untouchable (1997), beyond the true-false, victim-oppressor and Dalit-Savarna simplistic binaries, this paper enunciates the problematic implications of using the nomenclature testimonio for reading these autobiographical narratives translated in English. Further, it posits arguments for shifting the emphasis on the politics of language and narrative to avert the trappings of the genre.

The Integrated Neurophysiology of Emotions during Labour and Birth: a Feminist Standpoint Exploration of the Women's Perspectives of Labour Progress

<p>Within childbirth there is a common and widely known explanation of labour and birth which describes and defines the birth process as that of stages and phases. The boundaries between the stages and phases have been determined by cervical dilatation with time parameters set to measure progress. The measurement of cervical dilatation is determined by a health professional and has resulted in an apparent inability of women to determine themselves whether they are in labour and their closeness to the impending birth. The aims of this thesis were threefold; the first was to critically examine the knowledge base of labour progress, so that the influences on knowledge development were fully understood. Through exploring the historical and theoretical development I found that the current knowledge has come from a male understanding of female anatomy and observational data constructed within a discourse of male, medical, scientific superiority. The second aim of the thesis was to explore the perspectives of women who had experienced a spontaneous labour and birth in order to determine whether the discourse of labour as stages and phases resonated with them. This leads to the third aim of providing a description of the women’s voices and perspectives based on their experiential knowledge of spontaneous labour and birth. A critical feminist ontology and feminist standpoint methodology guided the research which used in-depth one-to-one interviews with 18 women who had experienced a spontaneous labour and birth. Early thematic analysis was developed further through feedback from the participants supporting a coconstruction of knowledge. Analysis revealed that women considered the stages and phases of labour to be an abstract concept which did not resonate with their experiences of labour and birth. An important aspect of labour was having support during the process, in terms of both emotional and physical support from midwives, partners, family and friends present during the labour and birth. Women’s perceptions were dominated by their feelings and a linear pattern of feelings was discerned consistently amongst the participants. The emotions of labour were an important finding in this research but during the feedback process the women requested a scientific foundation to support the findings. I therefore explored the recent advances in theoretical understanding of the role of emotion, cognition, physiology and behaviour. Contemporary theories define emotions and neurohormones as bi-directional and intricately linked to behaviour change and physiological adaptations. I argue that the feelings women have described give an indication of an underlying hormonal influence and a directing of behaviour, necessary for labour to move towards birth. The hormones involved in labour also support maternal behaviour and attachment to the baby. I suggest a new conceptual understanding of labour as the integration of the mind, body and behaviour in which the feelings and hormones that initiate and sustain labour to birth also support the necessary adaptation and transition to becoming a mother. This integrated neurophysiologic concept will help midwives and other health professionals involved in maternity to recognise emotions as a key to understanding physiological labour and birth. It has also highlighted the importance of emotional and physical support during labour. Further research is necessary to test the hypothesis that women experience a similar range of emotions at similar times during a spontaneous labour and birth and to what extent the described emotions resonate with other women’s experiences.</p>

The Integrated Neurophysiology of Emotions during Labour and Birth: a Feminist Standpoint Exploration of the Women's Perspectives of Labour Progress

<p>Within childbirth there is a common and widely known explanation of labour and birth which describes and defines the birth process as that of stages and phases. The boundaries between the stages and phases have been determined by cervical dilatation with time parameters set to measure progress. The measurement of cervical dilatation is determined by a health professional and has resulted in an apparent inability of women to determine themselves whether they are in labour and their closeness to the impending birth. The aims of this thesis were threefold; the first was to critically examine the knowledge base of labour progress, so that the influences on knowledge development were fully understood. Through exploring the historical and theoretical development I found that the current knowledge has come from a male understanding of female anatomy and observational data constructed within a discourse of male, medical, scientific superiority. The second aim of the thesis was to explore the perspectives of women who had experienced a spontaneous labour and birth in order to determine whether the discourse of labour as stages and phases resonated with them. This leads to the third aim of providing a description of the women’s voices and perspectives based on their experiential knowledge of spontaneous labour and birth. A critical feminist ontology and feminist standpoint methodology guided the research which used in-depth one-to-one interviews with 18 women who had experienced a spontaneous labour and birth. Early thematic analysis was developed further through feedback from the participants supporting a coconstruction of knowledge. Analysis revealed that women considered the stages and phases of labour to be an abstract concept which did not resonate with their experiences of labour and birth. An important aspect of labour was having support during the process, in terms of both emotional and physical support from midwives, partners, family and friends present during the labour and birth. Women’s perceptions were dominated by their feelings and a linear pattern of feelings was discerned consistently amongst the participants. The emotions of labour were an important finding in this research but during the feedback process the women requested a scientific foundation to support the findings. I therefore explored the recent advances in theoretical understanding of the role of emotion, cognition, physiology and behaviour. Contemporary theories define emotions and neurohormones as bi-directional and intricately linked to behaviour change and physiological adaptations. I argue that the feelings women have described give an indication of an underlying hormonal influence and a directing of behaviour, necessary for labour to move towards birth. The hormones involved in labour also support maternal behaviour and attachment to the baby. I suggest a new conceptual understanding of labour as the integration of the mind, body and behaviour in which the feelings and hormones that initiate and sustain labour to birth also support the necessary adaptation and transition to becoming a mother. This integrated neurophysiologic concept will help midwives and other health professionals involved in maternity to recognise emotions as a key to understanding physiological labour and birth. It has also highlighted the importance of emotional and physical support during labour. Further research is necessary to test the hypothesis that women experience a similar range of emotions at similar times during a spontaneous labour and birth and to what extent the described emotions resonate with other women’s experiences.</p>

Caught In-Between: Diversifying Tamil Women’s Voices From the Sri Lankan Civil War

This is an autoethnographic invitation to make space for different standpoints of women caught in war. This multi-genre project reflects on the standpoint of the author’s family as a female-led, female-only household in the capital of Sri Lanka amid the civil war. Grounded on the concept of ethnicity without groups and feminist standpoint theory, this piece adds to the often-homogenized voices of Tamil women. Using integrated crystallization to challenge the dichotomy of art and science, this layered piece weaves together storytelling and theory-based critique to open conversations about wholesome representation. The stories reveal the multichrome nature of ethnicities that often get painted as monochromes. The analyses highlight the intersectionality of women’s position and sound the alarm for possible marginalization within the marginalized through a unidimensional expression. The author invites more voices to diversify the standpoints of women caught in the Sri Lankan civil war and contribute to a more comprehensive reality of their experiences.

Sufism and the Sacred Feminine in Lombok, Indonesia: Situating Spirit Queen Dewi Anjani and Female Saints in Nahdlatul Wathan

This article is a feminist ethnographic exploration of how ‘indigenous’ notions of a ‘sacred feminine’ shape Sufi praxis on the island of Lombok in the eastern part of Indonesia in Southeast Asia. I demonstrate through long-term immersive anthropological fieldwork how in her indigenous form as Dewi Anjani ‘Spirit Queen of Jinn’ and as ‘Holy Saint of Allah’ who rules Lombok from Mount Rinjani, together with a living female saint and Murshida with whom she shares sacred kinship, these feminine beings shape the kind of Sufi praxis that has formed in the largest local Islamic organization in Lombok, Nahdlatul Wathan, and its Sufi order, Hizib Nahdlatul Wathan. Arguments are situated in a Sufi feminist standpoint, revealing how an active integration of indigeneity into understandings of mystical experience gives meaning to the sacred feminine in aspects of Sufi praxis in both complementary and hierarchical ways without challenging Islamic gender constructs that reproduce patriarchal expressions of Sufism and Islam.

Researching violent contexts: A call for political reflexivity

Violent contexts are not “normal” research settings; they involve abuses, power disparities, and collective histories of violence that researchers should be alert to. Being unreflexive to these risks can cause harm in the form of objectifying people and context, normalizing violence, or silencing voices. Political reflexivity can equip researchers to better identify, understand and mitigate these harms, and where possible, challenge structures that do the marginalizing. We articulate political reflexivity through feminist standpoint theory, which asks researchers to critically examine their positionality and privilege in relation to the geopolitics of the research setting, epistemic privilege of marginalized participants, and political implications of their work. Practicing political reflexivity can help researchers situate their work along a “decoloniality continuum,” which includes research complicit with the maintenance of violence, a hybridity approach that aims to understand and challenge the (colonial) underpinnings of violence by centering marginalized knowledge, and research that seeks reparation or liberation, meaning redress and radical equality for marginalized peoples, ideas and histories. We conclude with a call for researchers to identify methods and paths to strengthen our understanding of political reflexivity, and to support efforts to decolonize knowledge.

Psychologies of not Knowing

Social and liberation movements all over the world have acted on the premise that oppression is kept alive, among other ways, through psychological mechanisms. Feminist and critical race epistemologies such as “feminist standpoint theories” and “epistemological ignorance” suggest that there might be different forms of not knowing involved depending on the social location of the (not) knowing subject. In this paper we suggest that the concrete psychological mechanisms involved in not knowing or outright ignorance differ according to one’s position in the social fabric of oppression and privilege. Drawing on various critical psychological and psychoanalytic reflections, as well as interpreting selected passages from a group discussion among elderly retirement home residents in Vienna, we illustrate how social position is translated into lack of knowledge about systems of oppression and privilege