The Administering of the Bodies and Sexuality of Javanese Women Migrants in Early Twentieth Century New Caledonia
Penulis/Author
Prof. Dr. Wening Udasmoro, S.S., M.Hum., DEA (1); Prof. Dr. Setiadi, S.Sos., M.Si. (2); Dr. Aprillia Firmonasari, S.S., M.Hum., DEA. (3); Dr. Merry Andriani, S.S., M.L.C.S. (4); Dr. Arifah Arum Candra Hayuningsih, S.S., M.A. (5)
Tanggal/Date
2023
Kata Kunci/Keyword
Abstrak/Abstract
Since their arrival on the island in 1896, the Javanese diaspora in New Caledonia
has been regarded as the group that has been most accommodating to the French Pacific
ruler. Politically, they have never coordinated any resistance campaign. Socially, they have
been able to coexist peacefully with different ethnic groups, including the Europeans, the
Kanaks (Melanesians), and the Wallis (Polynesians). From the economic standpoint, they are
still praised for their hard work as laborers in the plantations and mines in the past. While
Europeans and other ethnic groups appreciate their presence on this island, historically the
Javanese diaspora was a vulnerable community whose physical bodies and sexuality were
administratively regulated by the French colonial ruler. This study intends to investigate how
the female Javanese koeli kontrak (contract laborers) were controlled in terms of their bodies
and sexuality in past French colonial projects in New Caledonia. The novel La Bayou: de
Djakarta à Nouméa by Liliane Saintomer and the personal and familial historical accounts of
a New Caledonian Javanese descendant, Catherine Adi, served as the sources for the study’s
data. Adi narrates the stories of her ancestors, on both her mother’s and father’s sides, who
arrived on this island as contract laborers. This study used content analysis as a method to
identify the connections between the writers’ micro narratives and the social and political
circumstances that existed in New Caledonia during the time of the colonial period at the
beginning of the twentieth century.
