Julia Suryakusuma
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Julia Suryakusuma | |
|---|---|
| Born | 19 July 1954 New Delhi, India |
| Occupations | Feminist, writer |
| Spouses | |
Julia Indiati Suryakusuma (born 19 July 1954) is an Indonesian feminist, journalist, and author. She is known for her outspoken writing on sexuality, gender, politics and religion. She has been described as Indonesia's most provocative columnist.[1]
The daughter of an Indonesian diplomat, Julia grew up in India (1954–56), Indonesia (1956–60), England (1960–62), Hungary (1962–64), Indonesia again (1965–68) and Italy (1968–71).[2]
Julia attended schools in England and Hungary, in addition to Sumbangsih School in Setiabudi, South Jakarta. She studied psychology at the University of Indonesia (1974–76) and obtained a BSc. Honours in sociology from City University, London (1979), and an MSc in the politics of developing societies at the Institute of Social Studies, The Hague, (1988).[3]
Writing
Julia's 1988 thesis was titled State Ibuism: The Social Construction of Womanhood in the Indonesian New Order. It examined how the Suharto regime sought to control society by defining women as wives and mothers.[4] This thesis was deemed subversive by the Indonesian government, and Suryakusuma was detained by the State Intelligence Agency. Writing in 2011, she attributed her release to a defense given by her former lecturer, Saparinah Sadli.[5] In 2011, the thesis was published in a bilingual edition, in the original English and an Indonesian translation.[4]
As Indonesia entered its post-Suharto reformation era, Julia in 1999 founded the Indonesian Political Almanac Foundation (Yayasan API), which published the Almanac of Indonesian Political Parties (1999) and the Indonesian Parliament Guide (2001).[6]
Since 2006, Julia has written newspaper and magazine columns in English, mostly for The Jakarta Post newspaper and Tempo weekly news magazine.[7] A collection of her columns was published in 2013 as Julia's Jihad: Tales of the Politically, Sexually, and Religiously Incorrect: Living in the Chaos of the Biggest Muslim Democracy.
She is also the author of Sex, Power and Nation: an Anthology of Writings, 1979–2003 (Metafor, 2004).[8]
