God is Not Dead, Poetry Save Him
by Okky Madasari
What is God? What is poetry?
Spirituality has been a main topic for poetry across Nusantara for centuries. Since the beginning of Malay poetry in the 16th century…
Pembantaian Ilmu Pengetahuan
oleh Okky Madasari
Dalam sejarah epistemologi, setidaknya ada empat peristiwa yang membentuk wajah ilmu pengetahuan hari ini. Empat peristiwa itu adalah penaklukan Andalusia, penemuan benua Amerika oleh Columbus, penculikan bangsa…
Sambat Ibu Pertiwi
Ibu,
Malam ini, 76 tahun lalu, Ibu Fat sedang menyelesaikan jahitannya, kain merah dan kain putih disambung, untuk jadi bendera pusaka. Malam ini, di sudut-sudut negeri, ada ibu yang sedang…
Tips Skripsi dari Okky Madasari
by Admin
Okky Madasari lulus kuliah paling cepat di antara teman-teman seangkatan saat kuliah S1 di HI UGM dan S2 Sosiologi UI. Ia tak setuju kalau "terlalu idealis" dijadikan kambing…
Apa itu Cinta? Kutipan Cinta Okky Madasari
Bagaimana kita mendefinisikan cinta akan selalu berubah seiring dengan perjalanan kesadaran dan pemikiran kita. Berikut ini pencarian makna cinta dalam karya-karya saya. - OM
"Apa itu cinta? Prek!" Cinta itu…
Kata-Kata Pahit untuk Kesehatan Jiwa
Hidup yang keras tak bisa dihadapi dengan kata-kata mutiara yang membuat terlena. Hidup yang keras butuh kata-kata pahit, serupa jamu yang membuat jiwa sehat dan kokoh. Semua kutipan ini dari…
7 Penyakit Pandemi dalam Fiksi
oleh: Okky Madasari
Cerita tentang pandemi telah hadir dalam karya fiksi sejak abad 19 hingga karya-karya yang lahir di tengah pandemi covid-19. Saya mencoba merumuskan 7 penyakit pandemi dari kacamata…
Bookfluencer Manifesto
by Okky Madasari
1. Media sosial adalah ruang publik yang harus dimanfaatkan, diintervensi, diperebutkan.
2. Kebisingan dan kedangkalan yang mendominasi media sosial harus diubah menjadi percakapan gagasan, ekspresi kreativitas, opini…

The Barbarism of the Masses
by: Okky Madasari
Spanish philosopher, Jose Ortega Gassett, in his seminal work Revolt of the Masses (1930) since the very beginning has raised awareness on and criticism against the power…

How Men Think
By: Okky Madasari
Through Ideology and Utopia (1929), considered as one of the most influential introduction to sociology of knowledge, Hungarian sociologist Karl Mannheim investigates how men think and how…

How Orientalism Works
By: Okky Madasari
Since Edward Said published his seminal work entitled Orientalism in 1978, the word “orientalism” has become a buzz, giving a key foundation to post-colonial studies to always question…

Questions of Power and Language
By: Okky Madasari
It is really not easy to understand Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak’s writings regardless of her brilliant ideas and influences – yet most of us seem to just pretend…

Understanding the Birth of Foucault’s Theories
By: Okky Madasari
What do I feel when closely reread Michel Foucault’s works, seven years after I first read his books in an attempt to finish my own thesis for…

Fanon and the Origin of Inferiority Complex
By: Okky Madasari
“Hate is not inborn; it has to be constantly cultivated, to be brought into being, in conflict with more or less recognized guilt complexes. Hate demands existence…

Konstruksi Duka Keluarga dalam Film dan Sastra
Oleh: Okky Madasari
Saya adalah penikmat film-film karya Angga Dwimas Sasongko. Angga memiliki kemampuan dalam menerjemahkan cerita dan gagasan ke dalam bahasa visual yang solid, memadukan antara kualitas estetika dan kesadaran…
Trials of fiction: We lose the battle again
by: Okky Madasari
A half century after the first defeat of the imagination of a short story in court, leading to the imprisonment of leading literature critic HB Jassin, we…
Sebuah Narasi Baru untuk Belu
Oleh: Okky Madasari
Saya menginjakkan kaki pertama kali di Belu pada bulan Oktober tahun 2016, tepat tiga tahun lalu. Saat itu, bekal pengetahuan yang saya punya hanyalah bahwa Belu…
From Ahok, Novel to Khashoggi: reason of our fear
by: Okky Madasari
For so long, I believed that courage was the only moral value that everybody should learn, adopt, apply in life. For so long, I believed that with…

A letter to Habermas
Dear Jurgen,
This is the first letter I have written for fifteen years. Since then, the letter as you and I know it has been forgotten, just like people have…
The Survival of Malay Fiction in Singapore
by: Okky Madasari
A room inside the Woodlands Regional Library is full of new and aspiring writers, as well as several established ones, on a Saturday afternoon. They’re discussing various…
Islam, Capitalism, and Literature
by: Okky Madasari
NEARLY SEVENTEEN YEARS after the fall of Suharto’s totalitarian New Order regime, Indonesia is a different nation, and many changes have taken place inside South-East Asia’s biggest…
Those massive lies in the national curriculum
by: Okky Madasari
So it’s the time of the year again, from the end of September to October. And again we can expect some ridiculous controversies on the nation’s darkest…
Hijab: Avoided subject on Children's Day
by: Okky Madasari
The most visible way of celebrating National Children’s Day, which falls on July 23, has been through ceremonies after ceremonies.
And then? That’s it…
We are neither 'kecebong' nor 'kampret' now
by: Okky Madasari
The last days before the closing of candidates for the president-vice president pairings made an enticing reality show full of surprise, tension, drama, disappointment and excitement, gluing…
Political mothers at their best – and worst
by: Okky Madasari
It’s the month for mothers in Indonesia!
Many efforts have been made to clarify the history of Dec. 22 — which the New Order…
Questioning Islamic label of books and films
by: Okky Madasari
Please come to Indonesia’s bookstores. You will find many volumes with an “Islamic Book” label filling up the bestseller corner. From fiction to non-fiction, from novel to…
Australia-Indonesia cultural relationship: Those who shaped our critical mind
by: Okky Madasari
As a novelist and also co-founder and program director of the ASEAN Literary Festival, it’s a shame that I know almost nothing about Australian literature. I’ve been…
Membaca Nh Dini Hari Ini
Oleh: Okky Madasari
Nh Dini telah mangkat. Ia pergi dengan meninggalkan puluhan karya yang tak akan pernah usang untuk dibaca dan dikaji oleh generasi hari ini dan generasi masa depan.…
The illusion of ASEAN and how literature can help
by: Okky Madasari
This month ASEAN celebrates its 49th anniversary. What does it mean for us?
For almost half a century, ASEAN has been a big illusion fed to all…
Fiction and our despair: A real story of real people
by: Okky Madasari
So, what does fiction mean?
This question returned to haunt my mind when someone asked me to write an introduction for her book based on a piece…
Wiji Thukul: A film alone won't be enough
by Okky Madasari
after Istirahatlah Kata-Kata (Solo, Solitude) has been watched by more than 43,000 people – a very good number for a film that only received very limited screenings in cinemas,…
Wiji Thukul: From Solo to Locarno
by: Okky Madasari
In August 1963, Wiji Thukul was born in Solo, Central Java. This August, 53 years later, a film based on his life was screened for the first…
Memasuki Jagat Sastra Malaysia lewat Lelaki yang Membunuh Kenangan
Oleh: Okky Madasari
Faisal Tehrani adalah nama besar di Malaysia, tapi masih cukup asing di Indonesia. Pun ketika tahun 2017 ia hadir di Jakarta dalam perhelatan ASEAN Literary Festival untuk…
Bahasa Korupsi: Rasa, Manipulasi, Hipokrisi
Oleh: Okky Madasari
Bahasa menguasai segenap aspek kehidupan kita. Dari percakapan manusia sehari-hari hingga beragam bentuk komunikasi resmi antar institusi. Bahasa menghasilkan narasi, fiksi, sejarah, kebenaran, hukum, pengetahuan, beragam makna…
On the road with José Ramos-Horta
by: Okky Madasari
“Have you ever imagined, if only Indonesia didn’t invade Timor Leste in 1975, would everything be very different now? Would your country be much better than it…
I hated gays, and they weren't real back then
by: Okky Madasari
Sometimes we hate something just because we don't understand it. This is exactly what happened to me when it comes to homosexuality.
Ten years…
Perang, Manusia, dan Kemanusiaan
Oleh: Okky Madasari
Saat itu tahun 1954. Ketika semangat revolusi masih bergemuruh di mana-mana, ketika dendam atas penjajahan masih membara, ketika luka dan kemarahan akibat agresi militer Belanda masih terasa.
…Tentang Individu dan Struktur yang Mengendalikannya
Oleh: Okky Madasari
Menonton film dokumenter The Act of Killing (Jagal) karya Joshua Oppenheimer mengubah persepsi dan pandangan saya pada pelaku pembantaian orang-orang yang dianggap komunis pasca peristiwa 30 September 1965. Ini…
Dinasti
Borders Bookstore, kawasan Orchard, Singapura, Jumat kedua November.
Saya menghabiskan siang yang diguyur hujan dengan membaca Mrs Kennedy : The Missing History of the Kennedy Years. Buku karya…