Beyond Black and Gray

Abstract

Female performers in Indonesia have long held a socially ambiguous status—maligned for associations with sexual freedom and prostitution, or else revered for their mystical and supernatural powers. Often confined by negative labels, they negotiate identity somewhere between stereotypes attributed to them and one they desire for themselves. This chapter focuses on Waljinah, an Indonesian icon and keroncong’s most renowned vocalist. The trajectory of her career has coincided with an important era of modernization in Indonesia, especially as it searched for ways to unify its diverse population under a “national culture.” Keroncong, considered by early Indonesian nationalists to be a musical lingua franca bridging ethnic groups, continued to have an important role in the post-independence Sukarno era and subsequent New Order regime. As a popular female keroncong vocalist during this period, depictions of Waljinah in print media also reflected state sanctioned ideas about what constituted the “modern Indonesian woman.” This study explores how genderings and gender ideologies were employed through specific types of language and discourse to create differing images of Waljinah while discussing tactics she has used manage and control how she is portrayed in the mass media.