Punk Worlding: An Alternative Framework for Anarcho-Punk Culture in Indonesia

Abstract

Soon after its inception in the mid-1970s punk became a global cultural phenomenon, with scenes emerging in places far removed from its points of origin in the US and UK. Today, Indonesia is home to some of the largest punk scenes in the world. Scholarship on punk in Indonesia has noted the scenes’ international connections but often positions them at the margins of the global punk cultural economy. Utilising ethnographic research conducted with an anarcho-punk collective in the city of Bandung, this article demonstrates that scenes in Indonesia are at the centre of contemporary global punk. Punks create worlds through global connections that transcend and resist the conditions imposed by pervasive power dynamics. This article introduces the concept of ‘punk worlding’ as a framework for engaging with global punk scenes in ways that privilege insider epistemologies and ethics.