Vol. 6 No. 1 (2024)
January-June 2024
In this edition, AIJOSH brings together seven scholarly articles that interrogate pressing socio-humanistic issues through the lenses of law, politics, culture, history, labor, digital media, and literary studies. Traversing themes from rural governance in Indonesia to cross-cultural mythmaking in contemporary literature, this issue reflects the journal’s commitment to promoting critical dialogues that are locally grounded yet globally resonant.
We open with Asrinaldi’s inquiry into the Problems of Implementing Village Origin Rights in Indonesia. His article sheds light on the challenges faced in realizing constitutional mandates concerning adat-based authority within Indonesia’s decentralized governance framework. By situating the debate in the context of bureaucratic inertia and legal ambiguity, the study calls for clearer institutional arrangements to protect indigenous political identity.
Suryo Adi Sahfutra then guides us into the realm of political theory by re-examining Bhikhu Parekh’s thought on multiculturalism. Rather than treating multiculturalism as merely a policy response, the article explores its philosophical depth—highlighting Parekh’s emphasis on dialogical mutual recognition and cultural pluralism as essential ingredients in constructing inclusive democratic societies.
Shifting to the gendered politics of the past, Mutiah Amini investigates The Social Responsibility of Women during the New Order. Through a discourse analysis of women’s magazines and state narratives, she uncovers how Suharto’s regime co-opted traditional gender norms to domesticate women’s public roles under the guise of national development, revealing deep tensions between modernity and patriarchy.
Syaiful Anwar offers a historical analysis of the acceptance and rejection of Parmalim beliefs in Batak society. Using colonial and postcolonial records, the study unpacks how this indigenous religion has been alternately marginalized and contested within the broader narrative of national religious identity—highlighting the resilience of belief systems in the face of socio-political exclusion.
In a powerful socio-historical reconstruction, Anatona reconsiders the status of contract coolies in colonial East Sumatra, asking whether their conditions resembled slavery in practice if not in law. Her archival research draws attention to the exploitative nature of the Koeli Ordonantie and offers a sharp critique of colonial capitalism disguised as labor regulation.
Meanwhile, Qinqin Liu turns our attention to the digital sphere in China through her study on the intrinsic motivation of fansub groups. By analyzing user-generated content and community discussions on Zhihu, Weibo, and Douban, the article reveals a complex interplay between cultural passion, copyright infringement, and civic resistance in the age of digital globalization.
Closing this issue is Rika Handayani and Resty Maudina Septiani’s intertextual reading of Ayu Utami’s novel Cerita Cinta Enrico, the Indonesian legend of Sangkuriang, and the Greek myth of Oedipus. By tracing the Oedipal undertones and hypogrammatic relationships across these narratives, the authors demonstrate how literature bridges distant cultural legacies to comment on identity, desire, and political trauma in post-authoritarian Indonesia.
Together, these articles enrich our understanding of the socio-humanities by exploring how individuals and communities negotiate authority, identity, and memory across institutional, historical, and transnational contexts. We thank all contributors for their rigorous scholarship and critical insights.
Editor-in-Chief
