Problematising Representation in Popular Culture

Popular culture texts have always been ideological battlegrounds between multiple voices with imbalanced power relations. This edited volume aims to raise issues regarding the practice of representation in transnational popular culture, such as films, novels, comics, television series, or advertisements, from the perspective of Indonesian scholars. The 25 chapters that are divided into five sections, (1) Ethnic and Racial Identity, (2) (Dis)empowerement of the Feminine, (3) Redefining Masculinity, (4) Reflecting Social Issues and Power Relation, and (5) Political 'Othering,' problematize issues of cultural identity and oppression in the context of recent political upheavals in many parts of the world concerning identity politics. The goal is to constantly evaluate what we understand out of the everydayness of cultural interactions as they are captured and portrayed in texts. The scholars in this edited volume invite readers to open new conversations on how power works and how dominant ideology needs to be negotiated or even challenged by popular culture. Some chapters also problematize how popular culture texts are still utilized as vehicles for dominant ideologies to work in an affirmative way. All in all, the readings and interpretations of the works of representation in the chapters have built a non-Western scholarship providing alternative platforms of knowledge production in the humanities and social science.