Javanese Women’s Political Discourse in Response to the 2019 Indonesian General Election

Abstract

This article aims to explain Javanese women’s political discourse in response to the various conflicts that arose from the 2019 Indonesian General Election. This study focuses on the political discourse among Javanese women in response to the electoral issues. It employed observation and in-depth interviews in its data collecting technique. Fairclough’s critical discourse analysis model was used to analyze the data with reference to the textual, discourse practice, and sociocultural dimensions. The findings revealed that the political discourse of Javanese women is inseparable from the boundaries of the Javanese language and the cultural context. The textual analysis revealed that positive and negative sentiments about the presidential and vice presidential candidates dominated the discourse. A discourse practice analysis was then interpreted through four dimensions, namely (i) What is going on?, (ii) Who is involved?, (iii) What relationships are at issue?, and (vi) What is the role of language? Furthermore, a sociocultural analysis attempted to connect the Javanese women’s discourse practices with the sociocultural context. The use of traditional Javanese idioms as a cultural norm confirmed how local Javanese wisdom showed in the political conversation among the Javanese women, thus mitigating any negative effects.