Date of Graduation

5-2020

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy in Anthropology (PhD)

Degree Level

Graduate

Department

Anthropology

Advisor/Mentor

Jonathan S. Marion

Committee Member

JoAnn D'Alisera

Second Committee Member

Ram Natarajan

Third Committee Member

Brent Luvaas

Keywords

Anarchism, DIY, Indonesia, Punk, Resistance, Southeast Asian Studies, Visual Anthropology

Abstract

Amidst a current resurgence of hypernationalism across the globe, resistance movements and counterhegemonic ideologies are becoming increasingly visible and more common elements of broader socio-political discourses. While high-profile protests have ignited public interest in resistance movements—turning relatively unknown groups such as Antifa and Black Bloc into household names—little attention has been paid to the behind-the-scenes networks undergirding many of these organizations. Translocal do-it-yourself (DIY) punk rock networks are spaces in which alternative and subversive ideologies are enacted through the everyday implementation of anarchist philosophies and DIY ethics. Here, ‘under the radar’ modes of resistance are found in the lived realities, subjectivities, and transnational interactions of punks. Indonesia’s burgeoning punk scenes offer fertile ground for the exploration of such forms of resistance, and the nation’s status as a post-authoritarian, emergent democracy amplifies the ramifications of their enaction.

Based on fieldwork conducted with a punk rock anarchist collective in Bandung, Indonesia, this dissertation considers the implications of DIY and anarchist ethics enacted through both routine interactions and global translocality. I argue that anarcho-punks in Bandung are resisting hegemonic power dynamics, in part, through co-opting the very structures they seek to circumvent. Taking the ideologies and epistemologies of those with whom I worked seriously, this work incorporates anarchist anthropology as both a theoretical and methodological imperative. I demonstrate that using a perspective that does not privilege the primacy of the ‘State’ reveals the formation of translocal identity as challenging and reshaping dominant sociopolitical and socioeconomic power.

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