Representasi perempuan dalam transisi kekuasaan pendudukan Jepang di Indonesia pada media massa

Abstract

The transition from Dutch colonial rule to Japanese occupation in Indonesia in the early 1940s marked a profound ideological and political rupture. Beyond military conquest, the Japanese regime consolidated authority through cultural and symbolic strategies, particularly by mobilizing mass media as wartime propaganda. This study examines how colonial media reshaped representations of Indonesian women during the occupation. Using historical research methods, including source criticism and contextual analysis, this study applies Stuart Hall’s theory of representation to examine meaning production in colonial discourse. The analysis focuses on two official magazines, Poestaka Timoer and Djawa Baroe, which functioned as key media platforms under Japanese administration. The findings reveal a systematic ideological transformation in representations of Indonesian women, who were rearticulated as disciplined, loyal, and productive colonial subjects aligned with imperial objectives. These images were constructed through coordinated textual and visual narratives promoting new norms of femininity that supported wartime mobilization and governance.