Redefining of the concept of a migrant housemaid in Ali's Minah Tetap Dipancung

Tatang Iskarna, Sanata Dharma Unversity, Indonesia

Abstract


This article explores diasporic problems faced by an Indonesian migrant housemaid working in Saudi Arabia, presented in Denny J. Ali's essay poem "Minah Tetap Dipancung" or "Minah is determined to be beheaded" (2012). This article uses diasporic literary criticism and poetry explication to reveal her tricky situation, struggle against oppression, and voice of hope concerning her profession. The analysis shows that Minah experiences disillusionment. She is oppressed, abused, and alienated because of the cultural barrier. However, Minah resists class and gender-based subjugation. Although she is helpless and determined to face the death sentence, she stands for her dignity. This poem also voices the need to redefine the concept of a migrant housemaid. Government and migrant worker stakeholders should set political will for improving the condition of migrant woman workers, especially legal protection, advocacy, and treatment as professional workers free from cultural bias in the destination country. A migrant housemaid is not merely an informal and private worker that the employer can treat as property arbitrarily. This poem advocates redefining her as a professional worker viewed from a broader cultural perspective, protected before the law, and provided with appropriate rights and advocacy.

 

Keywords: migrant worker, diasporic problems, diasporic literary criticism, class-gender subjugation


Keywords


migrant worker; diasporic problems; diasporic literary criticism; class-gender subjugation

Full Text:

PDF

References


Ali. (2012). Puisi esei: apa dan mengapa. Jurnal Sajak, 3(3), 68-75. https://123dok.com/document/zwox020y-jurnal-sajak-puisi-esai.html.

Ali, D. J. (2012). Atas nama cinta. Jakarta: Renebook.

Amalia, I. (2021). Representasi praktek perbudakan dan penindasan dalam puisi "Negro" karya Langston Hughes: Sebuah kajian pascakolonial. Diksi, 29(1), 51-59. doi: https://doi.org/10.21831/diksi.v29i1.33250.

Boehmer, E. (2005). Colonial and postcolonial literature. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

BP2MI. (2021). Data penempatan pekerja migran Indonesia 2021.https://bp2mi.go.id/statistik-detail/data-penempatan-dan-pelindungan-pmi-periode-november-tahun-2021

Castles, S., Haas, H., & Miller, M. (2014). The age of migration: International population movement in the modern world (5 ed.). London: Palgrave Macmillan.

Chan, C. (2014). Gender morality and development narratives: The case of female labour migration from Indonesia. Sustainabilit y(10), 6949-6972. doi: https://doi.org/10.3390/su6106949.

Clifford, J. (1997). Travel and translation in the 20th century. Harvard: Harvard University Press.

Cohen, R. (2008). Global diaspora (2 ed.). London: UCL Press. Retrieved from https://www.academia.edu/8762589/Global_diasporas_an_introduction_Revised_edition_2008_

Constable, N. (2019). Maids, mistresses, and wives: Rethinking kinship and domestic sphere in the twenty-first century global Hongkong. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. doi:https://doi.org/10.1017/9781139644938.016

Cuban, S., & Fowler, C. (2012). Carers cruising cumbria and meals on the mile: The drive of migrants in fieldwork and fiction. Mobilities, 7(2), 295-315. doi:https://doi.org/10.1080/17450101.2012.654998

Effendi, A. (2000). Aspek emosi dalam puisi. Diksi, 7(18), 49-59. doi: https://doi.org/10.21831/diksi.v7i18.7089

Fatimah, S., Ngatmini, & Kurniawan. (2021). The poetry's potencies as emotion therapy media in society. Diksi, 29(1), 30-40. doi:https://doi.org/10.21831/diksi.v29i1.33204

Hanscom, C. P. (2019). The return of the real in South Korean fiction. Acta Koreana, 22(1), 1-16. doi:https://doi.org/10.18399/acta.2019.22.1.001

ILO. (2022). International Labour Organization. Retrieved February 1, 2022, from www.ilo.org: https://www.ilo.org/global/topics/domestic-workers/who/lang--en/index.htm

Kafle, H. R. (2010). Diaspora studies: Roots and critical dimensions. Bodhi: An Interdisciplinary Journal, 4(1), 136-149. doi:https://doi.org/10.3126/bodhi.v4i1.5815

Lee, S. (1966). Theory of migration. Demography, 3(1), 47-57. doi:https://doi.org/10.2307/2060063

Massey, D. (2019). The political economy of migration in an era of globalization. In S. Martinez, International migration and human right: The global repercussions of U.S. policy (pp. 25-43). Berkeley: The University of California Press. doi:https://doi.org/10.1525/9780520942578-003

Maxwell, D. (2014). Migration, disilusionment, and diasporic experiences in Segun's Afolabi's Goodbye to Lucille and A Life Elswhere. International Journal of English and Literature, 5(9), 250-256. doi:http://doi.org/10.5897/IJEL2014.0442

Mikics, D. (2007). A new handbook of literary terms. New Haven: Yale University Press.

Mishra, S. (2006). Diaspora criticism. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.

Murfin, R., & Ray, S. (2003). Bedford glosarry of critical and literary terms. Boston: Bedford.

Noredam, M., & Agyemang, C. (2019). Tackling the health challenges of international migrant workers.

Nuraeny, H. (2017). Trafficking of migrant workers in Indonesia: A legal enforcement and economic perspective of prevention and protection efforts. European Research Studies Journal, 20(4b), 16-26. Retrieved from https://www.ersj.eu/dmdocuments/2017-xx-4-b-2.pdf

Padmanugraha, A. (2007). Woman's values in society as reflected in Marge Piercy's Barbie Doll. Diksi, 14(1), 48-56. doi:https://doi.org/10.21831/diksi.v14i1.6547

Puspitasari, I. (2021). Combating modern slavery: The strategy of Indonesian government to protect migrant workers. Global Focus, 1(1), 23-37. doi:https:// doi:10.21776/ub.jgf.2021.001.01.2

Raharto, A., & Noveria, M. (2012). Advocacy groups for Indoensian woman migrant workers' protection. Jurnal Kependudukan Indonesia, 7(1), 1-17. DOI: https://doi.org/10.14203/jki.v7i1.80

Rahmadi, P. (2021). Perpektif makna cinta dalam kumpulan puisi esai Atas Nama Cinta karya Denny JA. Diligentia: Journal of Theology and Christian Education, 3(2). doi: doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.19166/dil.v3i2.3564

Safran, W. (2011). Diaspora in modern societies: Myths of homeland and return. Diaspora: A Journal of Transnational Studies, 1(1), 83-99. doi:http://doi:10.1353/dsp.1991.0004

Septiadi, A. (2017). Diskriminasi sosial dalam antologi puisi esai Atas nama cinta. Jurnal Pendidikan, Kebahasaan, dan Kesusastraan Indonesia, 1(2), 1-13. Retrieved from https://jurnal.unma.ac.id/index.php/dl/article/view/611/579

Sopyan, Y., Fitria, & Hidayatulloh. (2020). The acces to justice for Indonesian migrant workers in Malaysia, Saudi Arabia, and Hongkong. International of Advanced Science and Technology, 29(4), 95-108. Retrieved from http://sersc.org/journals/index.php/IJAST/article/view/4040

Stark, O., & Bloom, D. (1985). The New Economics of Labor Migration. The American Economic Review, 75(2), 173-178. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/1805591

Sukamdi. (2007). Memahami migrasi pekerja Indonesia ke luar negeri. Populasi, 18(2), 115-128. doi: https://doi.org/10.22146/jp.12079

Tal. (2015). Female migrant domestic workers, forgotten segment of forced labor: evidence from Jordan. Journal of Resources and Development, 7(1), 812. https://www.iiste.org/Journals/index.php/JRDM/article/view/21749/21877

Young, E. (1984). Migrasi. In D. Lucas, Pengantar kependudukan. Yogyakarta: Gadjah Mada University Press.




DOI: https://doi.org/10.21831/diksi.v30i1.46683

Refbacks

  • There are currently no refbacks.


Copyright (c) 2022 Tatang Iskarna

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

 

Jurnal Diksi is published by Faculty of Languages, Arts, and Culture, Universitas Negeri Yogyakarta. It is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. Based on a work at http://journal.uny.ac.id/index.php/diksi

 

Our Journal has been Indexed by:

  

  

   

Diksi Journal is published by the Faculty of Languages, Arts, and Culture Universitas Negeri Yogyakarta in collaboration with Himpunan Sarjana Kesusasteraan Indonesia (HISKI)

Supervised by:


 
Translator
 
View My Stats