Realizing the Dream of R. A. Kartini: Her Sisters' Letters from Colonial Java

ISBN-13: 9780896802537 / Angielski / Miękka / 2008 / 412 str.

Joost J. Cote

Opis

Realizing the Dream of R. A. Kartini: Her Sisters' Letters from Colonial Java presents a unique collection of documents reflecting the lives, attitudes, and politics of four Javanese women in the early twentieth century. Joost J. Cote translates the correspondence between Raden Ajeng Kartini, Indonesia's first feminist, and her sisters, revealing for the first time her sisters' contributions in defining and carrying out her ideals. With this collection, Cote aims to situate Kartini's sisters within the more famous Kartini narrative - and indirectly to situate Kartini herself within a broader narrative. The letters reveal the emotional lives of these modern women and their concerns for the welfare of their husbands and the success of their children in rapidly changing times. While by no means radical nationalists, and not yet extending their horizons to the possibility of an Indonesian nation, these members of a new middle class nevertheless confidently express their belief in their own national identity.