Sasdaya: Gadjah Mada Journal of Humanities

‘I don’t like K-pop, only JYJ-pop’: Disenchanted Pop Cosmopolitans in Transnational K-pop Online Fandom

2026-03-27T10:51:14+07:00

K-pop has gained considerable traction not only throughout East and Southeast Asia but also across European and American fandom, thereby integrating these audiences into what Henry Jenkins describes as “pop cosmopolitanism”. Based on an online ethnographic study conducted in 2012 involving fourteen fans who regularly participated in JYJ3, a fan-operated website dedicated to the K-pop group JYJ, this paper investigates how fans construct their identities as part of a transnational modern community while simultaneously cultivating moral discernment. Drawing on Hannerz’s concept of “cosmopolitan” and Jenkins’s notion of “pop cosmopolitan,” the analysis demonstrates how transnational fans leverage their exposure to diverse cultural and social contexts in their processes of self-fashioning, both culturally and morally. The findings indicate that fans’ engagement with JYJ transcends mere aesthetics or eclectic preferences. Instead, their attachment is influenced by a reflexive awareness of the industry’s “manufacturedness,” JYJ’s role as underdogs, and the moral and emotional responsibilities fans perceive toward the group. Through participation in JYJ3, fans negotiate the significance of caring for, protecting, or distancing themselves from idols and fandom, with these negotiations becoming central to their self-understanding as cosmopolitan subjects. These negotiations become central to how they understand themselves as cosmopolitan subjects. This study suggests that global pop culture fandom – within K-pop and beyond – is increasingly driven by moral work. It advocates for expanding analyses of pop cosmopolitanism to encompass the nuanced moral work through which fans navigate evolving expectations of care and responsibility within networked fan cultures.

Dunia Majapahit dalam Hikayat Hang Tuah: Kajian Sastra Perjalanan Carl Thompson

2026-04-09T09:09:00+07:00

This paper will discuss the depiction of the world, representation of others, and agenda in the Hikayat Hang Tuah text, episode of the journey to Majapahit. Hang Tuah's journey to Majapahit is the most significant episode narrated in the Hikayat Hang Tuah text. The author of the Hikayat Hang Tuah text not only reports on the depiction of the world in terms of landscapes and places, but also the people of Majapahit. The depiction of the world of Majapahit through the perspective of the Malay author is interesting to study because it reveals the hidden agenda within it. The Hikayat Hang Tuah text used in the field of research is the edited text by Kassim Ahmad. Meanwhile, Carl Thompson's travel literature, which focuses on world depictions, representations of others, and agendas, is the material object of this paper. This study uses a descriptive analytical method that describes facts followed by analysis and interpretation. The data in this study consists of a series of words or quotations in the form of narratives and dialogues that describe the depiction of the world, the representation of others, and the agenda. Based on the results of the analysis, it was found that the depiction of the world in the form of landscapes, places, and people is both objective and subjective. Based on the analysis of the depiction of the world and the representation of others, the agenda is revealed in the form of ethical and political implications.

Representasi Kemiskinan dalam Novel Teruslah Bodoh Jangan Pintar Karya Tere Liye

2026-06-30T14:42:13+07:00

This research examines the representation of poverty in the novel Teruslah Bodoh Jangan Pintar by Tere Liye. The research focuses on identifying forms of poverty using Robert Chambers' theory of poverty. The method used is a qualitative descriptive approach with content analysis, based on an in-depth reading of the novel. The research results show that the novel portrays poverty as a multidimensional issue encompassing material poverty, physical weakness, isolation, vulnerability in emergency situations, and powerlessness. These representations are revealed through the depiction of characters, social conflicts, and the impacts of environmental exploitation resulting from mining activities that oppress local communities.This research affirms the novel's important role as a medium of social expression that goes beyond mere entertainment. The novel is positioned as a narrative that reflects social dynamics while also serving as a medium for critiquing the structural inequality and injustice experienced by marginalized communities. By examining the representation of poverty in literary works, this study enriches discourse by presenting critical perspectives on the relationship between literary texts and the social realities that underlie them. The findings of this research have practical relevance for developing literature-based teaching materials that are sensitive to social issues and can serve as an educational medium for readers to understand the complex dimensions of poverty portrayed in contemporary Indonesian literary works.