Lakon : Jurnal Kajian Sastra dan Budaya

Towards an Edupreneurial Indonesian Higher Education

2025-06-30T13:51:50+07:00

This paper explores the rise of edupreneurial culturepreneurship within Indonesian higher education institutions (HEIs), where students and faculty transform cultural production into entrepreneurial ventures, and intertwine entrepreneurial motivation with cultural a/effect. Drawing on publicly available data—university programs, national student entrepreneurship schemes, and online cultural initiatives—this study maps how Indonesian HEIs serve as incubators for creative economic activity. Case studies include Ritus Liyan initiative, ISI Yogyakarta’s art commercialization programs, and Universitas Ciputra’s entrepreneurial mindset. Findings reveal both opportunities and tensions in merging artistic expression with business models. The growing acknowledgement of entrepreneurial significance in multidisciplinary level, however, is not properly manifested with echo of Cultural (with big C) sensitivity. “Culture” serves as a paradigmatic underpinning that reminds entrepreneurs to go beyond numerical and/or quantitative profit as the sole indicator of success. Thus, this study contributes a framework for understanding universities as agents of cultural innovation in Indonesia’s evolving creative economy landscape and critiquing the semantic banality of the term ‘Entrepreneurship’.

From Code to Culture: A Semiotic Analysis of Digital Resistance in Indonesian Open-Source Communities

2025-06-30T20:59:45+07:00

This article builds on a study of the BlankOn Linux movement in Indonesia, examining how local open-source communities perform digital resistance through semiotic and ideological practices. Using Roland Barthes’ semiotic theory, Stuart Hall’s representation theory, and Antonio Gramsci’s concept of hegemony, the research analyzes community-produced artifacts, logos, naming conventions, website design, and documentation to uncover how they encode counter-hegemonic meanings. Data were collected through image analysis, discourse analysis of digital texts, and email interviews with community members. Findings show that BlankOn fuses local-nationalist values, such as the promotion of the Indonesian language and cultural identity, with global open-source principles like gift culture and collaborative production. This hybrid identity challenges the dominance of proprietary software ecosystems, positioning the movement as both a technological innovator and a cultural-political actor. The analysis reveals that resistance in BlankOn is enacted less through direct confrontation and more via symbolic strategies that naturalize alternative technological ideologies.

Gendered Power Relations in the Language of Wayang Topeng Malangan in the Play Panji Dalang Patah Kuda Narawangsa, Kedungmonggo, Malang Regency

2025-06-25T11:24:12+07:00

The Wayang Topeng Malang performance titled Dhalang Patah Kuda Narawangsa is one of the unique plays staged by Padepokan Asmarabangun, alongside Ronggeng Rara Jiwa – Rara Tangis. This play presents peculiarities surrounding gender fluidity, which influence the power relations among characters through the dialogues delivered. To further explore this notion, this study employs Connell’s theory of gender hegemony as the primary analytical tool, and Peirce’s semiotics theory as a supporting framework to examine the language used through discourse analysis. In doing so, it contributes to the field of Linguistic Anthropology. This study aims to document the Wayang Topeng Malangan performance and investigate the systems and forms of power embedded within it through linguistic practices. The research shows that the language used constructs a system of masculine power when interacting with characters that present as either masculine or feminine. This practice creates hegemony by rejecting heterogeneous expressions of masculinity and their constitutive elements. Thus, gendered power emerges through linguistic choices—particularly those that convey emotional detachment and aggressiveness. Gendered power relations in the form of hegemony are present in both private spaces, such as the household, and public spaces, such as governance. The more frequent the enactment of power in these spaces, the greater the scale of masculinity that is produced.

Dark Fantasy in Neil Gaiman's Coraline

2025-06-30T21:09:32+07:00

In the early 21st century, technology paranoia, a negative aspect of technological growth, was prevalent, particularly in the United Kingdom. This social problem coincided with an increase in popular culture toward the consumption of fantasy fiction, with the dark fantasy subgenre being revived by Neil Gaiman's Coraline. This study explores Coraline through the lens of John G. Cawelti’s formula theory to reveal the strategies resulting in its significant societal appeal. This study analyzes the novella's intrinsic elements—plot, characters and characterizations, setting, and illustrations—to identify Coraline as a dark fantasy that effectively combines horror and fantasy formulas. The use of dark fantasy aligns with Cawelti's four hypotheses, functioning as a cultural reflection, cultural solution, cultural boundaries, and cultural innovation that addresses technology paranoia.

Between Black and White

2025-06-30T20:47:47+07:00

This study examines the instability of meaning in the film Maleficent by deconstructing the conventional binary between good and evil commonly found in classic fairy tales. Rather than reinforcing moral absolutes, Maleficent challenges them by presenting a complex protagonist whose identity evolves from victim to villain to redeemer. Using Jacques Derrida’s theory of deconstruction and a qualitative-descriptive method, this research analyzes how narrative structure, symbolism, and character development disrupt fixed moral categories. The findings reveal that the film does not simply invert traditional roles but destabilizes the very foundations of moral storytelling. Meaning is portrayed as fluid, relational, and continuously shifting, emphasizing that identity and ethics in popular narratives are not fixed but open to reinterpretation.