Out of the shadows: female puppeteers and the changing tradition of Javanese shadow theatre

© 2016 Dr. Ashley RobertsonThis project investigates the female puppeteer (dalang) phenomenon within Javanese shadow theatre practice (wayang kulit) – primarily focusing on the Sukarno era (1945 – 1965), New Order era (1966 – 1998), and reformasi (1999 – 2001)/post-reformasi (2002 – present) era – and serves as an introduction to the female dalang experience. As a common belief held among members of the Javanese community, women dalang are frequently deemed as inferior guardians of wayang’s esoteric knowledge relative to their male counterparts – perceived as simply novelties of the shadow theatre stage. Further emphasising their marginal status, female dalang are also faced with severe limitations within ritually significant, exorcistic performances (i.e. ruwatan) due to local notions of gendered power. Rather than being acknowledged as “true dalang,” women are typically labelled as ineffective conduits to the non-corporeal realm, understood to possess very little potential to accumulate the requisite “spiritual potency” within a ritual context. As a result of these deleterious attitudes towards the female dalang community, as well as their relatively low numbers, these women have often been relegated to the periphery of academic inquiry. Contrary to popular belief, however, this thesis reveals both the challenges and advantages of the female dalang experience, presenting them as legitimate and “true dalang” of power and authority. This account of the female dalang community will be firmly situated both within the history and the contemporary social setting of wayang practice and discourse. Employing methods of structured/semi-structured interviews, participant-observation, discourse analysis and demographic studies, this project uncovers how cultural and societal shifts have affected change within the shadow theatre practice, how these changes reflect upon the evolution of gender roles and hierarchies, and how measuring these changes may allow us to project future trends of the female dalang phenomenon and the shadow theatre tradition in general. The project also sheds light more broadly on the status of women in contemporary Javanese society