In Women's Words: Violence and Everyday Life During the Indonesian Occupation of East Timor, 1975-1999 (Sussex Library of Asian & Asian American Studies)

Drawing primarily upon oral history interviews, this study presents a woman-centered history of the Indonesian occupation. It reveals the pervasiveness of violence-as well as its gendered and gendering dynamics-within the social and cultural "everyday" of life in occupied East Timor. The violence experienced by East Timorese women ranged from torture, rape, and interrogation, to various forms of surveillance and social control, and the structural imposition of particular feminine ideals upon their lives and bodies. Through women, East Timorese familial culture was also targeted via programs to "develop" and "modernise" the territory by transforming the feminine and the domestic sphere. Women experienced the occupation differently to men, not just because they were vulnerable to sexual violence, but also because they endured proxy violence as the military's means of targeting male relatives and the resistance at large. In Women's Words tells a story of survival and perseverance by highlighting the strength, initiative, and negotiating skills of East Timorese women. Many women lived in circumstances of constant negotiation and attempts to maintain order and normality, as well as to provide for themselves and their families, in a society where everyday life was characterised by violence and uncertainty. This study demonstrates the capacity of people to survive, to endure, and to resist, even amid the most difficult of circumstances. It provides insights into the social and cultural elements of territorial control, as well as the locally-grounded strategies that are often used for negotiating and resisting an occupying power. (Series: Asian & Asian American Studies) [Subject: Sociology, Indonesian Studies, South Asian Studies, Gender Studies, History, Politics] "Drawing primarily upon oral history interviews, this study presents a woman-centred history of the Indonesian occupation. It reveals the pervasiveness of violence - as well as its gendered and gendering dynamics - within the social and cultural "everyday" of life in occupied East Timor. The violence experienced by East Timorese women ranged from torture, rape, and interrogation, to various forms of surveillance and social control, and the structural imposition of particular feminine ideals upon their lives and bodies. Through women, East Timorese familial culture was also targeted via programmes to "develop" and "modernise" the territory by transforming the feminine and the domestic sphere. Women experienced the occupation differently to men, not just because they were vulnerable to sexual violence, but also because they endured proxy violence as the military's means of targeting male relatives and the resistance at large. In Women's Words tells a story of survival and perseverance by highlighting the strength, initiative, and negotiating skills of East Timorese women. Many women lived in circumstances of constant negotiation and attempts to maintain order and normality, as well as to provide for themselves and their families, in a society where everyday life was characterised by violence and uncertainty. This study demonstrates the capacity of people to survive, to endure, and to resist, even amid the most difficult of circumstances. It provides insights into the social and cultural elements of territorial control, as well as the locally-grounded strategies that are often used for negotiating and resisting an occupying power"-- Provided by publisher Front Cover Title Page Copyright Contents Series Editor’s Preface Acknowledgements Abbreviations and Terms Map of Timor-Leste Introduction “Our Entire Lives Had Changed Completely” 1 “This Is Me”:Women’s Narratives of the Indonesian Occupation 2 “The Bullets WereJust Like Leaves”: Women’s Experiences of Invasion and Conflict 3 “We As Women, We Really, Really Suffered”: Women and the Violence of Military Occupation 4 “There Was No Escape”: Women and Everyday Life under Indonesian Rule 5 “And I Started to Understand”: Women and the Development of a Culture of Resistance Conclusion“ The Chance of a Lifetime” Appendix Biographical Data from Oral History Interviews Notes Bibliography Index Back Cover