This article examines the roles of fantasy and desire in the process of identity construction as experienced by Luh Sekar, one of the characters in Oka Rusmini’s most notable work of fiction, Tarian Bumi. Employing Stuart Hall’s postulate on identity construction in critically reading the novel, it is found that the subject’s identity construction is highly influenced by her fantasy and desire of caste and gender - not only does caste structure women’s social location through rank and role, but that as part of the symbolic order it constitutes the women themselves.
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