Sastra Rempah Abad ke-19: Kajian Gastrokritik pada The History of Java dan Relevansinya dalam Wacana Kolonial dan Pascakolonial dalam Sastra Indonesia

Saifur Rohman (Universitas Negeri Jakarta)

Journal of Literature and Education
Vol. 2 No. 1 (2024)

This paper discusses The History of Java (first published in 1817 and published in Indonesian translation in 2014) by Thomas Stamford Raffles about the archipelago's spices, trade, and colonization. Since the arrival of the Portuguese in the easternmost of the archipelago in 1510, Western societies have been hunting for commodities that can be sold. They are middlemen, corporations, and hunters. The gastrocritical method developed by Endraswara was used to obtain literary data. The results of the primary data were linked intertextually to Nagara Krtagama (first published in 1365, then republished in 2009), Sair Rempah-Rempah by Mas Marco Kartodikromo (1919), and Aruna dan Lidahnya (2014) by Laksmi Pamuntjak. The study results show that the spice discourse not only discusses the "Spice Path" but also the path of the meaning of spices in building Indonesia. Spices and Indonesianness are a unity in precolonial and postcolonial history in Indonesia. As a recommendation, spice literature evokes memories of past glories. Spices are a symbol of reminder and healing the wounds of the past.