Alinea: Jurnal Bahasa, Sastra, dan Pengajaran
Vol. 6 No. 3 (2026): Alinea: Jurnal Bahasa, Sastra, dan Pengajaran

Power Relations and Technologies of the Self: Negotiating LGBTQ Identity in SuaraKita Digital Short Stories

Alfian Rokhmansyah (Universitas Mulawarman)
Isnaini Rahmah Hidayah (Universitas Mulawarman)
Dewi Salvika Anggini (Universitas Mulawarman)



Article Info

Publish Date
21 Oct 2026

Abstract

Sexual minority groups in Indonesia have faced mounting pressure over the past decade, as anti-queer sentiment has hardened into institutionalised repression operating through the family, the state, and the workplace. The pressing issue is not merely to identify forms of discrimination, but to understand how power shapes and negotiates the identity of minority subjects, while Foucauldian literary studies in Indonesia have hitherto remained preoccupied with the dichotomy of repression and resistance and have not yet examined LGBTQ digital short stories as an object of inquiry. This study aims to uncover how institutional power relations and technologies of the self work together in negotiating LGBTQ identity in the digital short stories of SuaraKita, drawing on Michel Foucault's perspective. This study is qualitative research conducted under the umbrella of the sociology of literature. The objects of the study are three short stories, namely Nama, Bidadara dari Dori, and Gema Suara di Simpang Jalan, with the data consisting of textual quotations. The data were collected through close reading using the read-and-note technique and analysed through hermeneutic interpretation. The findings show that disciplinary power operates through interlocking mechanisms across the three arenas: administrative classification and normalisation in the state, surveillance and bodily punishment in the family, and microaggression and self-censorship in the workplace. In response, the characters enact technologies of the self through concealment and passing, affirmative visibility, care of the body, self-writing, and collective solidarity, so that identity negotiation emerges as both an effect of and a strategic response to power. This study contributes new knowledge to Foucauldian literary studies by demonstrating that institutional power and technologies of the self operate simultaneously in negotiating LGBTQ identity, and by positioning SuaraKita digital short stories as a counter-discourse against dominant norms of gender and sexuality.

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Journal Info

Abbrev

alinea

Publisher

Subject

Religion Education Languange, Linguistic, Communication & Media

Description

ALINEA: Jurnal Bahasa, Sastra dan Pengajaran merupakan jurnal yang diterbitkan oleh Bale Literasi dengan e-ISSN: 2809-4204. Saat ini, ALENIA menjadi wadah bagi peneliti, dosen dan pemerhati bahasa untuk mempublikasikan hasil penelitiannya pada bidang bahasa dan sastra (lokal dan asing), ...