Marginal Language and Literature

Marginal Language and Literature is a book presented to provide a broader explanation and understanding of language and literature issues considered marginal in society. It is undeniable that marginal language and literature are frequently disregarded and regarded as having no significance. However, marginalized languages and literature have pivotal roles and values that enrich the culture and identity of an ethnic or social group. Marginal language and literature are part of the cultural identity of a social-ethnic group. In addition, marginal language and literature become a medium for expressing feelings, experiences, knowledge, and worldviews that are unique and typical of a social-ethnic group.
This book highlights marginal languages and literature, including regional languages and literature. This book encourages readers to comprehend and recognize why marginal language and literature are pivotal in a social community’s life. In addition, this book significantly contributes to the diversity of languages and literature in Indonesia in particular and the world in general.

본문중에서

Prologue
The Political Roots of the Marginalization of Indonesian Language and Litetrature

The marginalization of literature and other cultural products is essentially a reaction to the anxiety or arrogance of the ruling group over the emergence of public awareness to produce their own cultural creations or products. Consider, for example, the claim of a high culture to distinguish it from folk culture. This dichotomy was deliberately raised by the royal court to demean cultural products outside their environment. For the royal family, courtiers, nobles, and the elite, there was a kind of privilege attached as their privilege to create culture and even determine people’s right to life. They were entitled to create cultural products. People do not have the right to be creative, and are prohibited from thinking. Creation comes from gods, and those who have the right to run it are those who have power. That is why, as we can see in the cultural products by the kings, splendors, luxury, and nobility often become their main characteristics that are impossible for ordinary people to do.
Thus, there was a kind of ambition in the palace circles to achieve greatness and reputation, which made the cultural products they produced a costly, time-consuming, and incalculable workforce, even sacrificing thousands of lives (the common people). The goal was to leave a legacy so that the king or figure was still remembered; during his reign, he once appeared as someone who succeeded in upholding the milestones of spectacular achievements!