Lukman, Christine Claudia and Hertadimas, Christianna Sekarkinanti
(2022)
Representation of the Chinese Diaspora in Southeast Asia
in Toni Masdiono's Comics.
In: International Conference on Chinese Diaspora in Southeast Asia Studies, 25-27 November 2022, Bandung.
Abstract
Toni Masdiono is a comic creator with excellent illustration quality and has been active in the Southeast Asia region through seminars and
workshops. Initially, his comics featured western super heroes, but in recent years, also feature Chinese characters, namely in “Karimata 1890”
(already published in 2019), and “Laosam 1892” (to be published soon). The two comics show the interaction between Chinese Diaspora with the
Nusantara (Indonesia) local people in a historical context. Through his perception as a Peranakan Chinese who is very familiar with Javanese
culture, Masdiono constructs and represents the Chinese Diaspora in both comics. This is interesting to study because the representation of the
Chinese Diaspora figures will shape the perception of the readers who are the younger generation from various ethnic groups in Indonesia. The data
collection method was carried out by conducting in-depth interviews with Masdiono to find out his perception of the existence of the Chinese
Diaspora in Southeast Asia, and a focus group discussion is conducted with young participants to know their perception of the representation of the
Chinese Diaspora figures in Masdiono's comics. Visual data is obtained from comic books that have been published, and will be published. The
theory that supports this research is Stuart Hall's theory of representation which is the ability to describe or imagine. Representation is important
because culture is always shaped through meaning and language (verbal and visual), so language is a symbolic or representation form. The analysis
is carried out using a semiotic method that involves the encoding process by Masdiono and decoding by the comic readers. The result shows that
Masdiono and his readers share the same perception of the representation of the Chinese Diaspora in Southeast Asia in the past.
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