Unpad–UPI Collaboration Sheds Light on Power and Resistance in Menanam adalah Melawan

The Faculty of Cultural Sciences, Universitas Padjadjaran, proudly celebrates the recent achievement of its lecturers through an impactful scholarly publication. The article, titled “Is the Throne Still for the People? A Sociocultural Linguistic Analysis of Menanam adalah Melawan”, authored by Dr. Raden Safrina, M.A., Nita Novianti, S.S., M.A., Ph.D., and Lina Meilinawati Rahayu, M.Hum., has been published in the Studies in English Language and Education (SiELE) Journal.

This publication is the result of a collaboration between Universitas Padjadjaran and Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia (UPI). It examines the activist book Menanam adalah Melawan (“Planting is Resisting”), which documents the experiences of a farmer-turned-activist after his farmland was seized by authorities, including the sultanate, for mining purposes. The study employs the framework of Sociocultural Linguistics and Fairclough’s Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) to investigate how language is used to construct a collective identity of marginalized farmers while simultaneously challenging dominant power structures and neoliberal policies.

The findings reveal how the text strategically employs emotive and technical language to strengthen solidarity among marginalized communities while also questioning the role and authority of the sultanate in relation to social justice and public welfare. By highlighting the struggles faced by local farmers and their resistance against institutional power, the article underscores the importance of amplifying alternative voices and non-mainstream texts produced by marginalized groups. It calls for greater transparency, genuine community partnership, and inclusivity in addressing issues of inequality.

Congratulations to the authors for their remarkable contribution to the fields of sociocultural linguistics, critical discourse studies, and the ongoing pursuit of social justice. 

Ferli Hasanah