Abstract

This article discusses motherhood and mothering as portrayed in two auto/biographies of Krisdayanti, a prominent Indonesian female celebrity. Written at two different times and contexts, the first one largely focuses on portraying Krisdayanti in her persona as an Indonesian glamorous celebrity at her peak as it is faithfully observed in her likewise glamorous auto/biography. The other one, presented in a much simpler book design and more straightforward narration, depicts her more as an ordinary person in her varied roles as a celebrity, a wife, a mother, a daughter, and a sister. The article takes note of the important dynamics and complexity of Krisdayanti’s relationship with her mother and the significant roles that her mother plays that have shaped not only Krisdayanti’s personal life but also her career. The two auto/biographies have shown how feminist mothering foster the formation of feminine/feminist agency and subjectivity that are constantly and continuously shifting and traversing. More specifically, this article suggests that the auto/biographies have enabled a space to reveal the empowering experience of motherhood and mothering which have contributed to the construction of a particular form of femininity within celebrity culture.


Keywords

celebrity auto/biography, celebrity culture, Indonesia, motherhood, mother-daughter relationship

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Kritika Kultura
Department of English
School of Humanities
Ateneo de Manila University

The Philippine Commission on Higher Education (CHED) declares Kritika Kultura as a CHED-recognized journal under the Journal Challenge Category of its Journal Incentive Program.

International Board of Editors

Jan Baetens
Professor
Faculty of Arts
Katholieke Universiteit te Leuven (Belgium)

Joel David
Professor of Cultural Studies
Inha University (South Korea)

Michael Denning
Professor of American Studies and English
Department of English
Yale University (US)

Faruk
Faculty of Cultural Sciences
Universitas Gadjah Mada (Indonesia)

Regenia Gagnier
Professor of English
University of Exeter (UK)

Leela Gandhi
John Hawkes Professor of the Humanities and English
Brown University (US)

Inderpal Grewal
Professor of Women's Gender and Sexuality Studies
Professor of South Asian Studies, Ethnicity, Race and Migration Studies
Yale University (US)

Peter Horn
Professor Emeritus and Honorary Lifetime Fellow
University of Cape Town (South Africa)
Honorary Professor and Research Associate in German Studies
University of the Witwatersrand (South Africa)

Anette Horn
Professor of German Studies
University of the Witwatersrand (South Africa)

David Lloyd
Distinguished Professor of English
University of California, Riverside (US)

Bienvenido Lumbera
National Artist for Literature
Professor Emeritus
University of the Philippines

Rajeev S. Patke
Director of the Division of Humanities
Professor of Humanities
Yale NUS College (Singapore)

Vicente L. Rafael
Giovanni and Amne Costigan Endowed Professor of History
University of Washington (US)

Vaidehi Ramanathan
Department of Linguistics
University of California, Davis (US)

Temario Rivera
Professorial Lecturer
Department of Political Science
University of the Philippines

E. San Juan, Jr.
Philippines Studies Center (US)

Neferti X.M. Tadiar
Professor of Women’s, Gender, & Sexuality Studies
Barnard College (US)
Director of the Center for the Study of Ethnicity and Race
Columbia University (US)

Antony Tatlow
Honorary Professor of Drama
Trinity College Dublin (Ireland)