Setelah Kepergian Kartini: Propaganda Kartini dalam Euforia Kolonial, 1904-1939

Abstract

The development of Kartini's figure was influenced by the Dutch thinking and their
commitment to Colonial Ethical Policy since the early 20th century. Eleven years after her
death, Abendanon's writing, Door Duisternis Tot Licht (From Darkness to Light) in 1911
became a platform for Kartini's ideas that supported modern colonial education against the
backward conditions of indigenous women in Java as a colony. Kartini became popular and
instrumental among Europeans that built the women solidarity in the Netherlands and the
Dutch East Indies. She became a national hero of Indonesian women, but she was also
controversial because of her social intimacy with Dutch friends. Kartini was considered a part
of colonial promotion. This paper focuses on the Dutch propaganda to portray and promote
Kartini's characterization since 1904.