Jejak Perempuan dalam Lembaran Komik Indonesia Tahun 1950-1960: Sebuah Tinjauan Sejarah

Abstract

This article examines the representation of women in Indonesian comics during the 1950s–1960s as part of the dynamics of post-independence Indonesia’s visual cultural history. In this period, comics developed not only as entertainment media but also as a space for producing meanings related to moral values, social identity, and gender relations. This study applies a visual cultural history approach using Stuart Hall’s theory of representation, Roland Barthes’ semiotics, and Michel Foucault’s discourse analysis. The sources include comics by R.A. Kosasih, Tatang Suhenra, as well as romance and heroic comics published during the 1950s–1960s. The findings show that women were portrayed as important narrative figures but remained positioned within frameworks of modesty, family morality, and patriarchal social structures. These representations reflect a negotiation between tradition and modernity in post-independence Indonesian society.