The list will be further updated as more recent reviews will
appear in publication
• "Ariel’s knowledge of and insights into Indonesian popular culture add depth and specificity to his theorising, and give his book unparalleled authority."
Janet Steele (George Washington University)
The Bulletin of Indonesian Economic Studies (BIES), 2006, 42 (3):
405-6.
• "Heryanto has long been one of the most
theoretically challenging, original and stimulating scholars writing on
Indonesian politics, and this book is the culmination of his work so far."
Edward Aspinall (Australian National University)
Asian Studies Review, 2007, 31 (2): 205-6.
• "Heryanto's analysis of power is subtle and original, informed by both a deep knowledge of recent events in Indonesia and an admirable familiarity with social theory. Not many writers on Indonesian politics draw upon semiotics and poststructuralism with such aplomb. ... It is a valuable book that should be a central reference point for any debate about Indonesia's post-1965 politics."
John Roosa (The University of British Columbia),
Pacific Affairs, 79 (1): 154-5.
• In State Terrorism and Political
Identity in Indonesia he attempts to find a way of describing the
workings of this inherently contradictory system of managing the national
imaginary. The result is an extraordinarily rich and compelling narrative
of “a world where signs and the world they represent were believed to be
inseparable” (p.32). The detailed exploration of this theme is handled
with clarity and conviction, giving the lie to the familiar charge that
the post-structuralist concern with signs and discourses is somehow
removed from the materiality of social and political processes." Keith
Foulcher (The University of Sydney),
Sojourn, 25 (1, April)
2010: 139-142.
• "Heryanto’s treatment challenges existing literature and is potentially ground-breaking. . . . His mode of
analysis oscillates between ‘the particular-general, empirical-abstract, subject-structure, narrative theory’ (p.160). This is sustained throughout the entire book. Empirical examples are meticulously documented, explained, contextualised and set in relation to existing literature and the deployment of key concepts and theories. The book is unusually rigorous and it becomes heavy going despite the very lucid writing.."
Sai Siew Min (National University of Singapore)
Journal of Southeast Asian Studies, Volume 39, Issue 03, October
2008, pp 494-497.
• "Heryanto’s book ... will, in time, be recognized as pathbreaking. It is a must-read for anyone concerned about Indonesia, comparative politics, as well as those interested in how poststructuralism, in hybrid form, may be employed in sociopolitical analysis."
Rommel A. Curaming (La Trobe University)
Kasarinlan, 2007 22 (2):142-7.
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