Forced Legibility and Relational Dignity in Marwah di Ujung Bara

Abstract

This article examines how Fitriadi’s Acehnese novel Marwah di Ujung Bara (2011) represents civilian insecurity amid political violence and redefines dignity through interpersonal relations. Using qualitative interpretative close reading, the study analyzes scenes of surveillance, loyalty testing, ethnic resentment, student activism, negotiation, apology, and blood donation. It develops two concepts from the text. Forced legibility describes the pressure placed on civilians to make their political or ethnic identity readable through rigid categories of loyalty and suspicion. Relational dignity emerges when characters recognize the humanity of those whom political conflict has taught them to distrust. Their willingness to protect another person’s life challenges the assumption that ethnic identity determines human worth. The findings also reveal how civilians become vulnerable when ordinary conduct is interpreted as evidence of political allegiance. Yet, they do not simply submit to these pressures. Through public dissent and personal relationships, they challenge the judgments imposed upon them. These findings extend discussions of war literature and world literature by drawing on two concepts from Aceh’s particular historical experience that may also illuminate literary representations of conflict elsewhere.