Cultural Discourse of Migrant Workers in Mahfud Ikhwan’s Dawuk: Kisah Kelabu dari Rumbuk Randu

Abstract

Being a migrant worker is a complex experience that is differently represented from one to another, which is well represented in Mahfud Ikhwan's novel, "Dawuk: Kisah Kelabu dari Rumbuk Randu". This novel narrates the life of people living at remote area. Poverty due to generational conflicts of forest management that made limited economic access, force people to migrate to other cities and neighbouring country, Malaysia. This paper is aimed at discussing the complexities of migrant workers represented in the novel. The method of analysis used in this study is Fairclough's CDA, which covers the three levels of analysis, micro, meso and macro. The study shows that the discourse of cultural ambiguity dominated the motive of the characters. In one side, freedom is the biggest motive of the migrant workers represented in the novel, in which they feel more freedom to make choice of living and working in other country, they feel free to make their way of life, not bounded with tradition. They can make money in neighbour country, Malaysia, which is contrary to the situation at home in which they have limited economic access. On the other hand, they are bounded to their home village, feeling peaceful living at home as their goal after they have enough money. The research is limited to the discourse of cultural ambiguity, so that there are many other areas of discourse that can be explored for further research.