Identity Cards, Semiotic Instability, and Signs of State Recognition for Indonesian Warias

Abstract

Following the authoritarian New Order in Indonesia (1965–1998) the state‐issued identity card was transformed into a symbol available for reproduction by ordinary citizens. One Indonesian transgender population known as warias used the card to engage with the terms of recognition offered by the state. In 2014, warias in Yogyakarta made organizational membership cards that closely mimicked but did not copy the visual form of the original. Warias efforts to expand the state's bureaucratic form through the manipulation of the symbolic and material qualities of cards raised the possibility that the state did not hold a monopoly over powers of recognition.