Self-Fashioning dan Apropriasi Budaya dalam Novel Yellowface karya R.F. Kuang

Rahmasari Putri Azzahra, Muh. Arif Rokhman, M.Hum., Ph.D

2025 | Tesis | S2 Sastra

Konstruksi identitas dalam karya sastra tidak hanya mencerminkan dinamika sosial dan budaya, tetapi juga menjadi strategi individu dalam merespons tekanan dan ekspektasi lingkungan sekitarnya. Konsep self-fashioning yang diperkenalkan Stephen Greenblatt menekankan bahwa individu secara aktif membentuk identitas mereka dalam respons terhadap tekanan dan norma sosial, politik, serta budaya. Hal ini ini sesuai dengan situasi yang ada di dalam novel Yellowface karya R.F. Kuang, yang menceritakan karakter June Hayward, seorang penulis kulit putih yang mencuri karya penulis Asia-Amerika, Athena Liu, dan membangun identitas baru sebagai “Juniper Song” demi meraih pengakuan di industri sastra yang mengkapitalisasi isu keberagaman. Melalui teori self-fashioning, novel ini menganalisis praktik apropriasi budaya sebaggai strategi self - fashioning, dinamika kekuasaan, dan ketegangan identitas di Amerika Serikat yang multikultural. Dengan latar masyarakat Amerika yang beragam, Yellowface memperlihatkan bagaimana individu merespons tekanan sosial melalui Self - Fashioning. Penelitian ini menganalisis praktik self-fashioning June Hayward dan motivasi pengarang dalam menciptakan karakter tersebut, guna memahami relasi antara identitas, kekuasaan, dan representasi dalam sastra kontemporer. Temuan penelitian ini mengungkapkan bahwa karakter utama, June Hayward, melakukan self-fashioning dengan bertransformasi menjadi “Juniper Song” melalui proses self-fashioning yang melibatkan strategi apropriasi budaya melalui pencurian dan pengeditan naskah Athena Liu. Melalui novel ini juga, penulis yaitu R.F. Kuang menkritik industri penerbitan dan praktik whitewashing di Amerika.

The construction of identity in literary works not only reflects social and cultural dynamics, but also becomes an individual strategy in responding to the pressures and expectations of the surrounding environment. Stephen Greenblatt's concept of self-fashioning emphasizes that individuals actively shape their identities in response to social, political and cultural pressures and norms. This is consistent with the situation in R.F. Kuang's Yellowface, which tells the story of June Hayward, a white writer who steals the work of Asian-American writer Athena Liu and constructs a new identity as “Juniper Song” to gain recognition in a literary industry that capitalizes on issues of diversity. Through self-fashioning theory, the novel analyzes the practice of cultural appropriation as a self-fashioning strategy, power dynamics, and identity tensions in the multicultural United States. Set in a diverse American society, Yellowface shows how individuals respond to social pressure through self-fashioning. This study analyzes June Hayward's self-fashioning practices and the author's motivation in creating the character, in order to understand the relationship between identity, power, and representation in contemporary literature. The findings of this study reveal that the main character, June Hayward, performs self-fashioning by transforming into “Juniper Song” through a self- fashioning process that involves cultural appropriation strategies through the theft and editing of Athena Liu's manuscript. Through this novel, the author, R.F. Kuang, criticizes the publishing industry and the practice of whitewashing in America.

Kata Kunci : Self – Fashioning, Apropriasi Budaya, Identitas, Keberagaman.