Beyond the forest boundary: A transnational literary study of the novella Diyawa Si Kaki Merah
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The climate crisis is not only an environmental issue but also brings together different ways of understanding the world, time, nature, and life; That’s an issue central to transnational literature, since ecological impacts and economic interests extend beyond geographical and national boundaries. This article examines the novella Diyawa si Kaki Merah by Abroorza A. Yusra (2025) to explore how the encounter between different worlds is formed through the concept of worlding. Using a descriptive qualitative method and close reading, this study analyzes narrative passages relating to world formation, temporality, and ecological relations through Pheng Cheah's concepts of world and worlding. The findings show that the novella forms two worlds with distinct temporalities: the Outer World, constructed through the logic of money, ownership, state language, and development; and the Heart of the Forest and the Kaki Merah community, constructed through relations among humans, nature, animals, and ancestral spirits, which reveals an alternative temporality not oriented toward accumulation. The novella also depicts the dispossession of the Kaki Merah world through forest mapping, state territorial claims, and road construction. Amid this clash, openness toward difference grounds relationships and solidarity, presenting transnationalism as encounters between worlds shaped by state interests, markets, and ecological relations beyond geography.
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