ISIS Network and Women Terrorism in Indonesia: An Analysis from Actor-Network Theory

This article examines how the ISIS network might encourage women's involvement in Indonesian terrorist activities starting in 2016. This study adopts a qualitative method through the Actor-Network Theory (ANT) analysis tool that Bruno Latour and Michael Callon developed. ANT is used to dissect networks composed of both human and non-human actors. Primary data collection was conducted through in-depth interviews from June to July 2023 with three female former ISIS sympathizers directly involved in the network from 2016 to 2021. Through this study, it was found that women who became ISIS sympathizers experienced translational stages in the network consisting of moments of problematization, interessement, enrollment, and mobilization. Nevertheless, the translational stages experienced by the three women varied. One of the three experienced a perfect translational moment up to mobilization and volunteered to blow herself up in 2016. The other two failed to reach the fourth translational moment due to the intervention of the authorities. On the other hand, it was also found that social media such as Facebook, Telegram, and WhatsApp is not only a tool but also has agency in binding women to the network and leading them to be involved in acts of terrorism. Social media can become a space for intermediaries to stabilize the network and keep each actor in it firmly bound.