A Reflection on Decolonizing Narratives: Understanding Familial Suicide Terrorism in Indonesia

Abstract

Suicide terrorism in Indonesia has increasingly involved family units, revealing a shift in the dynamics of radicalization and the reproduction of extremist ideologies within domestic spaces. This study aims to analyze how familial suicide terrorism emerges and is sustained by examining the narratives that shape the everyday lives of radicalized families. Using a qualitative approach based on document analysis, media reports, and academic research on family-linked attacks over the past two decades, with limited field observation and semi-structured interviews with six former Jemaah Islamiyah members in five Indonesian cities, this study explores how colonial legacies, state violence, and global counterterrorism discourses intersect with local experiences of marginalization. Data were examined through an iterative dual-path strategy integrating thematic coding, narrative analysis, cross-case comparison, and decolonial interpretation. The findings show that familial suicide terrorism is not merely the result of ideological indoctrination but is embedded in intergenerational trauma, affective bonds, and the normalization of violence within intimate settings. The study argues that decolonizing the dominant narratives of terrorism—by foregrounding local histories, structural inequalities, and lived experiences—offers a more nuanced understanding of why entire families become agents of violent extremism. It contributes to terrorism studies by foregrounding Indonesian perspectives and proposing more culturally sensitive, family-centered, and community-based approaches to prevention and counter-radicalization.