Highlights of Dr. Saraswati’s work:

• winner of 2024 Association of American Publishers, PROSE (Professional and Scholarly Excellence) book award, Biography and Autobiography category
• winner of 2013 National Women’s Studies Association Gloria Anzaldúa book award
• named one of Library Journal‘s BEST BOOKS of 2023
• included in Meridians’ 20th Anniversary Issue (2020), highlighting works that are the most impactful in the past twenty years based on “citation rates, downloads, and readings across multiple sites (Project Muse, e-Duke Journals, Academia, Research Gate, Google Scholar).”
• noted as one of the most downloaded articles in the journal Gender, Work & Organization in 2017/2018
• mentioned as one of the five exemplary dissertations in Women’s Studies, in Sally Kitch and Mary Fonow’s article, “Analyzing Women’s Studies Dissertations: Methodologies, Epistemologies, and Field Formation,” published in Signs (2012).
• included in the “An Essential Queer Reading List” by Vogue Australia (2022).

Books

• Saraswati, L. Ayu. Scarred: A Feminist Journey through Pain. (New York University Press, 2023). (Winner of 2024 Association of American Publishers PROSE book award for Biography/Autobiography; Co-Winner of 2024 Next Generation Indie book award for Women’s Non Fiction; Named Best Books of 2023 by Library Journal)
• Saraswati, L. Ayu. Seeing Beauty, Sensing Race in Transnational Indonesia. Honolulu: University of Hawai’i Press, 2013. (Winner of 2013 National Women’s Studies Association Gloria Anzaldúa book prize)
• Saraswati, L. Ayu. Pain Generation: Social Media, Feminist Activism, and the Neoliberal Selfie. (New York University Press, 2021). (Silver Winner, Nautilus book award for Social Change)
• Carlile, Lonny, L. Ayu Saraswati, and Leng Leng Thang, eds. The Contours of Endearment: Exploring New Dimensions of in Southeast Asia-Japan Relations. University of Hawai’i Press, 2026.
• Saraswati, L.A., Barbara Shaw, and Heather Rellihan, eds. Introduction to Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Reader: Intersectional and Interdisciplinary Approaches. 3rd ed. Oxford University Press, 2025.
• Saraswati, L.A., and Barbara Shaw, eds. Feminist and Queer Theory: An Intersectional and Transnational Reader. Oxford University Press, 2020.
• Saraswati, L.A., Barbara Shaw, and Heather Rellihan, eds. Introduction to Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Reader: Intersectional and Interdisciplinary Approaches, 2nd ed. Oxford University Press, 2020.
• Saraswati, L.A., Barbara Shaw, and Heather Rellihan, eds. Introduction to Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Reader: Intersectional and Interdisciplinary Approaches. Oxford University Press, 2017.
• Saraswati, L.A. Putih: Warna Kulit, Ras, dan Kecantikan di Indonesia Transnational. Trans. Ninus D. Andarnuswari. Jakarta: Marjin Kiri, 2017.

Journal Articles

• Haywood, S., Garbett, K., Craddock, N., Hayes, C., Saraswati, L.A., Nasution, K., Medise, B., Vitoratour, S., and Diedrichs, P. “Cultural Adaptation and Validation of the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule for Children (PANAS-C) among Indonesian Adolescents.” BMC Psychology 12.703 (2024)

• Garbett, K., Craddock, N., Haywood, S., Hayes, C., Nasution, K., Saraswati, L., Medise, B., Vitoratou, S., and Diedrichs, P. “Translation and Validation of the Body Esteem Scale in Adults and Adolescents among Indonesian Adolescents.” Body Image 48 (2024) 101679

• Craddock, N., Budhraja, M., Garbett, K., Nasution, K., Gentili, C., Rizkiah, C., Haime, Z., Saraswati, L., Medise, B., White, P., Diedrichs, P., and Williamson, H. “Evaluating a School-Based Body Image Lesson in Indonesia: A Randomised Controlled Trial.” Body Image 48 (2024) 101654.

• Garbett, K., Craddock, N., Saraswati, L.,  and Diedrichs, P. “Body Image among Girls in
  Indonesia: Associations with Disordered Eating Behaviors, Life Engagement,
  Desire for Cosmetic Surgery and Psychosocial Influences.” Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 20/14 (2023), 6394; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph20146394
• Garbett, K., Haywood, S., Craddock, N.,  Gentili, C, Nasution, K., Saraswati, L., Medise, B., White, P., Diedrichs, P., and Williamson, H. “Evaluating the Efficacy of a Social Media-Based Intervention (Warna Warni Waktu) to Improve Body Image Among Young Indonesian Women: Parallel Randomized Control Trial.”  (2023) JMIR Publications doi: 10.2196/42499
• Saraswati, L.A., and Barbara Shaw. “Women’s Studies and Its Institutionalization as an Interdisciplinary Field: Past, Present, and Future.” WSQ 50.3/4 (2022): 171-191.
• Saraswati, L.A. “The Performativity of Pain: Affective Excess and Asian Women’s Sexuality in Cyberspace.” Diogenes (2022) doi.org/10.1177/0392192120970412
• Garbett, K., Craddock, N., Haywood, S., Nasution, K., White, P., Saraswati, L., Medise, B., Girl Effect, Perfcolate Galactic, Diedrichs, P., and Williamson, H. “A Novel, Scalable Social Media-Based Intervention Warna-Warni Waktu to Reduce Body Dissatisfaction Among Young Indonesian Women: Protocol for a Parallel Randomized Controlled Trial.” JMIR Research Protocols doi: 10.2196/33596
• Craddock, N., Garbett, K., Haywood, S., Nasution, K., White, P., Saraswati, L., Rizkiah, C., Medise, B., and Diedrichs, P. ‘Dove Confident Me Indonesia: Single Session’: Study Protocol for a Randomized Controlled Trial to Evaluate a School-Based Image Intervention Among Indonesian Adolescents.” BMC Public Health 21 (2021): 2102.
• Saraswati, L.A. “Cosmopolitan Whiteness: The Effects and Affects of Skin-Whitening Advertisements in Transnational Women’s Magazine in Indonesia.” Meridians: Feminism, Race, Transnationalism 19.S1 (2020): 363-388.
• Saraswati, L.A. “Why Non-Story Matters: A Feminist Autoethnography of Embodied Meditation Technique in Processing Emotional Pain.” Women‘s Studies International Forum 73 (2019): 1-7.
• Saraswati, L.A.”People, Promises, and PhD Programs in Women’s Studies.” Feminist Studies 44.2 (2018): 400-408.
• Saraswati, L.A. “The Gender Politics of Human Waste and Human-as-Waste: Indonesian Women Migrant Workers and Elderly Care in Japan.” Gender, Work & Organization 24.6 (2017): 594-609. (One of the most downloaded articles in the journal 2017/2018)
• Saraswati, L.A. “La Douleur Mise en Scène: Excès Affectif et Sexualité Des Femmes Asiatiques Dans Le Cyberespace.” Trans. Nicole G. Albert. Diogène. 2.254/255 (2016): 204-228.
• Saraswati, L. A. “Wikisexuality: Rethinking Sexuality in Cyberspace.” Sexualities 16.5/6 (2013): 587-603.
• Saraswati, L. A. “Malu: Coloring Shame and Shaming the Color of Beauty in Transnational Indonesia.” Feminist Studies 38.1 (2012): 113-140.
• Saraswati, L. A. “Why Beauty Matters to the Postcolonial Nation’s Masters: Reading Narratives of Female Beauty in Pramoedya’s Buru Tetralogy.” Feminist Formations 23.2 (2011): 111-131.
• Saraswati, L. A. “Cosmopolitan Whiteness: The Effects and Affects of Skin-Whitening Advertisements in Transnational Women’s Magazine in Indonesia.” Meridians: Feminism, Race, Transnationalism 10.2 (2010): 15-41.
• Saraswati, L. A. “GABRIELA: Gerakan Perempuan Sebagai Mobilisator Massa di Filipina” (“GABRIELA: Women’s Movement and Mass Mobilization in the Philippines”). Jurnal Perempuan (Women’s Journal) 14 (2000): 27-45.

Book Chapters

• • • Nish, J., K. Williams, and L.A. Saraswati. “Marching, Teaching, and Crossing Borders: A Transnational Conversation.” In L. A. Saraswati and B. Shaw, eds. Feminist Theory Reader, 2020. 426-431.
    • Saraswati, L.A. “Cosmopolitan Whiteness: The Effects and Affects of Skin-Whitening Advertisements in Transnational Women’s Magazine in Indonesia.” Reprinted in Introduction to Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies. Ed. L. Ayu Saraswati, Barbara Shaw, and Heather Rellihan. Oxford UP, 2017.
    • Saraswati, L. A. “Wikisexuality: A New Category of Sexuality in the Virtual World.” Reprinted in Introducing the New Sexuality Studies. Ed. Steven Seidman and Nancy Fischer. Routledge, 2016.
    • Saraswati, L. A. “Malu: Coloring Shame and Shaming the Color of Beauty in Transnational Indonesia.” Feminist Studies 38.1 (2012): 113-140. Reprinted in Kaleidoscope of Gender, Ed. Joan Spade and Catherine Valentine. Sage, 2016.
    • Saraswati, L. A. “Digital Gender Story Project: Teaching Gender in the Digital Age.” Feminist Cyberspaces: Pedagogies in Transition. Ed. Sharon Collingwood, Alvinia Quintana, and Caroline Smith. Newcastle, U.K.: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2012. 137-159.
    • Saraswati, L. A. “Tetralogi Buru, Kecantikan Perempuan dan Maskulinitas Pascakolonial” (“Buru Tetralogy, Female Beauty and Postcolonial Masculinity”). Pola dan Silangan: Jender dalam Teks Indonesia (Pattern and Intersectionality: Gender in Indonesian Texts). Ed. Lisabona Rahman. Jakarta: Yayasan Kalam and HIVOS, 2007. 63-94.
    • Saraswati, L. A. “Kekerasan Negara, Perempuan, dan Refleksi Negara Patriarkis” (“State Violence, Women, and Patriarchal State”). Negara dan Kekerasan Terhadap Perempuan (State and Violence Against Women). Ed. N. I. Subono. Jakarta: Yayasan Jurnal Perempuan (Women’s Journal Foundation), 2000. 33-56.

Other Publications

• • • • Saraswati, L. A. “How Emotions Rules Social Media.” Everybody Consulting.
      • Saraswati, L. A. “F**K” (poem). Hands.
      • Saraswati, L. A. “Ethereality at the Edge of Social Media.” Stillpoint Magazine
      • Saraswati, L.A. “Beyond Calling Out and Calling In: Is There a Feminist Alternative?”
      • Co-written with Joanne Rondilla (a semi-satirical response to Atlanta shootings). “Asian Women Have Bad Days, Too.” Visible Magazine.
      • Saraswati, L.A. “Beauty and Cosmopolitan Whiteness.” Inside Indonesia. 
      • Saraswati, L.A. Review of Aloha America: Hula Circuits through the U.S. Empire by Adria Imada. American Studies 52.3 (2013): 101-102. (Invited book review).
      • Saraswati, L.A. Review of The Queer Art of Failure by Judith Halberstam. American Studies 52.2 (2013): 179-180. (Invited book review).
      • Saraswati, L. A. “Digital Gender Story Project: Learning and Teaching in the Digital Age.” Reflections (Spring 2010): 16-18.
      • Saraswati, L. A. “The Maze of Gaze: The Color of Beauty in Transnational Indonesia.” Research Connections (Spring 2010): 6-7.
      • Saraswati, L. A. “Digital Stories as a Medium for Social Change.” Teaching Matters 13.1 (2009).
      • Saraswati, L.A. “Pemutih Kulit dan Kecantikan Indonesia.” DW. 
      • Saraswati, L.A. “Kritik Boleh, Tapi Harus Kritis!” DW.
      • Saraswati, L.A. “Perempuan dan Pornografi.” DW. 
      • Saraswati, L.A. “Sejumlah Pertanyaan Tentang Selingkuh.” DW.

Dr. Saraswati has also published short fictions in Indonesian magazines such as Aneka and Swara Kartini.

At a writing residency, https://faberllull.cat/en/resident.cfm?id=38657&url=l-ayu-saraswati.htm

Some articles are available here: https://manoa-hawaii.academia.edu/AyuSaraswati