Rukun and Adat in Javanese Villages: A New Territorial Model for Understanding Javanese Culture

자바 마을의 루꾼과 아닷: 자바 문화 이해를 위한 영토성 모델 제안

Javanese culture has been perceived as peace-oriented and conflict-avoiding in both academic studies and local people's discourses, and this perception has been crystallized in the "rukun model" for understanding Javanese culture. But in reality, although the rukun values have been internalized in Javanese mindset, violence has never ceased in Javanese society and even seems more widespread in the Indonesian reform era. Based on this understanding, this paper reveals the limitations of peace-oriented rukun model which cannot explain conflict and violence, and instead suggests an alternative "territorial model" which can involve both peace and conflict. For that purpose, the author examines aspects of territoriality embedded in three components of Javanese villages: people, territory, and adat, and argues that territoriality works as the principle of organizing and managing Javanese society, as shown in their social stratum and various cultural practices as well as the way morality and justice are defined. By theorization of territorial model, we can understand rukun values and adat from a new perspective and thus achieve a more complete understanding of Javanese culture.