Research Article
The Unity of Culture: A New Reading in Javanese Traditional Poetry
@INPROCEEDINGS{10.4108/eai.14-10-2020.2303823, author={Nur Ahmad and Akhmad Arif Junaidi}, title={The Unity of Culture: A New Reading in Javanese Traditional Poetry}, proceedings={Proceedings of the First International Conference on Islamic History and Civilization, ICON-ISHIC 2020, 14 October, Semarang, Indonesia}, publisher={EAI}, proceedings_a={ICON-ISHIC}, year={2021}, month={1}, keywords={culture; tembang macapat; pesantren tradition; javanese literature; islamic manuscript}, doi={10.4108/eai.14-10-2020.2303823} }- Nur Ahmad
Akhmad Arif Junaidi
Year: 2021
The Unity of Culture: A New Reading in Javanese Traditional Poetry
ICON-ISHIC
EAI
DOI: 10.4108/eai.14-10-2020.2303823
Abstract
This paper argues for the existence and demonstrates the way of composing macapat in Javanese Islamic tradition. It examines several not fully explored texts in several early modern Javanese manuscripts written by pesantren agents. To examine those manuscripts which were written roughly in the range from 1700-1900, the research starts with philological study. Then, it employs the framework proposed by Davaney [1] in analyzing the dynamic process of culture. In conclusion, the paper shows that not only does macapat exist in pesantren, the Islamic traditional education body has also played an important role on the dissemination of the traditional song especially for transmission of religious teachings. The research also discovers that the agency of pesantren actors to popularize Arabic kitabs and to ease the process of study those books leads to the rendering Arabic kitabs into macapat in Javanese. Thus, this paper shows that the pesantren tradition is part of the formation of what is called “Javanese culture”.