Community Initiative and Harmonizing: Key Strategies in Community-Based Tourism Development in Bejiharjo, Gunungkidul

This study examines the key strategies behind the success of community-based tourism in Bejiharjo Village, Gunung Kidul, Yogyakarta which has become a model of good practice compared to other less successful initiatives. Using a phenomenological approach, this study draws on two years of the researchers’ involvement in a local tourism development program. Through in-depth interviews and sustained engagement between 2022-2024, the research explores how the community articulated its aspirations and developped tourism strategies from the ground up. Findings shows that community initiative plays a critical role in encouraging the community to take ownership and lead tourism development. This challanges the assumption that community empowerment must be externally driven and highlights how meaningful local participation can lead to more sustainable and socially grounded outcomes. The study identifies six key strategies of community empowerment: (1) initiating, (2) networking, (3) mobilizing, (4) building trust, (5) protecting, and (6) harmonizing (integrating efforts for long-term sustainability). These findings provide insights for the government and stakeholders in tourism development to plan better programs resulting in more benefits for improving community welfare

Between the Past and the Possible: Bugis Identity in Motion

This study explores how the Bugis emerged as a distinct ethnic group by examining the historical, cultural, and social processes that shaped their collective identities. It further investigates the defining features of Bugis’ identity and how ethnic boundaries are constructed, maintained, and negotiated over time. The research were conducted inBugis diaspora areas in Pagatan, South Kalimantan and Jakarta, as well as in several Bugis regions in South Sulawesi—namely Barru, Pangkep, and Bulukumba Regencies—between April and September 2021. This study demonstrates that Bugis’s development as an ethnic group was exclusively connected to the Cina Kingdom in Sulawesi. The expansion of this local kingdom contributed to the formation and shaping ofthe Bugis identity in the ancient period. However, Bugis identity developed and transformed over time; from the tradition of La Galigo it became a Muslim society. In addition, migration and commercial culture helped construct their identity. Re-examining ethnic identity from a long-term historical perspective is important in order to move beyond cultural essentialism, which tends to ignore the shifts and changes as a result from cross-cultural encounters. Ethnic boundaries are not immutable, but are contextually deployed and relationally define

Second Lead Syndrome in The Reception of Romantic Relationships by Indonesian Female K-Drama Audiences

The Second Lead Syndrome, popular among Indonesian K-drama viewers, involves favoring the second lead over the main character in love triangles, sparking audience contestation. Start-Up (2020) is one of the K-dramas that sparked it and divided its audience into Nam Do-san Team and Han Ji-pyeong Team based on differences in audience views, so this descriptive qualitative research was conducted to describe Han Ji-pyeong Team's reception of romantic relationships in Start-Up. This research combines Hall's Reception Theory, the participatory audience concept, and Sternberg's Triangular Theory of Love. Research data was obtained through in-depth interviews with six informants representing Han Ji-pyeong Team.The findings indicate that the informants perceive the romantic relationships in dominant-hegemonic and negotiating positions. They support the second lead character, Ji-pyeong, by negotiating the romantic relationships shown. They acted on this reception by expressing emotions, preferences, and narrative interpretation on social media, driven by their preferences, identification, and parasocial relationships with the second lead. Their actions become a collective activity contributing to forming a popular culture, the second lead syndrome. This study explores audience reception of romantic relationships in K-dramas and their participation, setting an academic precedent for the second lead syndrome in Indonesian context

Two Sides of Peer Support: A Qualitative Study on Peer Influence and Alcohol Consumption among Students at Universitas Negeri Makassar

This study aims to explore how social support and social relationships are perceived and experienced by university students who consume alcoholic beverages on campus, and how these factors relate to expressions of aggressiveness. The research is motivated by the growing concern over aggressive behaviors among students involved in alcohol consumption, as well as the limited number of studies that address this issue from a social and cultural perspective. Previous research has predominantly employed quantitative approaches or focused on individual psychological factors. To address this gap, the present study adopts a descriptive qualitative approach with an interpretivist orientation, aiming to uncover the meanings and lived experiences of students. Eight active students from the Gunungsari campus of Universitas Negeri Makassar were selected as participants using purposive sampling. Data were collected through in-depth interviews and analyzed using data condensation, data display, and conclusion drawing and verification. The findings reveal that forms of social support emotional, informational, and instrumental as well as social relationships characterized by cooperation, accommodation, and assimilation, shape how students interpret and respond to situations involving alcohol use and aggression. These results suggest that aggressive behavior is not solely an individual response but is deeply embedded in the surrounding social context. This study contributes to the literature on student behavior and mental health from a socio-cultural perspective, particularly within the context of higher education in Indonesia

Expanding the Horizons of Indonesian Literary Criticism: A Review of Ruang-Ruang Kemungkinan dalam Kritik Sastra Akademik by Saeful Anwar

This book serves as a significant contribution to the discourse on literary criticism in Indonesia by effectively addressing the gaps left by existing critical works. One of its strengths lies in its balanced analysis, which considers both structure and content while engaging in a thorough dialectical exploration of internal and external elements. Anwar’s writing style stands out for its flexibility, benefiting from his unique perspective as both an academic and a literary author. This dual identity allows him to maintain intellectual rigor without succumbing to the constraints of overly formal academic language

Discursive Battle Over Belis: Online Debates on Bridewealth Tradition in Nusa Tenggara Timur

This study examines the discursive transformations and contested meanings of belis, a dowry tradition in East Nusa Tenggara, by analyzing how it is debated, redefined, and reinforced in digital spaces. Using Foucauldian Discourse Analysis, it interrogates the power relations, regimes of truth, and subject positions articulated in public discourse surrounding belis. Traditionally, belis served as a social contract symbolizing the union of two families through marriage and reinforcing communal bonds through the exchange of valuable items from the groom’s family to the bride’s. However, contemporary interpretations of belis have shifted under social, economic, and cultural transformations.. Drawing on data from YouTube broadcasts and user-generated comments, this research explores how digital platforms mediate public discourse on belis. The analysis reveals that online debates increasingly frame belis through the lens of economic logic and social prestige, often prioritizing material value over its metaphysical and symbolic significance. This discursive shift reflects a broader cultural reconfiguration in which traditional practices are questioned, redefined, or reinforced within digital spaces. Ultimately, the study argues that the transformation of belis illustrates how digital discourse contributes to the rearticulation of cultural meaning, exposing tensions between heritage and modernity, and between symbolic reciprocity and commodification

Feeding Precarity Between State and Capital: Women Workers and Breastfeeding in Cakung Manufacturing Industry

Women constitute the vital workforce in Indonesia's economy, particularly in sectors like garment, textile, and footwear. Despite their economic importance, these industries are characterised by excessive control, pressure, and violence, transforming women into cheap labour and limiting their lives both in the production and social reproduction realm. This study analyses how the discipline of factory work has implications for women workers in their care work, specifically in breastfeeding. Through a qualitative approach, this study uses focus group discussions (FGD) and interviews with women garment and textile industry workers in Kawasan Berikat Nusantara, North Jakarta. The study also analyses the state's response and position in child-feeding matters. The study shows how the regimented nature of factory work, which controls the energy, time, and bodies of women workers, coupled with the absence of job security and protection from the state, limit workers’ capacity to care for their families, particularly to breastfeed their children. Consequently, women workers have to switch to formula milk. I argue that the workers’ reliance on formula milk illustrates a form of neoliberalism in which the state subjugates women workers to the capitalist economy both in the realms of production and social reproduction, forcing them to live in a precarious condition. This potentially will cause health, nutrition, and other quality of life problems for mothers and children in the future

Cup, Cup, Jangan Nangis! Language Socialization Study of How Parents Respond to Their Children Cry

Burdelski & Cook (2012) and Santrock (2011) theorized that parents socialize with their children through actions and speech, even when responding to the cries of their children. This paper intends to investigate the actions and speech of parents when responding to their cries. This paper also aims to understand how parents socialize with their children in those activities. The researcher conducted this qualitative research by distributing questionnaires via Google Forms. WhatsApp groups and Twitter are the media the researcher chose to distribute the form. After receiving 98 answers, the researcher interviewed 24 families—picking two for further observations. The result shows that parents convey their responses through one, two, or more speech acts that include assertive in the forms of an affirmation; directives in the forms of prohibition, advice, encouragement, asking (general question, assurance, investigation, rhetorical); expressive in the forms of an expression of getting surprised, teasing, showing caring expression, calming down, and blaming; and commissive in the forms of promising. Meanwhile, there are various socialization functions contained in these speech acts, such as affective socialization (in the form of caring or concern and reassurance), self-knowledge socialization (in the form of self-confidence, prudence), socialization of gender identity (maturity and gender), religiosity, shame, causal logic or the consequences, and even logical fallacy for blaming something that has nothing to do with the cause of the child falling

Women’s Motivation in Utilizing Culture for Sustainable Economic Improvement at Desa Pesanggrahan

Women play a crucial role in driving advancements in the local economy in alignment with the Sustainable Development Goals. This research seeks to offer an unbiased understanding of women’s motivational levels, perspectives, and roles in Desa Pesanggrahan, Mojokerto, East Java, contributing to the development of their cultural landscape. This descriptive qualitative study utilized data collected from August to September 2023 through document reviews, interviews, and observations with female members of the Family Welfare Development (Pembinaan Kesejahteraan Keluarga [PKK]) in Desa Pesanggrahan organization in Desa Pesanggrahan. We employed Abraham Maslow's theory on the hierarchy of needs as a base for the analysis of this paper. The result of interviews with the locals, documentation, and observation carried out in the data collection of this research found that women in Desa Pesanggrahan still have low motivation based on Maslow’s theory. This affects their ability to generate innovative ideas and make independent decisions in the development of local culture. Women tend to select men as their leaders, as they often lack the confidence to assume leadership roles in the village. Their role in developing their cultural products in the village is overshadowed by the men of the village

The Philosophy of Ethnobotany and the Transformation of Jamasan Pusaka Tradition in the Pendopo of Batang District

The tradition of jamasan pusaka (heirloom washing), or simply jamasan,  in Batang District involves various types of plants initsrituals. Plants, as part of the local cultural heritage, play an important role in maintaining the balance of parallelism and interrelationship between macrocosm and microcosm. Over time, this tradition has evolved, and this article aims to explorethe relationship and changes in ethnobotanical knowledge within the jamasan practice. It also analyzeshow the immanent and the transcendental functions of plantsare interpreted. Using a qualitative research method with an ethnographic approach, data were collected through observation, interview, and visual documentation. The study identified 19 types of plants involved in the jamasan tradition. These plants , based on local knowledge, hold immanent and transcendental functions that are important for the continuity of the practice. The plants are categorized into mandatory elementsbased on immanent meaning, symbolic meaning, and non-mandatory elements. Jamasan is not merely the washing of heirlooms, butalso serves as a life guide for living meaningfully. Over time,the tradition has undergone transformations, with shifts from sacred to profane functions and from immanent to transcendental meanings. These changes have reconstructed the practice of jamasan in the present day