CULTURAL DIVERSITY AS REPRESENTED IN ... - Proceedings

3rd ELTLT CONFERENCE PROCEEDINGS September 2014

CULTURAL DIVERSITY AS REPRESENTED IN INDONESIAN FOLKLORES: CASE STUDY IN MATHEMATICS DEPARTMENT Muhammad Arief Budiman IKIP PGRI SEMARANG [email protected]

Abstract The purpose of this research is to know how far the Mathematics students in 2013/2014 have ability to know the concept of cultural diversity as represented in Indonesian folklores. The method of this research is descriptive analysis. While the approach that we use is culture‘s approach. Focus group discussion in this research is to find the result of analysis from the students. The result shows three things. Firstly the students are able to understand about the culture from the short stories that is given. Secondly almost all of the students can describe the moral value delivered in the story. Thirdly all of the students agree that Focus Group Discussion is a good technique to help the students understand the literary works. Keywords: culture, focus group discussion

Introduction Culture etymologically derived from the Sanskrit "budhayah", which is the plural of budhi which means mind or sense. While anthropologist that provides a systematically and scientifically definition of culture is EB Tylor in a book entitled "Primitive Culture", he said that culture is a complex whole which has in it the other sciences, as well as human habits acquired as a member of society.

On a slightly different, Koentjaraningrat defines culture as a whole human being from the behavior and results of regular behavior by behavior patterns which must be gained to learn and that all made up in people's lives. From some senses it can be concluded that the culture is a whole system of ideas, actions, and results of work of man to fulfill his life by way of learning, all of which are arranged in society.

Muhammad Arief Budiman

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In clonclusion, culture has three concepts: (1) Culture is everything that is done and created by human, which includes material culture (physical nature) (which includes the creation of human objects, such as vehicles, household appliances, and others) and non-material Culture (spiritual nature) (is all the things that cannot be seen and touched, such as religion, language, science, and so on) (2) Culture was not inherited by generative (biological), but may only be obtained by means of learning (3) culture is obtained by human as a member of society. Without communities the possibility is very small to shape culture. In contrast, without culture impossible human (individual or group) can sustain life. Thus, culture is almost all human actions in daily life.

Works of Art According Sumardjo and Sumaini, one definition of literature is language arts. That is, the birth of a literary work is to be enjoyed by readers. To be able to enjoy a literary work seriously takes good knowledge of the literature. Without adequate knowledge, enjoyment of a work of literature will only be superficial and cursory because of the lack of proper understanding. Previously, everyone should know what is meant by literary works. Literary work is not a science. Literary work is art, where many human elements that go in it, especially feeling, making it difficult to apply the scientific method. Feeling, passion, confidence, conviction as elements of a literary work are difficult to make the limitations Literary work is an expression of the human person in the form of experiences, thoughts, feelings, ideas, passion, belief in a form of picture of life, which can evoke fascination with language and tool described in writing. Jakop Sumardjo in his book entitled "Apresiasi Kesusastraan" saying that the literary work is an attempt to record the contents of author‘s soul. This recording is using a language. Literature is a form of recording in a language that will be presented to others.

Basically, the literature is very useful in life, because literature can provide awareness to the reader about the truths of life, although described in the form of fiction. Literary works can provide excitement and satisfaction of mind. This Entertainment is the kind of intellectual and spiritual entertainment. Literary works can also be used as experience to work, because anyone can pour hearts and minds in a valuable writing art.

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After knowing what is meant by the literature, there is no harm if we glance deeper into the genre (type) of literary works. Literary works can be classified into two groups, namely the imaginative literature and non-imaginative literature. Characteristic of imaginative literature are the literature has more highlight of the fanciful nature, using connotative language, and meet the aesthetic requirements. While the characteristics of non-imaginative literature are the literature has more factual elements than the imaginative elements, tend to use denotative language, and still meet the aesthetic requirements.

Distribution of imaginative literary genre can be summarized in the form of poetry, fiction or narrative prose, and drama. Poetry is a very solid series of words. Therefore, the clarity of a poem depends heavily on the correct use of the word as well as the cohesion that make it up. Fiction or prose narrative is a bouquet that has biodegradable explanation about a problem or things or events, and others. Fiction is essentially divided into novels and short stories. The third genre imaginative literature is the drama. Drama is a literary work that tells the story through the dialogue of the characters. Drama as a literary work is actually only temporary, because the play was written as a basis for staged. Thus, the purpose of drama is not to be read like a novel or a poetry reading. The real drama is that literary texts had been staged. But however, the written text is always included drama as literature.

Next is the division of non-imaginative literary genre, in which the levels of the facts in this literary genre is rather prominent. Author works based on facts or reality that actually exists and happens that can be obtained. Presentation in the form of literature is accompanied by the imagination, which is becoming a hallmark of literary works. Genres are included in nonimaginative literature, namely: (1) Essay is a short essay about the fact that is analyzed according to the personal view. In the essay, both the author's mind and the personal feelings and the author‘s whole character are clearly defined, because the essay is the author's personal expression of something a fact.(2) Criticism is the analysis to assess the artwork, in this case literature. Thus, the actual work of criticism is arguments with facts of a literary work, because the criticism ends with a conclusion of the analysis. The purpose of criticism not only demonstrate the advantages, drawbacks, right and wrong of a literary work is seen from a certain angle, but also the ultimate goal is to encourage the creation of literary writers to reach as high as possible, and also encourages the reader to appreciate literature better. (3)


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Biography or memoir is the story of someone's life written by someone else. Biographer task is to bring back the person's life based on sources or facts that can be gathered. The writing technique of biography is usually chronological which begins from birth, childhood, youth, adults, and the end of his life. A biographical work usually involves the lives of important figures in society or historical figures. (4) The autobiography is a biography written by the characters themselves, or sometimes written by others but told and acknowledged by the character. The surplus of autobiography is that small events which are not known to anyone else (because no evidence could be disclosed) are written. Similarly, attitudes, opinions, and feelings of characters who have never known by anyone else are disclosed. (5) History is the story of a bygone age of a society based on sources written or unwritten. Although the work of history based on facts obtained from several sources, but the presentation is never separated from its author fanciful elements. Historical facts are usually limited and incomplete, so to describe the ancient times, the author needs to reconstruct it based on the imagination, so that it becomes a complete and incomprehensible. (6) Memoirs is basically an autobiography, the history written by the characters themselves. The difference, memoirs limited to a piece of experience of the characters, for example the events experienced during World War II figures alone. The fact is that in memoirs the author‘s imagination comes to play a role. (7) Diary or daily record is a record of a person about himself or his surroundings are written on a regular basis. Diaries are often assessed as literature because it was written in an honest, spontaneous, thus resulting in personal expressions which are original and clear, which is one of the qualities that are valued in literature. (8) Letter of specific figures for others can be considered as a work of literature, because the quality is the same as contained in the diary.

This non imaginative literary genre is not well developed, so that there is less known genres as part of the literature. What is called literature is just concerning the works of the imagination. It can be seen from the understanding of the public, especially students of literature.

Focus Group Discussion The term Focus Group Discussion (FGD) is currently very popular and widely used as a data collection method in social research. Retrieval of qualitative data through focus group

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discussions is widely known because of its advantages in providing convenience and an opportunity for researchers to establish openness, trust, and understanding the perceptions, attitudes, and experience of the informant. FGD allows researchers and informants intensive discussions and not rigid in discussing issues that are very specific. FGD also allows researchers to collect information quickly and constructively from participants who have different backgrounds. In addition, the group dynamics that occur during the process of discussion often provide information that is important, interesting, and sometimes unexpected.

FGD results cannot be used to generalize because it is not intended to describe the voice of society. However, the significance of FGD lies not in the results of the population representation, but in the depth of information. Through focus group discussion, researchers can determine the reason, the motivation, the basis of the argument or opinion of a person or group. FGD is a qualitative research method that is theoretically easy to administer, but the practice requires high technical skills.

FGD can be simply defined as a systematic discussion and focused on a particular issue or problem. Irwanto (2006: 1-2) defines the FGD as a process of systematic data and information collection about a very specific issues through group discussion. As the name implies, the notion of Focus Group Discussion contains three key words: a. Discussion (not an interview or chat); b. Group (not individual); c. Focused / Targeted (not free). That is, although the fact is a discussion, FGD is not the same with interview, meeting, or chat of a few people in cafes. FGD is not merely gathering of people to discuss a few things. Many people argue that the FGD conducted to find solutions or solve problems. That is, discussions aimed at reaching agreement on a particular issue faced by the participants, but the event is not FGD, but regular meetings. FGD is different from the arena solely held to seek consensus.

As a research tool, FGD can be used as a primary or secondary method. FGD serves as the primary method if used as the sole or primary method of research method (in addition to any other method) in the collection of data in a study. FGD as a secondary research method is commonly used to complement quantitative research and or as one of the triangulation


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technique. In this regard, both serves as a primary or secondary method, the data obtained from the FGDs are qualitative data.

Beyond its function as a method of scientific research, Krueger & Casey (2000: 12-18) mentions, basically FGD can also be used in a variety of domains and objectives, such as (1) decision making, (2) needs assessment, (3) product development or programs, (4) determine customer satisfaction, and so on.

Discussion a. The Story of Rorojonggrang This story tells about a girl named Rorojonggrang. She is a clever girl. She does not want to marry Bandung Bondowoso because he attacks her kingdom and kills her father. To reject him indirectly, she asks Bandung Bondowoso to build a thousand temples in one night. Near the morning, she asks the girls to make a morning-like situation by pounding the rice and burning the stubbles. Bandung Bondowoso meets Rorojonggrang and demands her to marry him. She counts the temple and there are only 999 temples thus she rejects him. Bandung Bondowoso is angry and curses Rorojonggrang to be a stone and becomes the a temple. If we analyze using Greimas‘ actan, the story will be like this:

From the scheme we can see that Rorojonggrang (subject) does not want to marry Bandung Bondowoso (object). She comes up with a plan to reject the marriage proposal (helper). She asks Bandung Bondowoso (opposition) to build 1000 temples in one night. Near the morning

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Rorojonggrang asks the girls (sender) to make a morning-like situation by pounding the rice and burning the stubbles. Bandung Bondowoso fails to complete 1000 temples thus Rorojonggrang (receiver) rejects to marry him.

From the discussion, most of the students propose that the good character is Rorojonggrang because she is smart, loyal to her father, and nice (as she reject the marriage proposal indirectly. While 12 out of 32 students (37.5 %) say that the good character is Bandung Bondowoso because he has good intention to marry Rorojonggrang and he obeys what she wants. The students also have different opinion about the bad characters. 62.5 % of the students decide that the bad character is Bandung Bondowoso because he attacks Keraton Boko and kills Prabu Boko. Whle 37.5 % of students state that the bad character is Rorojonggrang because she cheats Bandung Bondowoso by making a morning-like situation.

The students argue that some moral values taught by the stories are do not be proud of yourself; do not cheat others; control your emotion.

b. Story of Yomngga and the Dragon The story tells about a girl named Yomngga who lives with her grandmother. She is a dilligent girl. Everyday she helps her grandmother in the field. There ia a dragon watching her. One day when she and her grandmother walks to the field, the dragon stops them and asks them where they live. At night, the dragon changes into a man and visit Yomngga. They fall in love and get married. Yomngga gets pregnant. The sisters from other village visit her and find the dragon. They hate the dragon and poison the dragon. The dragon dies. The sisters tell the villagers about the dragon. The villagers cast away Yomngga. Yomngga leaves the village by boat. If we analyze using Greimas‘ actan, the story will be like this:


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From the scheme we can see that Yomngga (subject) wants to live happily by marrying the dragon (object). At first Yomngga lives with her grandmother (helper). She is a dilligent girl who always helps grandmother in the field. One day a dragon (sender) stops them and asks them where they live. At night the dragon changes into a man and visit Yomngga. They fall in love and get married. Hearing the news, the sisters (opposition) visit her. They find the dragon and hate it then they poison the gradon and it dies. The sisters tell the villagers about the dragon. The villagers asks Yomngga (receiver) to go away.

From the discussion, the students propose that the good characters are Yomngga, grandmother and the dragon. Yomngga is a dillegent girl who always helps grandmother in the field. She is also a loving person who loves her husband (the dragon) and her grandmother very much. Grandmother is a kind person who takes care of Yomngga. She is also a loyal person who keeps the secret about the dragon. The dragon is patient for what happen to him. He is also confident to express his love although he is a dragon. The students argues that the bad characters are the sisters and the villagers. The sisters are evil because they kill the dragon. The villagers are ignorant because they cast away Yomngga who is pregnant.

The students also states that the story teach the reader some of moral values, they are: do not judge the book by its cover; be a hard worker, be responsible, be kind; do not lost contact with your family; think before you act; love each other; do not commit crime; do not have prejudice about others. The students also finds the message in the story. The message is that if there is a will, there will be a way.

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c. The story of Jaka Klinting The story tells about a boy named Jaka Klinting. He is a nice boy but he has ugly appearance. He comes to a village after a very long walk. He is tired and thirsty. He asks a drink to many people, but all of them reject him. Then he asks a drink to an old lady named Nyai Lantung. She is a kind woman. She gives Jaka Klinting a drink and a place to stay. Jaka Klinting helps her earn money. People mocks him and he ignores them. But when people mocks Nyai Lantung, Jaka Klinting is very angry. He challenges people to revoke the stick that he plugs into the ground. Many people try and fail. Then Jaka Klinting revokes the stick. The stick was plugged easily. Then from the ground it comes out water. The water comes out slowly but never stops. The water drowns the village, except Nyai Lantung‘s house. If we analyze using Greimas‘ actan, the story will be like this:

From the scheme we know that Jaka Klinting (subject) wants to make Nyai Lantung happy (object). When he comes to the village, the villagers (opposition) mock Jaka Klinting. Nyai Lantung (helper) helps Jaka Klinting by giving him a drink and a place to stay. When the villagers mock Nyai Lantung, Jaka Klinting uses his superpower (sender) to drown the village. All villagers are drowned except Nyai lantung because Jaka Klinting saves Nyai Lantung (receiver).

From the discussion the students propose that the good character are Nyai Lantung and Jaka Klinting. Nyai Lantung is a kind and helpful women. Jaka Klinting is a dillegent man and a hard worker. The students also argues that the bad characters are the villagers because they


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are not helpful and arrogant. They have bad characteristic as seen when they mock, insult, tease, and make fun Jaka Klinting.

The students also states that the story teach the reader some of moral values, they are: do not look down and insult others because they are poor; help and respect each other; be good and be polite; do not judge people based on their appearance.

d. The Comparison From the three stories analyzed above we can see the similarities and the differences. The similarities lay on the mystical part. The first story says that a man can build 1000 temples in one night and a man can curse other into a stone, while the second and the third story tell that a man can transform into a dragon.

The differences lay on the teaching part. The first story teaches us about how to become a good leader. It teaches what features we have to obtaine in order to be a good leader. It also teaches what features considered inappropriate as a bad leader. The second story teaches us about how to become a faithful wife. It mentions implicitly what are the characteristics we need to have in order to be a faithful wife. It also mentions the opposites characteristics considered inappropriate for a faithful wife. The third story teaches us about how to be a patient and calm person. It describes the qualities of beoming a patient and calm person. Having known that, it also implicitly describes the qualities that should not be owned by a patient and calm person.

Conclusion The introduction towards Indonesian folklores to Indonesian students are interesting topic as young generation nowadays neglect and ignore the existence of their cultural heritage. They seem more interesting in modern world that full of technologies. This paper analyzes the interaction between the students and the Indonesian folklores. The introduction is conducted through focus group discussion. By using focus group discussion, the class can successfully conduct an analysis towards three folklores from indonesia. Analysing these folklores, the students find that these are the media to teach moral values from older generation to younger one as folklore started as oral literature.

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As a media for teaching moral values, these folklores should contain good stuffs only. But from the analysis, we found that there are some inappropiate teachings in the stories. For example, first story ‗Rorojonggrang‘ mentions the main character (Rorojonggrang) conducts an inappropriate behavior to save herself. She does not keep her promise to marry Bandung Bondowoso. She cheats Bandung Bondowoso to make a morning-like situation thus he cannot finish building 1000 temples.

But this activity (introducing Indonesian folklores) to Indonesian students is considered a success. This is one of many ways to preserve our cultural heritage. We cannot neglect our ignorant younger generation that look down their own ancestor.

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