Research Article: 2021 Vol: 24 Issue: 3S
Anna Gustina Zainal, Universitas Lampung
Karomani, Universitas Lampung
Yulia Neta, University of Lampung
Dian Kagungan, Universitas Lampung
Citation Information: Zainal, A.G., Karomani, & Neta, Y., & Kagungan, D. (2021). The communication activities and women’s roles in rudat culture based on adat law. Journal of Legal, Ethical and Regulatory Issues, 24(7), 1-12
This research focuses on knowing the communication activities and women's roles in Rudat community's culture in Desa Negeri Katon. This research uses a descriptive quantitative method. Respondents in this study amounted to 97 people who were taken using the purposive sampling technique. Based on the research, it is known that women's role in maintaining Rudat culture is high. The role of women both in the process of disseminating information and in the process of implementing Rudat culture is always large, namely being involved in the three stages of implementing Rudat culture. The activeness of women's communication behaviour related to Rudat culture shows that the Kramarae Muted Group Theory (MGT) in this study is weak because in communicating the Rudat culture, women can overcome women's communication barriers which, according to MGT, are caused. With the dominance of men's ways of expression in society. The women in this study converted their unique ideas, experiences, and meanings into the content of the Rudat cultural messages they used. Also, women can play their communication dynamics when in a women's group and when in a mixed group. Also, women in the research location could answer what would happen if the silenced party did not change their experience to become the dominant language in the communication process carried out.
Implementation, Rudat Culture, The Role of Woman, Communication, Community.
Communication is one of the main human activities Chmielecki, 2015), the study of which is reflected in many papers related to different socio humanitarian disciplines that actualize the social information, symbolic, linguistic, psychological, nature of communication (Lunenburg, 2010). The above theoretical discours e is continuous, diversified, and close to the profound perception of publi c processes and changes (Emily et al., 2020). People cannot live without others, which means that people need to do communication to get relations with another. This could create a social network of communication Kauppinen, 2013) in the society indirectly.
This also influenced communication processes not through emphasized but conceptual factors of the institutional development of communication processes (Hajiyev, 2019). The process of communication begins from the people's mind that involves some messages or information. These all happen because people are social creatures Kauppinen, 2013), same as the other human's life. The maintenance of culture in society can be maintained by c ommunication among people (Sek?ci?ska, 2016). According to Littejhon 2011), a further communication process is a transmission in the form of media and mediator or channel as telephone, letter, speaking orally, etc. to deliver the message to the receiver. Firstly, the receiver has received the message, then he/she tries to guess the message (decode) and finally understanding the content of the message (Kraidy, 2017).
The answer and reaction from the sender to the receiver is feedback. If there is a change from the sender, it means that the communication is worked out well (Vandenberghe, 2019). Based on this theory, it can be concluded that the elements of the communication process include the source (Antonio & Tuffley, 2014), communicator as the sender, mes sage, channel, communicant as the re ceiver of the message Lindberg et al. 2007), and effect as a result. In communication, the communicator can be a communicant, and also the communicant can be a communicator (Gärdenfors, 2004).
In social life, the people in Negeri Katon village believe and hold their culture from their ancestors. It has an effect on their activity in their daily life. Rudat is one of the cultures owned by the people in Negeri Katon from the past until the present day, and it still exists. Rudat is included in one of the art culture or custom traditions in Lampung. This involves the tribe of Lampung Pepadun and the tribe of Lampung Sebatin (Zainal & Karomani, 2020). Rudat culture is a community culture in the form of art that is applied in the form of dance, humming, and wasps. The dance, humming, and wasps contain meaning and prayers, which are intended especially for the family that carries it out and the village community.
Rudat is carried out when there are people who carry out customar y or circumcision marriages to aim that the families who carry it out, especially the bride or circumcised child, are given safety and blessings in their lives in the future. Also, suppose a family carries out a Rudat event that accompanies a marriage cere mony or circumcision. In that case, the family's degree will also be raised in the surrounding community's eyes. In the Rudat culture, the cortege ceremony is accompanied by Rebana and some songs of Salawat, also the recitation of Hadorot from the holy boo k of Hadra. The recitation of Hadorot is doing by the groom and bride along their way from the hall after doing the culture ceremony until the house of groom or bride.
Rudat culture is often, and the majority do by some people in some villages living by the people of Pepadun. However, there is little difference in the Rudat event in Negeri Katon, that is one of three Rudat processions can do by men only. Even though at the other villages, this can also be done by the woman and based on the pre survey (inte rview) with the leaders of culture, they are valid and allowed to do the Rudat culture as long as they follow the rules of culture. All of the people must have some changes in their life. These changes can be in social values, social norms, behaviors, soci al status, social interaction, etc. (Soekanto, 2013). This understanding depends on the change participation or information network in the context of family or group about how a woman can decide in the main family discussion (Wängnerud, 2019) or even in th e big family discussion.
Communication media technology has an important role in developing the flow of production Suparno, 2012), consumption, and distribution of information. The urgency of technology in the communication process occurs when technology results can help change communication patterns, which are limited by space and time into unlimited communication. The emergence of new media can provide an alternative for the community to communicate (Masril, 2018). Changes and the new modern era make hu mans more developed, including women's communication a ctivities in the Rudat culture.
This research focuses on knowing the communication activities and women's roles in Rudat community's culture in Desa Negeri Katon. This study's novelty value is the use o f Muted Group theory to discuss Lampung women's communication activities in Negeri Katon Village who adhere to the patrilineal system.
This research used a descriptive quantitative method. It is a method that seeks to describe a problem tha t is the object of research, such as behavior, role, perception, m otivation, action, etc. (Nawawi , 2010). This research was also a type of descriptive research. The research was done to draw one variable to others to collect the actual information as the detail that described the existing phenomenon (Rakhmad, 2007).
Descriptive quantitative research is aimed at solving existing problems. Descriptive methods are general terms that include a variety of descriptive techniques. The method used in this researc h were interview, documentation, and observation techniques. This research aimed to set the implementation of Rudat culture in Lampung, especially at Negeri Katon village, district of Negeri Katon, Pesawaran regency. The respondent of this research were 97 people, which was taken by using the purposive sampling technique. The researcher chooses the initial information, that is, the local community who have personal experience and extensive knowledge about the implementation of Rudat culture, then they will point to other individuals who are suitable for further information, and so on until there is no more information.
The data collecting technique of this research was an interview; it aims to find the information directly by interviewing the respondents so that the researcher got the information. The documentation technique is a way to collect the data by seeing the written legacy, especially in files. It includes books about opinion, theorem, or laws that have relation to the problem investigation.
Communication and culture are concepts that cannot be separated from each other (Chen, 2013). The central of communication and culture is on the variation process and how people communicate in their community or social group. The culture in society is diff erent from one to another. In Indonesia, it consists of some kind of ethnic group, but after all, each culture has the same characteristic (Elly, 2007 ; Suparno, 2012) Some differences of tribes in Indonesia could affect the culture itself, which involves s ome cultures in some islands related to the custom ceremony event. The custom ceremony is one of culture that has relation to the function so that it has important meaning for the social life (Suwana, 2017).
Rudat is one of the cultural rituals in Lampung society that still works in the present day and must exist for a long time. The effort to preserve the Rudat culture is not that easy; it is because some tribes in Lampung make the people know each other and familiar with the other culture from the other p eople. One example that is becoming an obstacle in developing the Rudat culture is getting information about Rudat itself. The easiness of getting information about Rudat culture could make a big contribution in developing culture itself.
Adat Law in the Perspectives of Lampung Society
The Lampung community is a society that has a strict genealogical basis, which is an orderly community unit where members of the community are tied to the same lineage and one ancestor. The origin is directly due to blo od ties (descent) or indirectly because of the marital relations or custom ties. The people of Lampung are territorially divided into 2 (two), namely Lampung Pepadun and the peo ple of Lampung Saibatin (Zainal, 2019). The people of Lampung Pepadun are peopl e who inhabit areas in the interior of Lampung. In contrast, the people of Lampung Saibatin live in coastal regions because they occupy the areas along the east, south, and west coasts of Lampung.
The people of Lampung grow up with a variety of cultures in their existence as indigenous peoples. In carrying out their existence as an indigenous community, of course, there is a legal system that regulates all aspects of social interaction in the community from birth to death (Ammaria, 2017). Humans throughout their lives in social life have a space for interaction between fellow humans. They are manifested in the form of legal relations, which contain the rights and obligations between one human being and another and their assets. Every human being living his l ife will experience legal events that cannot be avoided in his life (Kraidy, 2017). This event is a destiny that every living thing must pass through as the nature of his God.
To preserve and maintain cultural values and adat law internally, always maintai n and prioritize indigenous peoples' interests with the principle of independence, especially in exploring the regional potential for their power and wealth (Hernández Truyol, 2017). Some local indigenous peoples still live by their adat laws, both based o n territorial and genealogical ties. Indigenous groups have traditions that allow them to be closer to adat law values. This kind of mysticism and life certainly need to be explored, inventoried, and maintained so that the younger generation can understand and have pride in their cultural customs as part of the importance of achieving harmony in their lives. Politeness or warm hearted behavior in greetings between community members is typical in traditional institutions (Ahdiah, 2013). The potential of loca l culture and adat law needs to be preserved as a basic framework for development patterns, both in the framework of maintaining adat law and culture and a source of motivation in community socio economic development activities with cultural insight. So it is hoped that the resources of indigenous peoples can be optimally utilized as a source of inspiration in efforts to explore the region's socio economic potential.
Women's Communication Activities Regarding Rudat Culture
Nowadays, people are changing due to the development of the era where science and technology are developed. This affects the people's minds that they want to improve themselves based on their needs. The people are not dependent on the cultural tradition anymore because their minds have cha nged and become progressive. They can change or modify some events based on what they want.
The changes that happen in Rudat culture's procession are the result of people's behavior at Negeri Katon, that is, the response of parents responds to the availas timuliuses. The stimulus comes to exist, and it comes from the factors of stimuli fromimuliFrom these stimuli, there is a change of parents' behavior in the event of marriage. The changing of the procession is dominant to semi modern. The uses of the custo m procession, such as clothing procession, are dominant to modern. The decoration is minimalist, and the people involved in the music in the procession are also getting the difference. These have many effects on the parents so that parents' response is nee ded to decide to implement Rudat culture.
One factor that affects this condiction is the easiness of getting information about Rudat culture for all groups. The easiness of accessing information has a significant influence on someone's communication. This situation is related to the statement which stated by Hjarvard (2008) in Matindas, 2011) that both man and woman have same opportunity to access the same information in the process of communication. Access to information can be accessed by communication channels such as face to face as individual, group, or populace media. The communicat ion process makes an effort to enter an individual as the passive receiver from the outside agriculture information. It usually does not work well because the less knowledge that the man and woman have different interest even though they are working in the same field (Riordan, 2001). The activity of communication from the receiver to get access to information must be paid attention to.
It related to the statement by Heath & Bryant 2000) Burgon 2002) that the communication activity is about finding out the information through some ways such as ( 1 ) in the process of receiving the information of communication the individual is not specific to find information. However, he/she will process the information that was obtained. ( 2 ) the behavior of looking for i nformation is where the individual is found informatio n and tries to understand it. (3 ) The behavior of sending information is where an individual sen ds the information to others. (4 ) The practice of practicing is where the individual who had collected the information wants to practice the message received in daily life.
Communication behavior is oriented on the function Chatzithomas et al. 2014 ) that is generally motivated by self will to gain a specific purpose. The process to find information is done by the respondent due to information requirements (Cummings & O'Neil, 2015). A person who wants to find information because of self requirement or some unclear reasons. Humans are the main role who search for information related to the information source where the channel of communication could give information. It can happen both actively or passively (Ni Nyoman, 2016). The communication process include s face to face and receiving information passively, such as watching TV, listening to Radio, without an action that was given through the information. States that to find information means there is a consequence of satisfying the purpose. Nowadays, women a t Negeri Katon village are still active to find and access information about Rudat culture, in case searching for this information is evidence that women try to be active in Rudat culture.
Nowadays, the development in technology and information is significant for humans Baker, 2015), including the organic vegetables' agriculture community (Riordan, 2001). All people are hoped to manage the available information because the supporting techno logy is growing up and becoming more creative every day. The ability to find information for accessing the controlling the information will always happen to an individual, group, or even in the community. Someone who is finding information, he/she could pe rsuasive to use the information as a tool to influence the result. An individual could change the behavior and manner in using the information, especially if the information is relevant to his/her requirement.
Based on the result of observation, it is known that women in the research territory are always active in communicating the Rudat culture through the media in the last two years. It is proved that women have good access to media information in receiving, searching, and sending the message about Rudat culture. The activeness of women in communicating the message of Rudat culture, which is done directly, is in the high level of activeness. Moreover, respondents stated that the sharing of information between a woman and social media were the same, their t hing had done due to the statement and clarification as to the detail about the characteristics of Rudat culture procession, both on the same aspect or even on the different aspect of Rudat culture with the others. Two main things need to pay attention to influence and change someone's behavior (Umajyothi, 2014). Firstly, the society as a motivated communicant in doing what they have wanted; secondly, the easiness in doing the fact or of communication. Meanwhile Suraningsih, 2017) state that human action is started by knowledge, which is defined as the communication and experience learned to become a complete component, namely cognitive.
It means that in their life, although women are not involved in deciding the Rudat culture procession, they could give si gnificant influence to their family to implement the message received. In this study, the communication behaviors of women were seen based on receiving behavior , seeking behavior, diffusing behavior , practicing the behavior , and adopting behaviour (Hernánd ez Truyol, 2017). Regarding women's desire to receive information about Rudat culture through the media, they are at a frequent level and have a fairly good degree of accuracy. Someone's communication behavior in sending a message will display the techniqu es and skills of someone to achieve their communication goals, in this case, can be applied to someone in sending messages that regulate communication techniques both verbally and non verbally using the media or through direct communication (Zainal & Karom ani, 2020). The activeness of woman communication behaviour in Rudat culture is related to Muted Group Theory (MGT), which states by Kramarae (West & Turner, 2008). Kramarae states that women (from the other subordinate group) are not free and not capable as men in case of saying what they want, where and when they want it because words and norms that used by women had been formulated by men dominantly.
In this research, women can play their roles in communicating with their groups when they are in mixed gr oups. Women in the research location can answer what is happening if the muted communicant does not convert their experience into the dominant language in the process of communication. The new media and education level contribute to the behaviour changing of communication for women in Rudat culture. The technology of new media (digital media) gives such a way out for the "silence" of women also the " deafness " of men in the process of communication at Negeri Katon. Digital media serves as a platform where pe ople can access the internet and express their ideas without limitation.
Hybrid media could allow the entire muted group to speak up even though the internet is mostly created and dominated by men (Granhemat & Nadzimah, 2017). In some recent years, a pers on at Negeri Katon has adopted a system of communication patrilineal genetic relationship. It makes men more dominant that sometimes women are not free to speak up to deliver their ideas. There is a hybrid media as a solution for women, which could change that perspective into the expression system that men can accept.
Besides, women are also educated, knowledgeable, and have a good ability to use communication media in their daily lives (Phan, 2019). The level of knowledge is one factor that cannot be sepa rated from human life (Fakih, 2012). Education is the main key to changing the attitude, behavior, mindset, and tradition component available in a social group. Education is important because there is no success and no improvement of intelligence without e ducation. It is key in the process of improving self potential. This concept is related to the women's condition at Negeri Katon village, where they have a background of education graduated from SLTA.
The new communication media is slowly giving effect t o women's mind set and their knowledge in expressing ideas, opinions, and attitudes about everything. About this explanation, Watie, 2013) explains that it is true that women use online media more often, but some women hide their identity because they do not want to hear. It means that the use of new communication media makes the women at Negeri Katon improve their participation in some aspects of life. One of their way of breaking their mute is to get involved and increase their participation in Rudat culture's procession. The woman does their reciprocal strategy by giving access to the other women to participate in Rudat culture. This condition is proved that MGT implementation was weak because, in this research, women successfully expressed the content of the message about Rudat culture by their own words or the language chosen without changing the content of the message in general.
The Implementation and Role of Women in Rudat Culture
The stages of implementation in Rudat culture at Negeri Katon village consist of three main stages. They are the preparation stage of the procession, the stage of implementation, and the end of the proc ession. Each stage of a woman's role in Rudat culture has differences. The procession stage and the end stage of the procession have significant roles for the woman, but the woman's role is still minimalized in the implementation stage. The implementation stage of Rudat culture and woman's role, which describes specifically, can be seen in Table 1 as follows:
Table 1 The Implementation of Rudat Cultural Activities | |||
Activity Stage 1: | Procession Preparation Phase: | M | F |
Practicing Salawat | |||
Practicing dance moves to be performed during the procession. | X | ||
Train tambourine musicians who will accompany the procession. | X | ||
Inviting traditional and community leaders to attend traditional meetings. | X | ||
Organizing traditional meetings/traditional meetings. | X | ||
Prepare the routes to be taken in the procession. | X | X | |
Make announcements/at the same time an invitation to the community. | X | X | |
Preparing clothes that will be worn by the actors in the event, including all kinds of needs related to the event's implementation. | X | X | |
Activity Stage 2: | Procession Implementation Stage: | M | F |
Run a sequence of processions from the beginning to the end of the event. | X | ||
Saying Salawat, advice, etc. | X | ||
Parade a bride or child circumcised around the village by using a traditional stroller (in Lampung called Kerajat). | X | ||
Regulate non-technical matters, such as consumption and clothing worn by the actors in the Rudat procession. | X | ||
Activity Stage 3 | Final Procession Stage: | M | F |
Store back the tools used during the event, such as clothes, tambourines, and so forth. | X | X | |
Clearing and inventory items that have been used in the Rudat procession. | X | X |
Based on Table 1, it can be seen that woman at Negeri Katon village have a significant role in each Rudat culture's procession. Men cannot dominate the roles, and also women are not considered subordinated. Women have some functions in the procession of culture even though their roles are not the main role. T he main role is led by men that is the elder in the village and the custom leader. But women have many roles in case of maintaining the activity from the beginning until the end. The domination of woman's role in this activity is such a symbol of high hono r. Based on the composition of the number of men and women with their roles and functions, the women tend to have dominant roles. Based on the result of the interview and observation, this opinion does not have big significance for the women who want to pa rticipate in Rudat culture's procession. It proves by the times that women who are involved in the activity are increasing. The number of people who disagree with women's involvement also decreases time by time (Hendrarso, Susanti, & Emi, 2011). It can be described from the result of research that most women in doing culture activity are worth, they can be active in the procession of Rudat culture, and the result can be seen in Table 2.
Table 2 Distribution of Respondents Based on Whether Women are Eligible/Able to Play an Active Role In the Rudat Procession | |||
Category | Total (people) | % | |
M | F | ||
Yes | 47 | 32 | 81.4 |
No | 9 | 9 | 18.6 |
Total | 97 | 100.0 |
Based on Table 2, it identified that 81.4% of the respondent state that women are worth and can be active in the procession of Rudat culture because, based on their opinion, the women's roles in the culture activity could maintenance the Rudat culture itse lf and also women are the people who understand how to socialize the information about Rudat to the young generation, besides women are more detail in seeing the phenomenon of the young generation, especially the things that related to the cultural preserv ation. The stage of women’s role in preserve Rudat culture consists of three categories. They are: low, medium, and high. In the high category, there are three stages of a woman's role, medium; there are two stages of woman's roles and low; there is only one stage. The woman's role in preserving the Rudat culture describes fully in Table 3.
Table 3 Levels of the Role of Women in Maintaining Rudat Culture | |||
Category | Total (people) | % | |
M | F | ||
Low | 11 | 6 | 17.6 |
Medium | 25 | 12 | 38.1 |
High | 18 | 25 | 44.3 |
Total | 97 | 100.0 |
Based on Table 3, it knows that 44.3% of respondent answered that the involvement or woman's role in preserve the Rudat culture is still in the high category because, according to them, the woman's role in the process of sharing information and in the proc ession of Rudat culture consists of three main stages which stated from preparing, implementing and ending. Meanwhile, 17.6% of respondent who answered that woman's role in preserve the Rudat culture is still low because they assumed that the woman's role in implementing until the ending procession of Rudat culture is nothing. This thing can be understandable because, as the previous explanation in implementing a culture and the ending of the procession, women's role is minimalized for some reasons.
Based on the results of the study, it can be concluded as follows: (1) The role of women in maintaining the Rudat culture has been high, because according to them, the role of women both in the process of disseminating information and in the pro cession of implementing Rudat culture has always been large, namely being involved in three stages of implementing Rudat culture, starting from the preparation, implementation and final stages; (2) The activeness of women's communication behavior related t o Rudat culture shows that the Kramarae Silent Group Theory (MGT) in this study is proven to be weak, because in communicating the Rudat culture, women can overcome women's communication barriers which, according to MGT, are caused by the dominance of men' s ways of expression in society. The women in this study converted their unique ideas, experiences, and meanings into the content of the Rudat cultural messages they used. Also, women can play the dynamics of their communication when they are in a women's group and when they are in a mixed group. The women in the research locations were also able to answer what would happen if the silenced party did not change their experience to become the dominant language in the communication process. Current new media t echnology and the level of education women have in the research area also contribute to changes in women's communication activities in Rudat culture.
It was necessary to revise Article 55 of Law No. 21/2008 concerning Sharia Banking, in whic h the authority to sharia bank dispute resolution was the authority of the Religious Courts. Especially for customers of sharia banks who have religions other than Waslam (non Moeslem) and Islamic banks managed by non Muslims, they can be given the choice of law to the dispute resolution through the Religious Court or District Court, or under the contract agreed by the parties.