Mark Woodward

Center for the Study of Religion and Conflict, Arizona State University

Center for Religious and Cross-Cultural Studies, Gadjah Mada University

Prof. Dr. Mark Woodward

The organizers of this conference have asked us all to reflect on the role that values play in scientific research. There are at least two ways to address this issue. How one choses to respond, depends, of course, on how one interprets the question. It can be understood as a question about epistemology. If the question is about epistemology, it calls for an abstract response that would wind its way through the intellectual maze of debates concerning the distinction between scientific and interpretative approaches in the human sciences. If the question is about the conduct of research, it leads in another, equally complicated, and far more personal direction. Put somewhat differently my question about the question is: “Do you mean social science research in general, or the way I go about doing it???” To respond to the first question is take an intellectual position. To answer the second is also to take an intellectual position, but requires more reflection on what motivates, not just research procedures, but more general and far more personal question of why I do the things I do, and what drives me to ask the sorts of questions that I do. I study religion, politics and all too often, conflict. That complicates matters further because it is difficult for me to imagine not having person commitments or biases, depending on how one puts it, about these questions.

Najmu Tsaqib Ahda | CRCS

Najmu Tsaqib Ahda

Meningkatnya aktivitas Gunung Sindoro membuat panik warga yang menghuni lereng gunung itu. Puluhan warga yang tinggal di Dusun Gondangan Desa Watu Kumpul Kecamatan Parakan Kabupaten Temanggung, yang berjarak sekitar 8 km dari puncak, memilih mengungsi. Di Wonosobo, tim SAR memperketat patroli di lima kecamatan yang masuk kawasan rawan bencana (SM, 13/12/11).

Walaupun belum ada korban jiwa terkait dengan peningkatan aktivitas gunung itu, seyogianya kita belajar dari kasus meletusnya Gunung Merapi akhir 2010. Kita bisa memetik hikmah dan pelajaran dari bencana itu. Walaupun aktivitasnya sudah dipantau dengan seismograf dan peralatan lain, tetap saja erupsi Merapi menimbulkan banyak korban jiwa dan material.

Samsul Ma’arif | CRCS

Samsul Ma’arif

Jenne’ Telluka, Sambajang Temmattappu (hereafter JTST) is a local understanding and practice of Islam popular among Muslims of South Sulawesi, especially the Ammatoans. Many Muslims, however, misunderstand JTST to be invalid for one or another reason. JTST literally means that wudu (ablution) is never void and solat (prayer) is never paused. Conceptually, it implies that Islam is a serious and constant commitment and practice. Like all Muslims, the Ammatoans express their understanding and practice of Islam with their own uniqueness, which is reflected in their practice of JTST.

Zainal Abidin Bagir and Irwan Abdullah | CRCS

While the development of contemporary religious studies as an academic discipline in Western universities can be traced back to the years following the Second World War the field can be said to have matured only in the 1970s. Since then there have been ups and downs, self-criticisms, and numerous developments which have brought it to its present state. What is usually understood as “religious studies as an academic discipline” is a discipline which utilizes a variety of methods from the social sciences and humanities. Religious studies is commonly distinguished from theological study by its sense of critical distance and its self-conscious attempt to be more “objective”, at least in the minimal sense of being aware of one’s own presuppositions which inform one’s study of religion. Indeed, questions of objectivity are elusive, and the very existence of this discipline, including what goes by the name “comparative religion”, has been questioned—not to mention the term “religion” itself. As evident in textbooks which introduce the students to this discipline, the whole enterprise of religious studies has been constantly reconsidered, and its practitioners, too, have always interrogated themselves and what they purport to do.

Zainal Abidin Bagir | CRCS

Pada akhir 1980-an, dunia sedang memasuki politik tahap baru pasca meredanya Perang Dingin antara Amerika Serikat dan Uni Soviet. Ciri yang cukup mengemuka kala itu adalah kehadiran “The End of History” Francis Fukuyama yang menyatakan Demokrasi Liberal Barat sebagai bentuk akhir dari evolusi sosial, kultural dan pemerintahan di dunia dan terjerembabnya nation state dalam tarikan tribalisme dan globalisme. Pecahnya Uni Soviet yang menandakan berakhirnya Perang Dingin membuat Amerika Serikat membutuhkan panduan baru untuk membaca situasi dunia ke depan. Salah satu pemikiran yang mendapatkan perhatian pengambil kebijakan di Amerika Serikat adalah artikel Samuel P. Huntington’s pada tahun 1993 dengan judul “The Clash of Civilizations” di Foreign Affairs journal.

Beberapa waktu yang lalu, hujan merupakan barang mahal. Kemarau mencekam dalam waktu yang panjang. Banyak petani yang harus ‘menunda’ senyum karena hujan tak kunjung turun. Meski kini musim hujan telah datang, tak ada salahnya untuk melihat sebuah tradisi kuno yang masih bertahan sampai sekarang dari Banjarnegara, Jawa Tengah. Sebuah tradisi unik yang ditujukan untuk memanggil hujan dengan cara-cara yang ‘kurang lumrah’ bagi sebagian besar orang.

Tulisan ini akan membahas tradisi meminta hujan yang dilakukan masyarakat desa Gumelem, Banjarnegara, yang dikenal dengan Ujungan atau kerap juga disebut Mujung. Ujungan berarti memohon kepada Tuhan agar menurunkan hujan. Sesuai dengan namanya, tradisi Ujungan dilakukan tiap kali kemarau panjang datang, biasanya pada akhir mangsa kapat atau awal mangsa kalima (akhir September atau awal Oktober). Meskipun Ujungan dapat dikatakan ritual sakral, namun tradisi ini tidak dilakukan dalam suasana hening yang penuh kekhusyukan. Sebaliknya, Ujungan dilakukan dalam suasana ramai, penuh aksi kekerasan yang dibalut nuansa kegembiraan. Ujungan dilakukan oleh dua orang laki-laki dewasa yang saling menyerang menggunakan senjata tongkat rotan. Para peserta melakukan aksi ini secara bergantian. Pertarungan mereka dikelilingi penonton yang bersorak-sorai mendukung jagoan mereka masing-masing.