Abstract
The cultural psychological approach to disaster coping grounds coping processes in social contexts, accounting for specific local settings. This chapter offers an exemplary contextualization of the case study of the 2006 Java earthquake. “Javanese culture,” as any other “culture,” is not a monolithic static entity but dynamic and diverse. Representations of “Javanese” values need to be analyzed against the backdrop of political interests and power constellations. Cultural concepts need to be tied to the people living “Javanese” lives in order for researchers to grasp what is meaningful to them and how such concepts relate to practice. The first section combines historical–political and sociocultural perspectives on religious life, “Javanese” psychologies, rural communities, and livelihood. The second section introduces the readers to the broader scenario of the 2006 earthquake in Java and the macro- and meso-context of related postdisaster relief efforts. The last section focuses on the three rural Bantulnese communities which were included in the case study. The authors characterize these rural communities in regard to socioeconomic structures and the damage caused by the 2006 earthquake, while reflecting on the selection criteria of these research sites.
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Notes
- 1.
Having its etymological origins in an old Javanese language, pancasila stands for the national formula of five principles upon which the Indonesian Constitution is based: belief in the one and only God; just and civilized humanity; unity of the nation; democracy “guided by the inner wisdom in the unanimity arising out of deliberations amongst representatives”; and social justice (unofficial translation of the 1945 Constitution of the Republic of Indonesia, see http://www.embassyofindonesia.org/about/pdf/IndonesianConstitution.pdf. Accessed 30 June 2013).
- 2.
For an exemplarily account on how Balinese Hinduism was reshaped to come close to these criteria see Howe (2005).
- 3.
These narrow categories of agama persist; however, Confucianism has been included into the list as part of slow steps toward recognizing the ethnic Chinese minority in Indonesia in post-Suharto Indonesia (see Schlehe 2011).
- 4.
Clifford Geertz popularized the distinction between orthodox Muslims (santri) and nominal Muslims, who only formally acknowledge Islam while adhering to older Javanese religious and ancestral traditions (abangan). As a third category he identified the religious practices of the urban gentry elites (priyayi) as a noble version of kejawen (Islam). Koentjaraningrat (1985) differentiates between a “syncretistic variant of Javanese Islam, in which pre-Hinduistic, Hinduistic and Islamic elements are combined into one integrated system” (the agami Jawi Islam) and a “more puritan variant of Javanese Islam” (p. 316).
- 5.
- 6.
We refer to “Javanese” psychologies, because many of the concepts we present in this section can be derived from kejawen cosmology, but are culturally shared far beyond kejawen Islam, including “Javanese” Christians.
- 7.
Woodward (2011) points out that these two key concepts of “Javanese” cosmology and mysticism are based on the Islamic concepts of outward (zahir) and inner (batin) modes of piety.
- 8.
As Stange (1984) explains, rasa relates to the physical and emotional aspects of feeling and implies “intuitive feeling” as a category of epistemic access to (mystical) truth.
- 9.
Some authors use the alternative spelling of nrima.
- 10.
The names of the research sites have been changed to ensure anonymity.
- 11.
The Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF), the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), and the International Organization for Migration (IOM) (MacRae 2008).
- 12.
The National Coordinating Board for the Management of Disaster (Badan Koordinasi Nasional Penanggulangan Bencana, or BAKORNAS PB) was chaired by the vice president. The equivalent coordination unit on the provincial and lower administrative levels is SATKORLAK PB chaired by the governor and SATLAK PB chaired by the mayor or head of district. Official responsibilities include formulating and stipulating policies in disaster management, coordinating the implementation, monitoring activities in disaster management, and rendering guidance and direction on disaster management. Later in 2008, the national structure was re-organized and the BAKORNAS PB was replaced by the National Agency for Disaster Management (Badan Nasional Penanggulangan Bencana, BNPB), which today is responsible for the formulation of disaster management policies, for operational coordination of internal disaster management activities and for managing foreign donations.
- 13.
The JRF was pledged by the European Commission, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Canada, Finland, Denmark, and the Asian Development Bank.
- 14.
In Yogyakarta Province, a maximum of 15 Mio IDR (about 1600 US$) was paid for totally collapsed and heavily damaged houses, 4 Mio for partially damaged and 1 Mio for lightly damaged houses (Hayashi et al. 2008). In the Central Java province, however, a maximum of 20 Mio IDR was disbursed.
- 15.
The law is available in Indonesian language under http://www.bkprn.org/v2/peraturan/file/UUNo.24Tahun2007.pdf. Accessed 8 May 2013.
- 16.
Overall, NAP-DRR encompasses five priorities: First, to integrate national and local policies. Second, to identify, assess, and monitor disaster risks. Third, to increase knowledge in order to build a culture of safety on administrative and communal levels. Fourth, to reduce risks. Fifth, to strengthen disaster preparedness and adequate reactions on all levels.
- 17.
Within the Bantul district these figures range from 4 to 22 %.
- 18.
These livelihoods and businesses are hardly captured by statistical surveys. The availability of detailed demographic data also varied between our research sites, depending, for example, on the implementation of specific vulnerability analysis programs, such as in Sido Kabul.
- 19.
Most houses had been simple one-story brick constructions. But size and quality of pre-disaster housing varied significantly, relative to socioeconomic status. In Sendang, for example, a wealthy government employee had lived in an impressive two-story building, the only such construction in the village. A widow’s humble dwelling was described by her neighbors as a “chicken stall”, worth a maximum of 300,000 IDR (about 320 US$). Only three buildings had the old iconic Javanese architecture of a joglo, which are strong wooden constructions.
- 20.
The logically impossible percentage of destroyed houses above 100 % points to the difficulties of sound statistical data in this research context. It shows that more households reported the destruction of their houses than registered to even exist. This fact probably points to incomplete pre-disaster data and the increase of household claiming reconstruction funds in the disaster aftermath.
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The editors would like to thank Elise Serbaroli for her assistance in editing this chapter.
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Zaumseil, M., von Vacano, M., Schwarz, S. (2014). Contextualizing the Research: Introduction to the Case Study in Java, Indonesia. In: Zaumseil, M., Schwarz, S., von Vacano, M., Sullivan, G., Prawitasari-Hadiyono, J. (eds) Cultural Psychology of Coping with Disasters. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-9354-9_4
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