Passion for Young People's Literature: The Need for Recognition of Community Nodes

Communities that encourage literature, fairy tales and literacy initiatives abound. The majority of them are young people.

KOMPAS/YUNIADHI AGUNG (MYE)

Several children are reading the storybook "Tattadu," which is a folk tale from South Sulawesi. Reading folk tales can cultivate children's interest in children's literature.

News in the Humanities column (Kompas, 11/4/2024) stated that young people's interest in literature is decreasing. That's because young people are more likely to enjoy audio-visual presentations, rather than literary reading which is full of values, feelings and meaning of life.

The review is interesting and supported by the opinions of researchers and authorities. However, is that true? Let's dissect it slowly.

Need specific research

While reading the news entitled "Young People's Interest in Literature Needs to be Developed", I remembered Prof. Budi Darma's description when filling the event "Becoming Human with Literature" (February 2018) held by Kaya Indonesia Gallery and Noura Books Publisher.

The writer and professor at the Surabaya State University (Unesa) said, "Actually, when we say that many young people don't like to read, that is true, but not entirely true."

He based his observation on his personal experience at bookstores: many young people often buy and ask to be bought books. However, this generally only applies to reading books, not all literature.

Also read: Literature, Superstition and Ideological Impasse

Seno Gumira Ajidarma, who was also a speaker at the forum, was also in the same uniform. He believes that now there is "reading as a lifestyle". Many young people feel embarrassed if they haven't read certain books.

Furthermore, he also filed a lawsuit so as not to blame readers if they were not interested in literary books. Herein lies the challenge for writers—to keep readers captivated and then interested.

As an addition, Seno also explained three literary myths that must be debunked: confessions, overly flowery language, and containing advice. According to Seno, if these three still exist, literature will always be distant.

DAHLIA IRAWATI

Literary Works About Malang - a number of literary books written about Malang.

Despite this, all of the above descriptions are still just personal impressions. They are not strong enough to be used as scientific arguments. Matters like this are a call for literary and language researchers in the country. It highlights the importance of conducting in-depth research on young people's interests in literature. This includes examining the impact of social media on their interests.

The question is whether the interest of young people in literature is truly decreasing, or has it always been low (stagnant), or even increasing? Which survey explains how much the percentage of young people's interest in literature has decreased? What are the indicators, from what percentage to what, and on what basis is the data? The problem is that even the authoritative and authorized research center in this field has not thoroughly explored this issue, let alone comprehensively.

Maybe this is just a reactionary alarmist tendency. Or instead, this actually becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy: we are 'cursed' by the nonsense and labels that we made up ourselves.

The question is, is it true that young people's interest in literature is decreasing, or has it always been low (stagnant), or is it actually increasing?

If one were to conduct qualitative research, what causes the decreased interest of young people in literature? What was the condition of the previous generation and what is it now, that could be considered a decline? Was it true that there was once enthusiasm and vibrancy, while now it has declined and become lackluster?

This needs to be critically suspected: could it be that the previous generation looked busy precisely because the players were the same? Just big names and events. To borrow Steven Pinker's term, that's just “main news bias” (headline bias). A tendency to be lost in headlines even though everyday situations are not that gloomy. This is also what underlies the progressophobic tendencies in society, as if we are simply decadent, without any progress at all.

As for the impact of social media, it is widely acknowledged that its presence has disrupted many aspects, including theft of reading time and public attention. However, I am somewhat cautious about the use of the word "reduced" in the article in the Humanities section as well as the opinions of the experts quoted. The statement is more assumptions-based rather than based on real data that has been methodologically pursued.

Also read: Gen Z Prefers Books That Are Relevant and Not Patronizing

Furthermore, I myself have difficulty finding specific survey or research studies on the interests of young Indonesians in literature - not just general literacy. There are old findings from LSI, with survey results showing that out of 1,200 respondents aged 17 and above from 34 provinces, our literary readership is only 6.2 percent (LSI, December 2017). However, the demographics of this age group have not been further explored.

There are two important points from this finding. Firstly, literary readers are apparently more involved in social activities. The figure is 65.7 percent for literary readers compared to 48.5 percent for non-literary readers. This means that individuals who consume literature are relatively more sensitive, caring, and active in community activities. Once again, research on this matter is urgently needed.

Local literary community circles

Moving on from the gloomy issue earlier, I would like to invite readers to be a little optimistic and hopeful. Despite our low literacy survey results, there are actually some promising initiatives that are currently growing.

The proof is that the results of a National Library survey note that the Indonesian people's interest in reading has increased. From 36.48 percent in 2017 it ballooned to 53.84 percent in 2019 (Media Indonesia, 8/9/2020).

In the same survey, literary books were the most popular (58 percent), followed by religious themes (29 percent). The province of DI Yogyakarta was the highest in terms of reading interest (63.02 percent). Reading these data, we can certainly smile for a moment.

Although I am a young generation and religious social researcher, my daily work managing literacy media also makes me actively interact with young literacy and literature activists in Yogyakarta. This personal impression also strengthens the young seeds as the heirs of the literary relay in the homeland.

Many bookstores and publishers are emerging, with hundreds of thousands of followers and considerable sales. Literary and artistic events, as well as book collaborations, are flourishing; there are Mocosik Festival, Jogja Art + Book Festival, and others.

Also read: Young Literature

Among all, there are actually plenty of communities that promote literature, storytelling, theater, book clubs, and literacy initiatives. There are the Walking Book Forum, Mobile Library, Mataram Tree Root Community, Yogyakarta Pole Community, Imaji Trail, Karanganyar Room Word Community, and many others - to name a few examples.

The majority of them are young people who are enthusiastic and militant. I have met some of them who are even willing to go hungry in a foreign place, refusing money sent by their parents, and surviving only by writing.

This implies a passionate interest in literature within our young people. Ironically, only a few of these activists are actually majoring in literature. The majority are from other humanities fields, such as philosophy and history. Some are even majoring in biotechnology and psychology.

On the other hand, they are still sporadic, scattered, and rarely recognized and supported by authorities - even though they do not ask for it. Their initiatives are mostly in big cities and have not yet reached the remote parts of the country. It would be exceptional if more of them appear and a "coagulum" emerges to bring them together to collaborate on sustainable social work. And I am eagerly looking forward to that moment.

M Naufal Waliyuddin, Young Generation Researcher; Doctoral Candidate at UIN Sunan Kalijaga Yogyakarta

Instagram: madno_wk

ARSIP LINKEDIN

M Naufal Waliyuddin