Cultural Village, (Not Just) Tourist Village

Villages are not just tourist attractions, but are subjects of knowledge, customs and culture that are alive and sustainable.

SUPRIYANTO

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Restu Gunawan's Opinion (Kompas, 12/4/2024) reminds us of the potential of village culture which needs to be utilized to solve communal problems.

Cultural resources that exist in rural areas, such as the village's history, traditional ceremonies, cuisine, local food sources, traditional knowledge and technology, and other cultural aspects, can be developed and utilized in a more organized and sustainable manner. This will later become an identity as well as a source of economy that can make it sovereign, independent, and progressing without leaving behind the existing cultural values.

However, it must be acknowledged that in its implementation, the concept is interpreted in the form of tourism villages that have emerged everywhere. Culture is perceived merely as art or a display of beauty.

This is evident during the Lebaran homecoming moment. Communities from the city returning to their villages to reunite with relatives, spend time together, seek entertainment or visit the beautiful places that are abundant in the village.

Also read: Cultivating Tourism Villages to Strengthen Tourism Development

So tourist villages emerged, which in Trisno Yulianto's opinion (Kompas, 10/4/2024) stated that there would be 4,773 villages in 2023 according to the records of the Tourism Village Network ( Jadesta) Ministry of Tourism and Creative Economy (Kemenparekraf).

Of that number, 30 percent are said to be developed category tourist villages that have adequate tourist infrastructure. These villages are also supported by investments that help develop tourist destinations and supporting facilities, such as home stays, culinary/souvenir stands and the activation of arts and culture attractions.

With that, a region seems to have become an official tourist village. According to the author, such an interpretation still appears to be limited to surface features, without delving deeper into the essence of the values of life contained within the village's way of life.

Because, as quoted by Budianta (2020), it is actually a form of "new civilization" that is urban-centric with a pattern of developmentalism, where villages are developed with an urban perspective, which is to generate as much foreign exchange as possible from the villages.

Of that number, 30 percent are said to be developed category tourist villages that have adequate tourist infrastructure.

To create a "tourist village" that attracts domestic and foreign tourists, some productive land is diverted to create a place for rest, cultural art events are prepared for entertainment, and farmers switch professions to become service providers.

This does not build a foundation for a healthy, critical, and productive village civil society, but in reality, it actually nurtures the rural community with new technologies, making it a lifestyle and fostering consumerism. The lives that are built are not based on the values of rural prioritization, but on primordialism as part of modern development logic (Garin Nugroho, 2020).

As a result, the communal ethical values are interpreted arbitrarily for sectoral interests, aesthetic products are commodified in the banal concept of tourism, and physical products are dominated by the desires of cultural brokers seeking pragmatic profits.

Making sense of the village

Villages are not only tourist destinations. Villages are stretches of nature with natural landscapes and cultural potential that have contextual presentation and representation value. Therefore, the fundamental thing we can do is to preserve what nature, customs, and traditions have provided, and give meaning to it by digging, processing, and utilizing it according to current needs and conditions.

Village is a locus that is not only a concept of economic strength (agriculture, livestock, plantation), but also various resources such as local ability (perspective, abstraction, unique values), historical objects, art heritage, collective memory, and other forms as a set of knowledge that can inspire people outside of the village (Budianta, 2021).

The village should also be a learning space for anyone who comes, especially regarding local wisdom, village community activities and the natural environment. Interactive spots are important to provide an experience of life while they are in the village.

A village is a landscape of nature with cultural potential that has contextual presentation and representation power and value.

With it, the village becomes a socio-cultural attraction and an economic opportunity that empowers and provides pride for its residents to develop their capacities, talents, and potentials. Village residents also become more than just providing entertainment or services for tourists who come, but rather become the subjects of knowledge ownership, customs and traditions, as well as a living and sustainable culture.

At the same time, this teaches us that integrity is important for the formation of personal and communal identity. Integrity demonstrates the basis of our social logic and cultural foundation as historical humans.

It is important to emphasize this principle so that villages no longer become mere objects of objectification for the logic of contemporary commodification. However, the village should be interpreted as an effort to revisit (revisiting) and rediscover (reinventing) more reasonable ideas about how a society can be developed in a different concept. not only participatory but also contextual.

A social formation that paves the way for the construction of spaces for identity and potential socio-economic-cultural potential.

Cultural policy

Moreover Indonesian Cultural Congress (KKI) 2023 has produced recommendations for future cultural policy, including emphasizing indigenous communities and other local found in many villages) are subjects who are sovereign over territory, natural resources and sources of cultural knowledge, and are bearers of cultural and biological diversity which can become capital for development. All these logical building elements prove that village culture is an important element of national culture.

With this, we put forth the paradigm of development starting from the village as the smallest cultural unit. The village becomes the medium for cultural value transformation and the strengthening of social bonds among community members to answer constantly changing challenges. The village becomes an important agenda in Indonesia's cultural and (human) development strategies.

Also read: Villages at the forefront of cultural advancement

Understanding like this is important in interpreting the village with all its potentials that make it like a sought-after flower. Discussion about it has become a topic of conversation for many parties, for a long time with various purposes and goals.

Therefore, we need to wait for a political stance in the form of policies based on the cultural perspective of the incoming president's government. His political promises and commitments as the highest policy holder in the country, especially in the field of culture, need to be held accountable in developing rural culture, which also means building Indonesia.

Oti M Lestari, Sociocultural Studies Interested; Community Empowerment Activist in the Jakarta People's Cinema Growing Group

ARSIP PRIBADI

Oti M Lestari