The Death of Semar

Abstract

_{Melalui artikel ini penulis menelaah peran memori kultural pada masa
interkoneksi global sekarang ini. Penulis mensinyalir bahwa gagasan tradisional
tentang budaya terancam oleh “industri budaya” seperti teknologi informasi dan
media masa. Di Dunia Barat, fungsi budaya sebagai mesin perubahan dan reformasi
tampak tergerus oleh industri tersebut. Tapi di Asia Tenggara – khususnya Indonesia
– kekuatan eksternal serta upaya internal untuk mempertahankan identitas budaya
lokal tetap terjaga agar berimbang. Isu ini diteropong berdasarkan perpektif Michel
de Certeau. Gagasan ini ditampilkan melalui telaah kisah “kematian Semar” dalam
Wayang. Kesadaran akan keberimbangan antara pengaruh eksternal dan pemeliharaan
budaya internal itu sangatlah penting di dalam menyikapi jaringan kekuatan global
yang memaksakan masuknya berbagai struktur religius, politik, kekuangan dan
hukum ke dalam budaya Indonesia.}

_{This essay will examine the role of cultural memory in an age of global
interconnection. It will discuss how the traditional idea of culture is threatened by the “culture industry,” information technology and the media. In the West, there seems
to be a loss of culture’s function as an engine of change and reform. But throughout
the history of South East Asia (and especially in Indonesia) one sees a both a process
of appropriation of ideas from the outside, and at the same time, the maintenance of
a deeper cultural identity that is resistant to complete control. It is an unconscious
memory – or a cultural reflex – present within the languages and stories and rationalities.
I will explain this with reading of Michel de Certeau . And I will show how the Wayang
story of the “Death of Semar” is emblematic of this idea. The awareness of these old
processes of appropriation and resistance are extremely important in our age of global
networks of power that attempt to impose, various religious, political, financial and
legal structures.}