EKSPLORASI BUDAYA LEMBATA: UPAYA REVIVALISME BUDAYA SEBAGAI MODAL SOSIAL PEMBANGUNAN

Abstract

Physical development often gets more attention than mental or spiritual development. Even though mental or spiritual development that cannot be seen with the naked eye has an important role in development as the main foundation. Physical development without a foundation of mental development often raises problems. Mental development can be carried out by using social capital because it can touch humans as agents of development. Social capital in society can be found by exploring the power of culture because culture has lived and intertwined within society itself. This is what the government of Lembata Regency has done by organizing the Lembata Cultural Exploration activity. This activity aims to explore cultural values in the life of the Lembata people. This paper seeks to look at cultural revivalism efforts made by the community in Lembata Cultural Exploration activities and the results of the cultural revivalism process which can be interpreted as social capital for development. This study uses qualitative methods with ethnographic writing techniques. The result of the research conducted is that the community makes revivalism efforts by carrying out and reviving the rituals that have been passed down by their ancestors. The rituals carried out by the community contain values based on their life experiences, so that after the Lembata Cultural Exploration activities the community together with academics and the government confirmed these values as social capital for the development of Lembata Regency. Keywords: Cultural exploration; cultural revivalism; social capital