Mediatisation, the Ambivalent Preservation of Cultural Tradition, and the Appeal of Luxurious Death in Toraja, Indonesia: Social Media Depictions of Rambu Solo in a Digital Age

Abstract

ABSTRACT This article analyses how and why, in the digital age of interconnectivity, the Toraja funeral ceremony known as Rambu Solo (or ‘descending smoke’) has become increasingly mediatised. Prominently featured on Instagram and Facebook, Toraja content creators emphasise its luxury over its cultural values, epitomising the contemporary mediatisation of ceremonial practices. By depicting it so elaborately, these creators may inadvertently reinforce the perception of a luxurious funeral as an obligation for all social classes in Toraja, potentially leading to significant and enduring socioeconomic implications for individuals and the broader Toraja community. By demonstrating how content creators exploit social media to commodify public fascination with the distinctive Rambu Solo ceremony for economic and political gain, this article challenges the assumption of both Indonesian and Western scholars that the exposure of traditions on social media invariably supports cultural preservation. Instead, it reveals complex dynamics whereby the intersection of mediatisation and social media can simultaneously act as agents of both cultural commodification and redefinition. These findings offer a new perspective in this field, highlighting its ambivalence and prompting a re-evaluation of how we perceive the preservation and promotion of cultural tradition in the age of social media’s transformative power.