Solo Cultural Festival as an Effort to Counter Cultural Hegemony

Abstract

This research was motivated by a debate related to the presence of globalization which considered an agent of ‘the hegemony of the superpowers'. Hegemony rise a culture of global consumerism, as well as new socio-political schemes, which often refer to the ideology and interests of Western countries. On the other hand, culture can be a ‘soft-power' aspect in the efforts to fight against this foreign hegemony. Solo City was an interesting area because it was trying to maintain cultural identity through the holding of various cultural festivals. This research attempts to map a counter culture hegemony scheme in Solo, through local wisdom that promotes cultural festivals. The purpose of this study was to determine the relationship between cultural identity in its role as a counter culture hegemony. The research method was qualitative with a critical ethnographic approach. The results showed that the counter cultural hegemony in Solo was carried out using soft power tools in the form of local culture, in the form of cultural festivals. Implementation by involving the community strengthens the self-belonging of the community towards local culture. The impact of strengthening local wisdom on foreign hegemony was considered to have a positive influence and was able to strengthen the existence of local culture.