Kalijaga Journal of Communication

Politics Communication Based on Local Cultural Branding: A Critical Ethnographic Study of Cultural Festivals in Lamongan Regency

2025-11-03T21:07:45+07:00

In 2023, the Lamongan Regency government released a schedule of 39 cultural festivals held from March to December. The Regent of Lamongan's involvement in each event, from the promotional stage, where his image was prominently featured on posters and billboards, to the implementation stage, where he was given a dedicated time and platform to address the public directly, is crucial for examining the underlying message behind these cultural festival programs and the extent to which the local government has developed and successfully implemented a local cultural branding program to promote Lamongan's local cultural wisdom without any political bias. This research aims to uncover the hegemony of power from a political communication perspective through an examination of the cultural festivals held. A qualitative approach using critical ethnography methods positions and embeds culture within a broader symbolic, social, economic, political, and historical context, rather than simply seeking recognition from its members. The research results indicate that cultural festivals serve as a form of political legitimacy by integrating local identity, promoting public participation, protecting heritage, and fostering economic empowerment. Political communication strategies encompass verbal, non-verbal, mass media, digital, and cultural forms, which are integrated to create an image of leadership that cares about regional culture. Future research could focus on countering hegemony through populist practices in festivals, both at the local and national levels. This could include delving deeper into how community groups, artists, cultural communities, academics, and activists construct counter-spaces against the dominant discourses and symbols of power reproduced through festivals.

Autopoiesis And Organizational Communication: How The Jember Fashion Carnaval Adapts Through Communicative Processes

2025-10-21T19:58:59+07:00

This study examines the adaptation of the Jember Fashion Carnaval (JFC) organization to the dynamic social connectivity of its environment. Utilizing a qualitative approach and digital ethnography, the research analyzes the organization's responses, interpenetration, and adaptation strategies. Findings indicate that JFC demonstrates responsiveness through innovative carnival themes and diverse communication channels. However, limitations arise from programmatic constraints and individual influences within the organization. Furthermore, JFC's interpenetration into various societal sectors, including education, economy, and culture, shapes its policies and decisions. This adaptation manifests in the evolution of fashion design, event concepts, and community-inclusive management. This research contributes to understanding organizational adaptation within a rapidly changing socio-cultural context, highlighting the interplay between organizational systems and their environment. Employing Niklas Luhmann's social systems theory, specifically the concept of autopoiesis, this study offers a unique perspective on how JFC, as an organizational system, maintains its identity while adapting to its surroundings. The results provide valuable insights for the field of development communication and challenge traditional approaches that focus on internal organizational factors by emphasizing the importance of external factors in shaping organizational behavior.

A Critical Discourse Analysis of Body Positivity and Female Sexuality Narratives on Social Media

2025-08-28T11:54:55+07:00

This research examines critical discourse surrounding body positivity and women's sexuality on social media, with a focus on the Instagram account @ririebogar. The account was chosen because it has a significant influence on shaping the body positivity discourse among young women in Indonesia and actively discusses issues related to sexuality. Utilizing Fairclough's Critical Discourse Analysis framework, this study aims to examine how these narratives reflect, negotiate, and contest dominant norms related to body and sexuality in Indonesia. Data was collected from 25 posts during the period from January to December 2024, employing an in-depth qualitative approach. The findings suggest that this account actively challenges traditional beauty standards that often harm women, promoting self-acceptance through strong affirmative language and engaging visual representations. Text analysis reveals deliberate lexical choices that sharply contrast normative narratives with the transformative narratives offered by this account. The identified discursive practices demonstrate structured content production strategies that effectively leverage the mechanisms and features of digital platforms. However, this research also reveals the complexities that arise between empowerment and commodification in the context of evolving digital capitalism. Overall, this study contributes to a deeper understanding of the role of social media as both a space of resistance and an arena for the reproduction of hegemonic ideologies related to women's bodies and sexuality. This research is expected to provide new insights and a more comprehensive understanding of the dynamic relationship between social media, body culture, and women's sexuality in Indonesia.

Analyzing Generation Z's Internal Freedom Through Self-Concept Formation on Instagram

2025-08-28T08:33:28+07:00

Generation Z forms its self-concept through Instagram. The process of forming this self-concept is related to the concept of internal freedom. This concept is used to observe the process by which Gen Z forms their self-concept on Instagram, specifically to determine whether this process is based on their own freedom or external intervention. The purpose of this study is to identify and offer new ways of understanding and applying Gen Z's internal freedom in their efforts to form their self-concept on Instagram. This study employs a qualitative approach, utilizing a phenomenological method and in-depth interviews with eight Gen Z informants who are active personal Instagram users. The study's results reveal five key findings. The first is that some Gen Zers understand that they are not free to form their self-concept on Instagram, yet feel free to do so; however, they are actually not free either, and have felt unfree, only to eventually realize their freedom in forming their self-concept. The fourth finding is that some Gen Zers feel constrained in forming their self-concept due to their own freedom, and the last finding is that some Gen Zers genuinely feel free in forming their self-concept on Instagram. Based on these results, Gen Z's understanding and application of their freedom in forming their self-concept on Instagram shows that Gen Z interprets every interaction they experience with others as a truth to be heeded, rather than rejected.

Da'wah Strategy of Nahdlatul Ulama's Fatayat PAC Management in Strengthening the Role of Women

2025-11-30T15:54:31+07:00

This study examines the da'wah strategy employed by PAC Fatayat NU in Wonodadi District, Blitar Regency, in an effort to empower women. The primary issue is the underrepresentation of women in social, economic, and religious spheres. The focus of this study is to describe the da'wah strategy and its implementation form in empowering women through religious organizations. The method employed is qualitative descriptive analysis, incorporating the theory of da'wah strategy from Abu Al-Fath Al-Bayanuni. Data were obtained through observation, interviews, and documentation. The results of the study revealed three da'wah strategies: a sentimental strategy (recitation of the Qur'an, routine religious studies, istighosah, and IHF community), a rational strategy (work meetings, socialization, and discussion of women's issues), and a sensory strategy (entrepreneurship skills training and social activities). This strategy is effective in increasing the active role of women in society and demonstrates that empowerment-based da'wah can create participatory spaces and foster social transformation.