ANALYSIS OF DISCOURSES OF NONVIOLENCE IN THE RELIGIOUS CONTEXT OF INDONESIA

Hammam, (2020) ANALYSIS OF DISCOURSES OF NONVIOLENCE IN THE RELIGIOUS CONTEXT OF INDONESIA. UNSPECIFIED.

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Abstract

ABSTRACT Ph.D Thesis, entitled ‘Analysis of Discourses of Nonviolence in the Religious Context of Indonesia’, is written by Hammam, 2016, Centre for Linguistics, School of Language, Literature and Culture Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, with Professor. Franson Manjali as Supervisor and Dr. Gautam Kumar Jha as Co-Supervisor. Keywords: discourse analysis, nonviolence, and religious context Religious discourse is one of the most important aspects to be understood in a social system where religious authority plays a very vital role. Religions have always shaped society in various ways; while at times there have been issues related to religious persecution, at other times religions have also lead to national and societal unity among people. Religious leaders, who are called ulama in Islam, have the authority and the dominant power to articulate any religious discourse by means of texts, both in written and spoken formats for establishing a social system. There is a strong relationship between the ulama and the ummat which means the believers in an Islamic society. This relationship is often connected with other discourses such as politics, economics and other important ideas in a society. Thus, this research aims to explore the construction of nonviolent discourses, to know the context of culture and social situation and to construe the interpretation of nonviolent discourses in the religious life of Indonesian people This research employs a theoretical framework about discourse to study languages and its components as well as functions. This view argues that it is difficult to get a complete understanding of what is written and spoken discourse without really examining and observing the real situation. Language and society are like two connected worlds. Language is used by human beings to bridge them 3 to the society. The main aspect of this approach is that language is not seen merely grammatically, and also ignores the intention of the speaker or the user. Meanwhile Foucault clarifies that discourse is not understood as a series of talk or written proposition of text but it is related to thought. Discourse can be identified through any opinion, concept or a way of life in a certain context that influences the way of thinking and action in a particular manner. Interestingly, the concept of discourse discussed by Foucault is connected with power which he assumed to be real. Power is transformed and imposed by discourse and knowledge. Further, According to Foucault, power is articulated through knowledge and it always has the effect of power. Both discourse and knowledge has the ability to affect humans unconsciously or consciously. This differs from the either concept of power which assumed that people were controlled physically. Foucault’s idea is also supported by Fairclough, and he assumed that discourse is the particular dimension of language which is used as an element of social life which relates itself with other elements so that in a discourse, a power relation is manifested through languages. The power relation, expressed through language, becomes the main orientation of discourse study. Consequently the object of study is the use of language and is seen as a form of social and cultural practice, and how texts work within social and cultural practices. Such analysis requires attention to the textual form, structure and organization at all levels. This includes phonological, grammatical, lexical (vocabulary) and higher levels of textual organization in terms of exchange systems and generic structures. This research is categorized as qualitative descriptive approach which utilizes a method called Descriptive Discourse Analysis developed by Halliday, Norman 4 Fairclough and Critical Discourse Analysis designed by Van Dijk. Descriptive Discourse Analysis assumes that language is seen as social facts and is used to reproduce social life which is inseparable from its context. Halliday proposes two kinds of context, the context of situation and of culture. While critical discourse analysis developed by Van Dijk observes in depth the power relation and the argument is used to study nonviolent discourses in the religious context of Indonesia. Data of this research are the written and spoken texts which are transcribed. The data are categorized as documents taken from two kinds of sources, the primary and the secondary. The primary data are oral discourses which are mainly religious preaching and sermons delivered by the religious clergy. They are delivered directly or uploaded on media. In this research, out of all religions only the discourses of nonviolence in the religious context between 1998 to 2015 are chosen. These years were very crucial in the process of democratic transition in Indonesia. The discourses chosen are based on material containing the discourse of nonviolence according to the perspective of Indonesian scholars as well as those to Ikeda and Gandhi. Second, other information are collected from interview, books, articles, newspapers, reports, theses, journals as well as from other media materials. The discourses consist of religious leaders’ preaching or speeches that are collected from online sources. The selected religious leaders are Muslim, Christian, Catholic, Hindus, Buddhist and Confucian. The data originally is the oral from; it is then transcribed into written form. The type of analysis is categorical and the unit of analysis is more oriented towards understanding the language and its implication in a text. This method of analysis is very important to 5 be presented here in order to make the study simple and clear. In short the study is based on real language in the backdrop of the social context. This research utilizes a method of analysis called descriptive discourse analysis and critical discourse analysis. The descriptive discourse analysis investigates and conveys the three aspects of discourse such as; the context of culture, the context of situation, and the interpretation of nonviolent discourses in the religious context. Context of situation examines three aspects; physical context (field), epistemic context (tenor), and social context (mode) of the discourses. Firstly, the field is also the field social action of what is actually taking place. It refers to what is happening in the field of social action where the researcher wants to know the content of the nonviolent discourses. Secondly, the tenor explains the subject taking part in the language event (discourse of nonviolence) or the participants of the nonviolent discourse. Thirdly, the mode describes the role of language in the nonviolence discourses and especially how nonviolent discourses are constructed and delivered. In contrast to ‘non critical’ linguistics, critical linguistics does not just describe discursive structure but also shows how discourse is shaped by relation of power and ideologies, and the effects discourse has upon social identities, social relations and the system of knowledge and belief, none of which is normally apparent to the discourse participants. (Fairclough, 1992: 12). This means that the relation between the speaker and the listener cannot be explored only through text but it must be seen within the power relation, belief and ideology inherent in a society. The texts are just a medium of exercising power, and power is wielded by those who are in capacity to use and interpret the texts. This is important in the context 6 of religions where a certain section of religious heads or the clergy wield immense power to interpret the texts according to their will and this controls the audience. Finally, there are three findings dealing with the research question as to how the nonviolent discourses in the religions context can be constructed and interpreted. Firstly, the religious discourses are composed as reflection (reflective discourses) rather than as a projection or a constructed discourse. The religious discourses are constructed in the form of a reciprocal pattern; as a reaction to what is spontaneously going on in the society. This reaction results in reflective language; language that is used by religious leaders in order to organize the followers in attempts of self-reflection rather than criticizing external factors such as the government, politics as well as the economic system. Construction of the nonviolent discourse in the religions context is through an emotional management or self-control in terms of construction. Secondly, situational context of nonviolent discourse in the religions framework lays much more stress on individual religious teachings. Most religions leaders request their adherents to attain a level of maturity, psychological well-being in order to cooperate and live comfortably with others so that a harmonious society can exist. Thirdly, the cultural context of nonviolent discourse in the religious context of Indonesia employs shared knowledge which is relevant to the discourse. The shared knowledge becomes the most effective way to explain and construe the context of culture. Written discourses are more helpful in investigating previous knowledge to understand the ongoing discourse. Finally, there are three approaches elaborated as a means of interpreting the nonviolent discourses in the religious context of Indonesia; the textual, the interpersonal and the ideational dimension.

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