A Model of Sundanese Cultural Political Anthropology in the Digital Age
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Dedi Mulyadi*
The development of digital technology has transformed the way societies construct, represent and negotiate political culture, including within Sundanese society, which possesses strong local cultural values. This study aims to construct a model of Sundanese cultural political anthropology in the digital age through a qualitative approach based on the interpretivist paradigm. The study views political culture as the result of a construction of meaning shaped through the interaction between cultural values, identity, symbols, power relations and digital technology. Data were collected through digital observation, content analysis, documentary studies, and an examination of various representations of Sundanese culture in the digital sphere, and were subsequently analysed inductively through a process of data reduction, data presentation, and meaning extraction. The findings indicate that the transformation of the Sundanese community’s political culture is not interpreted as the loss of local culture due to digitalisation, but rather as a process of reinterpretation and reproduction of cultural values within the digital sphere. The values of mutual care (silih asih), mutual encouragement (silih asah), mutual nurturing (silih asuh), deliberation (musyawarah), politeness (kesantunan) and religiosity remain the foundation for the formation of cultural identity, symbolic representation and legitimacy within power relations. Based on an interpretation of the research findings, a Conceptual Model of Sundanese Cultural Political Anthropology in the Digital Age has been developed, which explains the dynamic relationship between cultural values, identity construction, cultural symbolic representation, the reconstruction of power relations, and the practice of political anthropology within digital society.
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