Polarization due to different political views often occurs because of the 2019 presidential election. At that time, people’s political views began to split into two groups which caused social conflicts. This phenomenon has not only happened recently. In the ancient times, the polarization also occurred in the Golan and Mirah Villages, depicted in the Golan Mirah folklore. This folklore tells about Ki Honggolono and Ki Ageng Mirah who had different political views. Ki Honggolono supported the old government, while Ki Ageng Mirah supported the new government in Ponorogo.
Golan Mirah folklore from Ponorogo is very interesting because it is similar to the story of Romeo and Juliet. The Golan Mirah folklore tells about Ki Honggolono’s son, Joko Lancur who wanted to propose to Mirah Putri Ayu, the daughter of Ki Ageng Mirah. Due to several considerations, Ki Ageng Mirah’s application was gently rejected.
The love story of Joko Lancur and Mirah Putri Ayu results in death. Ki Honggolono was then disappointed and angry which made him proclaimed five prohibitions: (1) the people of Golan must not marry the people of Mirah, (2) all types of goods from Golan, such as wood, stone, water, etc. must not be brought to Mirah and vice versa, (3) all types of goods from Golan and Mirah must not be unified, (4) Golan residents must not make roofs from straw, and (5) the residents of Mirah Village must not plant or make anything from soybeans.
The people in both villages are still obeying those five prohibitions although the story was merely spread by word of mouth from generation to generation. The Golan and Mirah people believe that if the prohibitions are ignored, bad things will happen.
Based on these problems, the students of the Faculty of Cultural Studies (FCS) Universitas Brawijaya (UB) as the members of the Student Creativity Program for Social Humanities Research (PKM-PSH) consisting of Muhamad Agus Prasetyo (Study Program of Indonesian Language and Literature Education 2018), Awik Tamara (Study Program of Indonesian Language and Literature Education 2018), and Syahrul Hindarto (Study Program of Anthropology 2017) supervised by Millatuz Zakiyah, M.A. researched “Golan Mirah Traditional Prohibition as a Conflict Resolution Based on the Local Wisdom”.
The researchers are interested in finding out more about the current social relations of those two villages and the conflict resolution strategy to the Golan and Mirah Villages. The researchers examined the folklore using the concept of semiotic analysis by Roland Barthes. The meaning in a lexis is revealed through the first stage of significance (denotative sign), which is a signifier producing a sign (signified). The denotative sign, in the second stage of significance (connotative sign), has a position as a connotative signifier producing a connotative signified and its association to myth.
Based on the historical data, the people of Golan and Mirah Villages have indeed been polarized. The background of this traditional prohibition was Ki Honggolono’s disappointment with his son, Joko Lancur, which was then expressed in the figurative language. Unfortunately, the communities of the two villages implemented the Golan Mirah customary prohibition which then creates social boundaries which may cause future conflicts.
If the community understands this prohibition as a historical commonality, and with the awareness that the tradition is a shared local wisdom, the probability of conflict will decrease. Moreover, this can be a conflict resolution strategy based on the local wisdom.
Local wisdom marks the identity of the community to strengthen the togetherness of Golan and Mirah Villages. This can also encourage appreciation, as well as ward off any possibilities that could potentially undermine the communal solidarity. Thus, the people of the two villages can maintain good social relations through respecting and maintaining the tradition in the Golan Mirah folklore as local wisdom and as the historical heritage of previous ancestors. [DTS]
