Farmer-Artists' Concept of "Kober" in Padepokan Tjipta Boedaja, Tutup Ngisor, Magelang: A Cultural Materialist Analysis

2023, Journal Article, https://www.academia.edu/115691074/Farmer_Artists_Concept_of_Kober_in_Padepokan_Tjipta_Boedaja_Tutup_Ngisor_Magelang_A_Cultural_Materialist_Analysis?sm=b&rhid=38496233083 The experience of the farmer-artists of Padepokan Seni Tjipta Boedaja, Tutup Ngisor, Kabupaten Magelang, Central Java, Indonesia, who conduct art performances as parts of their rituals four times every year since 1937, becomes an interesting phenomenon to investigate. They work in their farms and fields from morning until afternoon, in the evening they will gather in padepokan to do art activities. An ethnographic study has been conducted to make sense of their activities, especially those related with the Javanese dances, Javanese traditional songs tembang, gamelan music orchestra, and Javanese dancing drama. Employing the four major aspects of Marvin Harris’ cultural materialist theory, this article aims to explain how the mode of production and reproduction among the agricultural community affect the structural and infrastructural aspects of the farmer-artists’ sociocultural system. It found that they perceived arts as hobbies and rituals instead of the primary source of financial earning. They coined the concept of kober, which literally means having time to do things. Their view of their habit “to live for arts” instead of “arts for life.” It shows that material concerns remain basic to the shaping of organizational and ideational aspects of the sociocultural system. It is supported by their cognitive capability to understand the significance of the basic material needs as the basis for their socio-cultural as well as ideational aspect of life. The experience of farmer-artists in Tutup Ngisor alters Harris’s linear way of defining cultural formation as materially based into a cyclical way of cultural preservation.