Javanese Culture and the Meanings of Locality: Studies on the Arts, Urbanism, Polity, and Society is an examination of the social and cultural geography of Java. This book penetrates and surveys the Javanese world, and examines the traditions, customs, arts, urban habitation, polity, history, and belief systems of people who speak the Javanese language and live on Java Island in the Indonesian archipelago. A primary focus in these essays is to analyze the meanings of locality in the context of arts, architecture, polity, and society, with the hope of unveiling the potential of local culture in enriching and strengthening the diversity of the global world.

This book raises the issue of the practice of patrimonial power with a focus on habitations, particularly in the urban areas of Indonesia. An assemblage of interdisciplinary studies within the framework of environmental humanities, covering the arts, architecture, urban studies, geography, cultural anthropology, and sociology, this multifaceted framework divulges the interactive connectivity between Indonesia’s patrimonial culture and the socio-culturally constructed system of habitation. The interdisciplinary study of the pertinent practices of patrimonial power that have been represented and been manifested by various political and traditional regimes in terms of the built environment and habitation in Indonesia contributes to a new understanding of Indonesian urban spatial development, from the pre-colonial era to the present. The book poses that in order to understand the politics of Indonesia, one must understand the culture and tradition of the political leadership of the country. The author presents such an understanding in exploring and unpacking the relationship between people and place that constructs, develops, sustains, and conserves Indonesian culture and traditions of habitation. This book is of interest to graduate scholars and researchers in Asian Studies in numerous disciplines, including urban studies, urban planning and design, political science, architecture, anthropology of space, public administration, and political philosophy.

Hal utama yang harus kita terima dan yakini dengan segenap hati adalah bahwa Tuhan merupakan Pribadi yang memiliki pikiran, perasaan dan kehendak. Terkait dengan kehidupan orang percaya sebagai anak-anak Bapa yang dipanggil untuk menghadirkan Kerajaan Allah dan mewujudkan kehendak-Nya dalam hidup ini, Tuhan sangat reaktif dan responsif terhadap segala sesuatu yang kita pikiran, ucapkan dan lakukan. Maka, orang yang menjadikan Tuhan sebagai pusat kehidupannya akan berkata seperti Tuhan Yesus berkata: Makanan-Ku ialah melakukan kehendak Dia yang mengutus Aku dan menyelesaikan pekerjaan-Nya (Yoh. 4:34). Inilah yang namanya hidup bagi Tuhan; hidup yang menghormati Allah.