Paramita:Paramita: Historical Historical Studies Studies Journal, Journal, 30(2), 30(2), 2020, 2020 193 -207 ISSN: 0854-0039, E-ISSN: 2407-5825 DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.15294/paramita.v30i2.23690 MANAGING DIVERSITY IN HISTORY LEARNING BASED ON THE PERSPECTIVE OF KAKAWIN RAMAYANA Nur Fatah Abidin1, Fakrul Islam Laskar2 1) History Education Department, Sebelas Maret University, Surakarta, Indonesia 2) History Department, Bahona College, Jorhat, Assam, India ABSTRACT ABSTRAK This research aims to build a framework of Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk membangun diversity management in history learning kerangka manajemen keberagaman dalam based on the reinterpretation of diversity from pembelajaran sejarah berbasis reinterpretasi the perspective of Kakawin Ramayana. The kebhinekaan dari perspektif Kakawin Rama- authors used a critical hermeneutic approach yana. Penulis menggunakan pendekatan her- to interpret the texts of Kakawin Ramayana, meneutik kritis untuk menafsirkan teks Ka- especially in the texts of Prěthiwi and Aṣṭabra- kawin Ramayana, terutama dalam teks ta. The text of Prěthiwi and Aṣṭabrata implicitly Prěthiwi dan Aṣṭabrata. Teks Prěthiwi dan elucidates that diversity should be acknowl- Aṣṭabrata secara implisit menjelaskan bahwa edged based on the moral and ethical attrib- keberagaman harus diakui berdasarkan atribut utes of an individual. There are no spaces for moral dan etis seseorang. Tidak ada ruang arbitrary prejudices based on social identities, untuk prasangka sewenang-wenang berdasar- such as ethnicity, race, or even religiosity and kan identitas sosial, seperti etnis, ras, atau political affiliation. The findings of the re- bahkan religiusitas dan afiliasi politik. Hasil search show that the framework of diversity penelitian menunjukkan bahwa kerangka kerja management in history learning can be built manajemen keberagaman dalam pembelajaran by creating three layers: (1) inclusive curricu- sejarah dapat dibangun dengan membuat tiga lum, (2) alternate narratives in learning materi- lapisan: (1) kurikulum inklusif, (2) narasi alter- als and history textbooks, and (3) teacher and natif dalam materi pembelajaran dan buku students’ attitude of multi-perspectivity. The teks sejarah, dan (3) sikap guru dan siswa. history curriculum has to accommodate inclu- multi-perspektif. Kurikulum sejarah harus siveness by acknowledging social and psycho- mengakomodasi inklusivitas dengan mengakui logical diversity. Along with the inclusive cur- keragaman sosial dan psikologis. Seiring riculum, history textbooks should provide al- dengan kurikulum inklusif, buku teks sejarah ternate narratives in the form of personal or harus memberikan alternatif narasi berupa biographical history as the third way to coun- sejarah personal atau biografis sebagai cara ter the grand narratives and present the multi- ketiga untuk melawan narasi besar dan narratives in learning history. Teachers and menyajikan multi narasi dalam pembelajaran students have to accept multi-perspectivity as sejarah. Guru dan siswa harus menerima mul- the representation of diversity in history learn- tiperspektif sebagai representasi keberagaman ing. The authors believe that these layers of dalam pembelajaran sejarah. Penulis percaya diversity management can provide a prolific bahwa manajemen keanekaragaman ini dapat understanding of diverseness and its relativity memberikan pemahaman yang produktif ten- in history learning in which diversity could not tang keanekaragaman dan relativitasnya da- be merely observed in the societal term but lam pembelajaran sejarah di mana keane- also the personal parameter. karagaman tidak dapat hanya diamati dalam konteks masyarakat tetapi juga level pribadi. Keywords: history learning, diversity, Kakawin Ramayana. Kata kunci: pembelajaran sejarah, keberaga- man, Kakawin Ramayana. Author correspondence Email: [email protected] 193 Available online at http://journal.unnes.ac.id/nju/index.php/paramita Paramita: Historical Studies Journal, 30(2), 2020 INTRODUCTION Society outward of the western The topic of diversity management comes world tends to adapt and to contextualize to be an essential issue in contemporary those concepts, even though in some cas- discussions of theory and practices of his- es, that seem to be inefficient in solving tory education. In a broadly understand- problems of diversity at the local level. ing, diversity management tackles the is- Differently from western societies, most of sues of the observable and invisible differ- the societies in the Asian region have spe- ences, such as diversity of race, gender, cific social and economic problems such opinions, and societal discourses as labor shortage, demographic time (Ivancevich & Gilbert, 2000; Trittin & bomb, legal migrant workers, and ethnic Schoeneborn, 2017; Zanoni & Janssens, discrimination (Budhwar & Debrah, 2008; 2004). The main idea of diversity manage- Debrah, 2002; Holland, 2003; Wasino, ment is to provide an organizational strat- Putro, Aji, Kurniawan, & Shintasiwi, egy and principles that uphold diversity as 2019). Moreover, the local cultures have an asset to achieve the welfare of society shaped their indigenous personality, (Gilbert, Stead, & Ivancevich, 1999; worldview, values, as well as social struc- Mathews, 1998; Thomas, 1990). In the tures (Mackie, 2018; Miike, 2017). They context of history education, the issue of also have primordial senses and ethnic diversity management mainly discusses prejudices as the legacy of past conflict the capability of the teachers, students as and violence that, in some cases, shape well as the sensitivity of educational pro- exclusiveness in society (Gowricharn, gram and other pedagogical aspects in 2018). The particularity of Asian societies learning history to acknowledge and to led to a question about the appropriate- manage the diverseness of religiosity, eth- ness of the concept of melting pot and nicity, races, and gender (Parkes, 2009). multiculturalism in dealing with various The diversity management in history edu- cultural and educational backgrounds cation aims to provide a space for an indi- (Lorbiecki & Jack, 2000; Palmer, 2003). vidual or particular social group to have Some scholars investigate the nature equal rights and position in the history of heterogeneous societies in Asian, such learning process. It means that, in this as in Indonesia and India. The scholars framework, history should be learnable for are reconsidering to scrutinize indigenous every student with different social and po- manuscripts, scriptures, and concepts as litical backgrounds (Janssenswillen and their topic of research. They are trying to Lisaité, 2014). find indigenous values and philosophical Western societies have developed foundations of diversity management and, the concept of melting pot and multicul- at the same time, contesting it with west- turalism as two major practical frame- ern management frameworks (Bhatia, works of diversity management. They 2016; Bhattacharjee, 2017; Kaushal, tend to use those concepts to organize di- 2017). Currently, some indigenous manu- verseness in society by taking affirmative scripts, such as Bhagavad Gita (Kumar, action or providing an ideological concept Mahapatra, & Bhuyan, 2018; Limbasiya, for assimilating cultures (Bond & Pyle, 2018), Yoga (Dhamija, Dhamija, & Ku- 1998; Ivancevich & Gilbert, 2000; Prasad, mar, 2017; Satpathy, Patnaik, & Das, Mills, Elmes, & Prasad, 1997). In the term 2018), Ramayana (Abidin, Joebagio, & of educational field, these concepts lead to Sariyatun, 2018; Pathak, Singh, & Ankita the advancement of multicultural educa- Anshul, 2016; Sinha & Shastri, 2018), Ar- tional thoughts (Banks and Banks, 2019). thashastra (Manrai & Goeli, 2017; Sonwal- Some researchers in the history education kar & Maheshkar, 2018), and Mahabhara- field have also developed frameworks in ta (Kaipa, 2014; Thaker, 2011), have been facing diversity issues such as critical plu- examined to outlines an alternative insight ralism (Parkes, 2009) and multi- for organizational management based on perceptivity (Wagemakers & Patist, 2012). indigenous values and principles. 194 Paramita: Historical Studies Journal, 30(2), 2020 In examining issues of diversity of Kakawin Ramayana. The process in- management, scholars have focused their digenization of the story occurred in the analysis on generating an appropriate con- era of the Ancient Mataram Kingdom cir- cept or practical framework of diversity ca in the 9th century. This story still alive management that suitable for Asian con- until nowadays in the form of shadow texts. In general, the scholars take two puppet performance and arts; to a certain approaches by revisiting indigenous values degree, it is believed as a sacred story, es- and then contesting those values with a pecially for some societies inhabited South particular problem of diversity in an or- Asia and Southeast Asia (Kam, 2000; ganization, such as gender (Jain & Sweeney, 1972). Mukherji, 2016; Rai, 2012), ethnicity, and Because of the wide-ranging impact religiosity (A. Rao, 2012; P. Rao, 2015). of the story, the discussion in this research Nevertheless, the authors perceive that the will be limited to two fundamental issues analysis should be extended into a philo- of management diversity: the meaning of sophical discussion to construct the epis- diversity and the principles of diversity temic foundation as well as strengthen the management for history learning purpos- theoretical and practical frameworks of es. The authors assume that the meaning diversity