The Community Phenomenon In Victor Turner's Theory: A Comparative Study Of Social Integration In The Fête De La Saint-Jean In France And The Erau Festival In Indonesia

Sekar Hayuning Karandri; Rosana Hariyanti

doi:10.63922/ijevss.v5i04.6471

Sekar Hayuning Karandri Brawijaya University, Indonesia
Rosana Hariyanti Brawijaya University, Indonesia

DOI: https://doi.org/10.63922/ijevss.v5i04.6471

Keywords: antistructure; community; cultural festival; social integration; liminality.

Abstract

Festivals are cultural spaces where collective identities are produced, negotiated, and maintained through symbols, rituals, and community participation. This study aims to compare cultural practices at the Fête de la Saint-Jean in France and the Erau Festival in Indonesia, explain the formation of liminality and community, and formulate patterns of social integration and the conditions that support and limit them. The study uses a qualitative interpretive approach with a comparative study design and qualitative content analysis. Data include ritual actions, cultural symbols, use of space, participation patterns, and social interactions obtained from visual, audiovisual, and textual documentation. Sources were selected purposively based on their credibility, completeness, clarity of context, and relevance to the research focus. Analysis was conducted deductively based on the concepts of separation, liminality, antistructure, community, and reaggregation in Victor Turner's theory, and inductively to identify contextual themes. Within-case analysis continued with cross-case comparisons, while the validity of the findings was maintained through source triangulation, examination of conflicting evidence, reflective notes, and audit trails. Both festivals transformed public spaces into ritual spaces that enabled the loosening of formal relations and social hierarchies. The Fête de la Saint-Jean fosters togetherness through spatial proximity and a symbolic orientation toward fire, while the Erau Festival generates reciprocal interactions through the use of water in Belimbur. Both mechanisms generate spontaneous communities characterized by equality, closeness, and collective emotion. However, the existence of ritual authority, role allocation, rules of organization, and zoning indicate that the resulting antistructure is partial. Differences in ritual mediums demonstrate that communities can form through diverse participation mechanisms. Fire focuses collective attention and experience, while water strengthens relationships through direct physical action. While both have the potential to support social integration, shared presence does not necessarily result in sustainable relationships if participants are merely spectators. Liminality opens the possibility for the weakening of hierarchies, but does not guarantee permanent social integration. Sustainable integration is determined by open participation, the maintenance of ritual meaning, community involvement, institutional governance, and the balance between cultural preservation and tourism interests.

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