The Educational Diversity: Banyuwangi Festival as a Revitalization Strategy for World Tourism Destination

Abstract

The deversity of (kebinekaan) education internalizes the awareness of living together in diversity and difference, with a spirit of equality, mutual trust, understanding, and respect for similarities, as well as differences and uniqueness of culture. This study aimed to explore Banyuwangi festival as a strategy to revitalize tourism destination in the perspective of kebinekaan education. These ethnographic data were obtained from library sources in the form of articles, books, news, and research reports about Banyuwangi festival. The library data were complemented by field data obtained through in-depth interview, observation, and participation. The interview was directed to the community leaders, festival actors, cultural observers, and local bureaucrats. Observations and participation were carried out by looking at the performances of art festivals and rituals held by the indigenous people in Banyuwangi. Data analysis was carried out continuously since the data were presented. The ethnographic data assume that the community has an understanding and taxonomy of various cultural events, especially those related to festivals and tourism destinations. The interpretation was done textually, contextually, and culturally, to get a comprehensive understanding of each cultural event. In the perspective of kebinekaan education, this study showed that Banyuwangi indigenous people were opened and egalitarian towards various cultures outside the area. This could be seen from the collaboration of festival materials based on tradition, religion, culture, production, and sports that had a potency to support tourism sector in Banyuwangi.