| Summary: | Natural disasters which occur regularly in Indonesia have caused many volunteer
groups to emerge from different group of society, including religious arena.
However, the emergence of religious volunteer groups has received considerably less
scholarly attention. This paper focuses on the experiences of the religious volunteer
group called Santana (santri tanggap bencana) in Lamongan, East Java. The group is
part of religious education institution (pesantren) which emphasizes religious aspects
and attempts to realize religious values in everyday life. The group gives religious
meaning to the experience of disaster and the efforts to help to the victims. The aim
of this study is to describe the ethnography of Santana�s response to the flood
disaster in Lamongan as not only a natural but also a cultural phenomenon and a
social practice.
The study examines the relation between the meaning of disaster and the social
practices conducted by Santana. Through the ethnographic fieldwork, I found a large
number of religious symbols referring to disaster. These symbols are intertwined
with one another. By using Spradley�s concept of relational theory of meaning
(1979), I analyze symbols that refers to the other symbols in order to pinpoint the
exact meaning. I also identify the meaning of disaster response through key symbols
as the interpretation of social practice (Ortner, 1973).
This study reveals that the meanings of natural disaster are predominantly based on
religious knowledge. Referring to the religious text, disaster victims are categorized
as weak people (mustad�afin). Islamic tenets require Santana to helping victims
through their interpretation of mustad�afin concept as poor people and orphan. This
concept has inspired Santana to realize social activism. Their commitment to the
religious tenets involves not only giving material aid but also promoting spiritual
empowerment. This gives insight into the dynamic of how religious groups manifest
their religious value by providing both material and spiritual aid.
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