Articles

Nyepi Day and Tri Hita Karana: Local Wisdom as a Culturally Embedded Framework for Global Environmental Awareness

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This study examines Nyepi Day in Bali as an expression of local wisdom rooted in the philosophy of Tri Hita Karana and explores its relevance as a framework for global environmental awareness. In the context of escalating environmental challenges, mainstream sustainability approaches often prioritize policy and technological solutions while overlooking the role of cultural and ethical practices. Employing a qualitative case study design, this research draws on participant observation, in-depth interviews, and document analysis with 30 respondents to investigate the interrelated dimensions of ritual practice, cultural expression, and ecological impact. The findings indicate that Nyepi represents a form of collective ecological restraint, marked by a complete cessation of human activities for 24 hours that leads to reduced energy consumption, lower emissions, and minimal environmental disturbance. This practice reflects the integration of parahyangan (human–divine), pawongan (human–human), and palemahan (human–nature) relationships within Tri Hita Karana, demonstrating a holistic model of sustainability grounded in cultural values. Furthermore, the Ogoh-ogoh festival preceding Nyepi reinforces social cohesion and cultural continuity while symbolically preparing the community for environmental and spiritual purification. This study argues that Nyepi offers an alternative model of sustainability that goes beyond awareness-based initiatives such as Earth Day by emphasizing collective behavioral transformation. The research contributes to sustainability scholarship by highlighting the potential of local wisdom as a practical and culturally embedded framework for advancing global environmental consciousness.

Cultural Practices against Women in Nigeria: The Media Frames and the Challenges

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This study set out to investigate the patterns of framing of cultural practices against women by the media in Nigeria; as well as the challenges of framing the practices in South East Nigeria. The major objectives were to determine the frequency of coverage, the framing patterns and the constraints to media coverage. The survey method was employed to study a sample of 276 journalists in South East Nigeria using the questionnaire as instrument for data collection to determine their opinions about the challenges of media coverage of the practices. Also, content analysis method was employed to study the frequency of coverage of the practices in select radio, television and newspaper contents; as well as to determine framing patterns. In the end, it was found that both radio and television stations gave adequate coverage to the practices while the newspapers’ level of coverage was low. It was also found that the patterns of framing ranges from condemnatory stance to revealing the consequences on the societal development and to clamouring for review, amendment and eradication of the practices. However, challenges of coverage were lack of enabling laws, family and religious link to practices, sacredness and secrecy of the practices, etc.  It is, therefore, recommended that the media, policy makers, NGOs, community leaders, etc should find ways of ameliorating the identified hitches so as to enable hitch-free coverage of cultural practices so that analysis would be pragmatic.