FROM SAINTS TO WARRIORS: WALI SONGO IN CONTEMPORARY POPULAR GENRES

Abstract

This thesis aims to critically analyze adaptations of Wali Songo (Nine Saints of Java) mythology in contemporary popular genres- comic books, films and cartoon storybooks. It will show that the Wali Songo have textually transmogrified from supernatural Sufi saints to sharia-minded (religious laws) dakwah (proselytizing) warriors. Evidently, this textual transformation is the result of doctrinal influences from renewed dakwah movements that is ongoing in Java. Given that popular genres are created by ordinary people and are artistic expressions of popular mass culture, it will be argued that this new heroic depiction of the Nine Saints sheds light on religious values and ideals held by contemporary Javanese masses. This is particularly so with regards to capturing changing public sentiments towards the relationship between adat (local custom) and the sharia that clearly and subtly manifests itself in the dakwah warrior persona of the Wali Songo. By drawing inspiration from Javanese mythology and reshaping it according to popular taste, these popular genres have filled the vacuum left by disappearing traditional storytellers who had used myths to entertain, teach and link new generations of Javanese to their cultural past.