KnE Social Sciences

Published date: Jul 15 2025

Journal Title: KnE Social Sciences

Issue title: The International Conference on Da'wah & Communication 2024 (ICDComm 2024)

Pages: 668 - 683

DOI: 10.18502/kss.v10i14.19130

Aan Arizandy aanarizandy@gmail.comState Islamic University of Raden Intan Lampung

The existence of local religious leaders has undoubtedly played a determinant role in maintaining harmonious life of a community. However, the challenges they face are immensely dynamic and intricate. This research thus aims to explore the extent of the influence of local religious leaders, particularly their communication patterns, in dealing with social and religious contentions which frequently emerge. This research is carried out in the three selected villages in the South Lampung Regency, namely Sumur Kumbang (mostly Sundanese), Sukabakti (mostly Javanese) and Balinuraga (mostly Balinese) where people there have diverse ethnics, religions, and cultures. It employs the descriptive-qualitative method by which data is collected through observations, depth-interviews, and from relevant resources. Aubrey B Fisher’s concept of The Four Perspectives of Human Communication and Stephen W Littlejohn and Kathy Domenicy’s theory in The Communication Ecosystem are much explored as the theoretical lens. This research consequently shows that each local religious leader from each village has different perspectives and patterns of communication in dealing with social and religious issues, and such differences are influenced by some factors such as the innate characters, similarities in beliefs and consideration of the existing political opportunity structure.

Keywords: anthropology of communication, harmony, local religious leaders

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