Schools as moral communities: an ethnography of cultural transmission and moral polyphony in two elementary schools in Bandar Lampung, Indonesia

Indonesia’s integration into the global cultural mainstream has triggered a moral crisis that is keenly felt in Bandar Lampung, Lampung Province, and Sumatra. This dissertation examines how two elementary schools have responded to this crisis: SD Negeri 3 Kaliawi, a secular public school, and MI Al-Khairiyah Kaliawi, an Islamic-based Madrasah Ibtidaiyah. Through an ethnography study of collective action among third-grade students (ages 8–9), this study investigates how schools function as moral communities—that is, anthropological spaces where moral culture is transmitted, debated, and hybridized. Drawing on moral anthropology, Bourdieu’s theory of habitus, and the Global Asia framework, this study demonstrates that moral formation occurs primarily through embodied rituals, rather than cognitive instruction. The two schools mobilize distinct moral repertoires—nationalist-civil and Islamic—yet converge on shared universal values, resulting in what this dissertation terms “moral polyphony.” These findings contribute to anthropological debates on ethics, globalization, and education in predominantly Muslim Southeast Asia.