Dinamika Komunikasi Antar Budaya dalam Pernikahan Multikultural (Studi Kasus Negosiasi Identitas pada Pasangan Beda Agama dan Suku di Kecamatan Bonehau Tahun 2025)

Wardah Akmaliah Rahmat, Dr. Wisnu Martha Adiputra, S.I.P., M.Si.

2026 | Tesis | S2 Ilmu Komunikasi

Pernikahan multikultural di Kecamatan Bonehau, Kabupaten Mamuju, Sulawesi Barat, mempertemukan individu dengan latar belakang agama dan suku yang berbeda dalam satu ikatan keluarga. Perbedaan ini kerap memunculkan ketegangan identitas, tuntutan keluarga besar, dan penilaian sosial. Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk menjelaskan bagaimana pasangan multikultural menegosiasikan identitas dan makna perbedaan yang dibangun pasangan dalam ruang komunikasi antarbudaya. Penelitian ini menggunakan paradigma interpretif dengan metode kualitatif multiple case study pada tiga pasangan dengan perbedaan identitas. Data dikumpulkan melalui wawancara mendalam, observasi partisipatif, dan catatan temuan lapangan, kemudian dianalisis secara within-case dan cross-case dengan mengelompokkan temuan ke dalam empat ruang komunikasi: ruang pernikahan, ruang keluarga, ruang agama, dan ruang etnis. Hasil penelitian menunjukkan bahwa negosiasi identitas berlangsung sebagai proses sehari-hari untuk membangun rasa aman identitas dan menjaga stabilitas relasi. Di ruang pernikahan, pasangan menegosiasikan batas keyakinan, aturan dasar relasi, pembagian peran, dan mekanisme pengambilan keputusan. Di ruang keluarga, negosiasi mencakup restu, penerimaan, tekanan sosial, serta pengasuhan, melalui strategi komunikasi konvergensi atau divergensi yang tampak pada kehati-hatian memilih kata, memberi jeda, dan menentukan waktu membahas isu sensitif. Di ruang agama, negosiasi meliputi keterlibatan ibadah, pengaturan hari raya, kenyamanan ruang ibadah, serta pengelolaan aturan seperti makanan tanpa menyamakan keyakinan. Di ruang etnis, pasangan menegosiasikan tradisi, bahasa, norma adat, dan keterlibatan ritual. Secara lintas kasus, kompetensi negosiasi identity knowledge, mindfulness, dan negotiation skill membantu pasangan memilah batas yang dijaga tegas dan penyesuaiannya dapat dinegosiasikan. Makna keberagaman bergeser dari sumber ketegangan menjadi ruang belajar bersama untuk saling memahami, menjaga, dan memperkuat ketahanan keluarga di tengah keberagaman lokal Bonehau.

Multicultural marriage in Bonehau District, Mamuju Regency, West Sulawesi, brings together individuals with different religious and ethnic backgrounds within a single-family unit. These differences often generate identity tensions, demands from extended families, and social judgment. This study aims to explain how multicultural couples negotiate identity and construct meanings of difference within intercultural communication spaces. Adopting an interpretive paradigm, the research employs a qualitative multiple-case study design involving three couples with differing identities. Data were collected through in-depth interviews, participant observation, and field notes, then analyzed through within-case and cross-case approaches by organizing the findings into four communication spaces: the marital space, the family space, the religious space, and the ethnic space. The findings show that identity negotiation unfolds as an everyday process aimed at building a sense of identity security and maintaining relational stability. In the marital space, couples negotiate boundaries of belief, basic relationship rules, the division of roles, and decision-making mechanisms. In the family space, negotiation concerns blessing/approval, acceptance, social pressure, and childrearing, through convergent or divergent communication strategies reflected in careful word choice, pausing, and choosing appropriate timing to discuss sensitive issues. In the religious space, negotiation involves participation in worship practices, the arrangement of religious holidays, the comfort of worship spaces, and the management of rules such as food practices without homogenizing beliefs. In the ethnic space, couples negotiate traditions, language, customary norms, and participation in rituals. Across cases, the negotiation competencies of identity knowledge, mindfulness, and negotiation skill help couples distinguish between boundaries that must be firmly maintained and adjustments that remain negotiable. Ultimately, the meaning of diversity shifts from a source of tension to a shared learning space for mutual understanding, care, and strengthening family resilience amid Bonehau’s local diversity.

Kata Kunci : Negosiasi identitas, pernikahan multikultural, komunikasi antarbudaya, keberagaman, kecamatan Bonehau