1 THE DYNAMICS OF REPRESSIVE HABITUS LAWS: ETHNOGRAPHIC CASE STUDY IN UNWIMA * Teddy Asmara Faculty of Law, Swadaya Gunung Jati University Cirebon E-mail: te_asmara@yahoo.com Abstract This research describes repressive legal habitus Unwima community by focusing on the issue of why they create a legal cognition such manner and how to empower them in the public domain when facing a lawsuit in court and examination process in higher education office. The results of the research with ethnographic methods and interpretative analysis, First, that repressive legal habitus is a part of the neo-feudalistic thinking in education management. Second, the empowerment of repressive legal habitus in the public domain potentially generate a legal behavior of impulsive that tends to a manipulative, coercive, veiled, and other immorality practices. Keywords: ethnography, legal habitus, repressive law, neo-feudalistic Abstrak Penelitian ini menjelaskan habitus hukum represif komunitas Unwima dengan berfokus kepada masalah mengapa mereka menciptakan kognisi hukum tersebut dan bagaimana memberdayakannya di ranah publik ketika menghadapi gugatan di pengadilan dan proses pemeriksaan di instansi pendidikan tinggi. Hasil penelitian dengan metode etnografi dan analisis intepretatif, Pertama, Habitus hukum represif merupakan bagian cara berpikir neofeodalistik dalam penyelenggaraan pendidikan; Kedua, Pemberdayaan habitus hukum represif pada ranah publik berpotensi menggerakkan perilaku hukum impulsif yang cenderung manipulatif, koersif, terselubung, dan praktik lainnya yang imoral. Kata kunci: etnografi, habitus hukum, hukum represif, neo-feodalistik Preface This research will prove the habitus law by academic community of University of Wija- yamala (the next will be mentioned as Unwima) which consist of institution, head of university, and lecturers when facing any kind of a lawsuit from university student in administrative court regarding with legitimation of positioning’s ex- tension period and its consequences toward their diploma. The submission of the lawsuit causing some responses from Directorate of Highest Education and Coordination of Private University related with their responsibility as mandated in Law No. 12 of 2012 on Higher Edu- cation, where the provisions of Article 7 para- graph (2) that regulate the responsibility of mi- nistry toward the implementation of higher edu- * This research is funded by Law faculty of Swadaya Gu- nungjati University with the number SKEP/11/FH/II/ 2014, on 27 th February 2014. cation include the setting, planning, supervisi- on, monitoring and evaluation as well as gui- dance and coordination, so that the rector and the foundations that are in the defendant's po- sition in court and “investigated” in higher edu- cation institutions. These reasons are the phe- nomenon which makes this case study will be more meaningful regarding with the way of law thinking that Unwima community law tends to be more repressive. According to Bordieu, the meaning of law that in praxis will depend on the dimensions of legal habitus perpetrators 1 . Therefore, by utili- 1 Menachem Mautner, “Three Approaches to Law and Cul- ture,” Cornell Law Review, Vol. 96, 2011, Ithaca NY: Cornell University Law School, page 865.