Abstract

Due to historical relationships with the military, royalty, landed gentry and upper-class society, equestrian sport faces regular accusations of being elitist and exclusionary. How about in Indonesia? Equestrian clubs are now a lot of popping up and become popular in some of major cities in this country. Even though looks similar, equestrian is totally different from traditional Indonesian horse race: ‘Pacuan Kuda’ that has already existed in this country. After millennium, various discourses in the media about equestrian also forming the discourse of exclusionary in this country. Understand equestrian sport is important to consider how people participate in the sport and the different ways it is represented across countries, in this case is in Indonesia. UGM Equestrian Unit, one of an oldest equestrian club in Yogyakarta, Indonesia, that consistently stands for UGM students since 1989. Many ways are done by this club in recruiting members every year and present themselves as a humble sport that can be followed by every UGM student in Yogyakarta, but the image of an ‘upper-class’ student activities appears even stronger year after year. Why did it happen?

Keywords

capital, distinction, equestrian, habitus, leisure, social class

References