This article is developed from reviews to a number of works focusing on critical analysis on preservation of traditions in contemporary urban Indonesia written by graduates of cultural studies in Indonesian universities. Most studies are developed from anthropological perspective, studying the tradition in the context of the changing community which show the signs of the coming of urban culture. Reviewing the documents, it shows that most data for this study are collected through observing the tradition, interviewing with the prominent figures of the community and studying documents to interpret the form, function, and meaning of the tradition being researched. Finding shows that although in analyzing the tradition in the context of contemporary urban culture, the researchers have mentioned and described the concept and theory applied which show their awareness of postmodern cultural theories, in discussing the result and contextualizing the tradition in the contemporary urban culture, most researchers are still in descriptive style. Rather than contesting the theory which shows their political position as the characteristic of cultural studies works, most researchers have still applied the theory and just identified the aspects of transformation. Criticisms are mostly built from the disagreement of the transformation which has changed the culture of the people in the community.
