Forms and Meanings of the Sekujang Oral Tradition in Selingsingan and Simpang Villages, Seluma Regency, Bengkulu Province
Abstract
Oral traditions constitute an important element of intangible cultural heritage, serving as a medium of cultural transmission, identity formation, and moral education, yet many of these traditions remain underexplored in academic scholarship. This study aimed to analyze the forms and meanings of the Sekujang oral tradition practiced by the Serawai community in Selingsingan and Simpang Villages, North Seluma District, Bengkulu Province. A qualitative descriptive design was employed, using documentation, observation, and in-depth interviews with cultural practitioners and community elders as data collection techniques. The collected pantun texts were transcribed, coded, and thematically analyzed to identify structural features and cultural values embedded in the tradition. The findings revealed that Sekujang is performed through pantun recitations that encompass themes of gratitude, respect, and communal harmony, while also functioning as a vehicle for intergenerational knowledge transfer and social cohesion. The analysis further demonstrated that Sekujang reflects the Serawai people’s worldview and ethical norms, particularly concerning respect for nature, kinship, and spirituality. The novelty of this research lies in its systematic documentation and interpretive analysis of Sekujang, a tradition that has received limited scholarly attention compared to other Indonesian oral performances. These results imply that Sekujang should be integrated into cultural preservation programs and educational initiatives to strengthen cultural identity, promote local wisdom, and support heritage policies at the regional and national levels.
References
Alsaleh, A. (2024). The impact of technological advancement on culture and society. Scientific Reports, 14(1), 32140. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-024-83995-z
Anoegrajekti, N., Macaryus, S., Kusumah, M. S., Izzah, L., & Attas, S. G. (2018). The oral tradition of Petik Laut Banyuwangi: Revitalization of tradition and local-global political space. KnE Social Sciences, 3(9), 595. https://doi.org/10.18502/kss.v3i9.2723
Banda, L. O. L., Banda, C. V., Banda, J. T., & Singini, T. (2024). Preserving cultural heritage: A community-centric approach to safeguarding the Khulubvi traditional temple Malawi. Heliyon, 10(18), e37610. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.heliyon.2024.e37610
Chew, P. G.-L. (2013). A sociolinguistic history of early identities in Singapore. Palgrave Macmillan UK. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137012340
Darling-Hammond, L., Flook, L., Cook-Harvey, C., Barron, B., & Osher, D. (2020). Implications for educational practice of the science of learning and development. Applied Developmental Science, 24(2), 97–140. https://doi.org/10.1080/10888691.2018.1537791
Dwivedi, Y. K., Kshetri, N., Hughes, L., Slade, E. L., Jeyaraj, A., Kar, A. K., Baabdullah, A. M., Koohang, A., Raghavan, V., Ahuja, M., Albanna, H., Albashrawi, M. A., Al-Busaidi, A. S., Balakrishnan, J., Barlette, Y., Basu, S., Bose, I., Brooks, L., Buhalis, D., … Wright, R. (2023). Opinion paper: "So what if ChatGPT wrote it?" Multidisciplinary perspectives on opportunities, challenges and implications of generative conversational AI for research, practice and policy. International Journal of Information Management, 71, 102642. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijinfomgt.2023.102642
Ernst, J., & Jensen Schleiter, A. (2021). Organizational identity struggles and reconstruction during organizational change: Narratives as symbolic, emotional and practical glue. Organization Studies, 42(6), 891–910. https://doi.org/10.1177/0170840619854484
Ghosh, S. (2024). Cultural erosion in India: Cultural loss and a threat to the nation's traditions and ethnicity. International Journal of Social Science and Economic Research, 9(4), 1092–1101. https://doi.org/10.46609/IJSSER.2024.v09i04.014
Hewer, R., Smith, K., & Fergie, G. (2019). The social functionality of humor in group-based research. Qualitative Health Research, 29(3), 431–444. https://doi.org/10.1177/1049732318800675
Hossain, K. I. (2024). Literature-based language learning: Challenges and opportunities for English learners. Ampersand, 13, 100201. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.amper.2024.100201
Information, A. (2011). On media memory (M. Neiger, O. Meyers, & E. Zandberg, Eds.). Palgrave Macmillan UK. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230307070
Juma, F. A. (2022). Recapturing the oral tradition of storytelling in spiritual conversations with older adults: An Afro-Indigenous approach. Religions, 13(6), 563. https://doi.org/10.3390/rel13060563
Lian, Y., & Xie, J. (2024). The evolution of digital cultural heritage research: Identifying key trends, hotspots, and challenges through bibliometric analysis. Sustainability, 16(16), 7125. https://doi.org/10.3390/su16167125
Malapane, O. L., Chanza, N., & Musakwa, W. (2024). Transmission of indigenous knowledge systems under changing landscapes within the Vhavenda community, South Africa. Environmental Science & Policy, 161, 103861. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envsci.2024.103861
Newisar, M., Selim, G., & Li, M. (2024). Place-based perspectives on understanding the value of sustainable heritage-inspired arts and crafts in Jordan. Sustainability, 16(17), 7547. https://doi.org/10.3390/su16177547
Petricevic, O., & Teece, D. J. (2019). The structural reshaping of globalization: Implications for strategic sectors, profiting from innovation, and the multinational enterprise. Journal of International Business Studies, 50(9), 1487–1512. https://doi.org/10.1057/s41267-019-00269-x
Prasada, I., Sulistyawati, P., & Martasari, L. (2021). Social philanthropy in oral tradition of multicultural society in West Bali as an effort to build inclusive civilization. In Proceedings of the 2nd International Conference on Law, Social Sciences and Education (ICLSSE 2020), 10 November, Singaraja, Bali, Indonesia. https://doi.org/10.4108/eai.10-11-2020.2303452
Sallay, V., Wieszt, A., Varga, S., & Martos, T. (2024). Balancing identity, construction, and rules: Family relationship negotiations during first-generation succession in family businesses. Journal of Business Research, 174, 114483. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2023.114483
Shah, S. S., & Asghar, Z. (2023). Dynamics of social influence on consumption choices: A social network representation. Heliyon, 9(6), e17146. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.heliyon.2023.e17146
Sholikhah, A. (2020). Peran keluarga sebagai tempat pertama sosialisasi budi pekerti Jawa bagi anak dalam mengantisipasi degradasi nilai-nilai moral. Yinyang: Jurnal Studi Islam Gender dan Anak, 15(1), 111–126. https://doi.org/10.24090/yinyang.v15i1.3805
Sone, E. (2018). African oral literature and the humanities: Challenges and prospects. Humanities, 7(2), 30. https://doi.org/10.3390/h7020030
Sugita, I. W., Setini, M., & Anshori, Y. (2021). Counter hegemony of cultural art innovation against art in digital media. Journal of Open Innovation: Technology, Market, and Complexity, 7(2), 147. https://doi.org/10.3390/joitmc7020147
Syam, C., Olendo, Y. O., Dewantara, J. A., & Rahmani, E. F. (2024). Oral literature and social identity of the Dayak Kanayatn: The extinction of oral literature in the midst of contemporary cultural trends. Cogent Arts & Humanities, 11(1). https://doi.org/10.1080/23311983.2024.2376785
Thanh Quý, N. T., & Phương, ương Thị. (2023). The importance of fairy tales in communication, education, and cultural preservation. International Journal of Social Science and Human Research, 6(10). https://doi.org/10.47191/ijsshr/v6-i10-14
Todd, J. (2024). Does identity change matter? Everyday agency, moral authority and generational cascades in the transformation of groupness after conflict. Theory and Society, 53(3), 571–596. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11186-024-09544-9
Ubertazzi, B. (2022). Intangible cultural heritage, sustainable development and intellectual property (Vol. 18). Springer International Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-08104-0
van Slageren, J., & van Tubergen, F. (2021). Generalised trust among second-generation Muslim and non-Muslim minority groups in Europe. Journal of Muslims in Europe, 11(2), 263–285. https://doi.org/10.1163/22117954-bja10042
Wahid, S. H. (2024). Exploring the intersection of Islam and digital technology: A bibliometric analysis. Social Sciences & Humanities Open, 10, 101085. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ssaho.2024.101085
Wallstam, M., Ioannides, D., & Pettersson, R. (2020). Evaluating the social impacts of events: In search of unified indicators for effective policymaking. Journal of Policy Research in Tourism, Leisure and Events, 12(2), 122–141. https://doi.org/10.1080/19407963.2018.1515214
WS, H., Emidar, E., & Zulfadhli, Z. (2023). The text of Minangkabau collective riddles: Format, figurative language, and social function for the collective owners. Rupkatha Journal on Interdisciplinary Studies in Humanities, 15(3). https://doi.org/10.21659/rupkatha.v15n3.15
Xia, J., Gu, X., Fu, T., Ren, Y., & Sun, Y. (2024). Trends and future directions in research on the protection of traditional village cultural heritage in urban renewal. Buildings, 14(5), 1362. https://doi.org/10.3390/buildings14051362
Copyright (c) 2024 Rahmat Wahyuddin, Kasmantoni Kasmantoni, Heny Friantary
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Authors who publish with JPI: Jurnal Pustaka Indonesia journal agree to the following terms:
- Authors retain copyright and grant the JPI: Jurnal Pustaka Indonesia journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 4.0) that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgment of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
- Authors can enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or edit it in a book), with an acknowledgment of its initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) before and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work.
