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Parangu & Salim, 2018
Volume 4 Issue 2, pp. 1221-1232
Date of Publication: 17th September 2018
DOI-https://dx.doi.org/10.20319/pijss.2018.42.12211232
This paper can be cited as: Parangu, R. N. A., & Salim, T. A. (2018). Indigenous Knowledge
Preservation of Oral Literature “Hahiwang” in West Lampung. PEOPLE: International Journal of Social
Sciences, 4(2), 1221-1232.
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International
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INDIGENOUS KNOWLEDGE PRESERVATION OF ORAL
LITERATURE “HAHIWANG” IN WEST LAMPUNG
Reza Nawafella Alya Parangu
Department of Library and Information Science, Faculty of Humanities, Universitas Indonesia,
16424 Depok, Indonesia
reza.nawafella@ui.ac.id
Tamara Adriani Salim
Department of Library and Information Science, Faculty of Humanities, Universitas Indonesia,
16424 Depok, Indonesia
tamaraas@ui.ac.id
Abstract
This is a preliminary research that aims to identify the traditional oral literature of hahiwang,
and the efforts that have been made in preserving oral literature hahiwang in West Lampung.
The method used is qualitative, where the data is collected and analyzed obtained from data
collection through observation, and literature review. The result of this research is hahiwang is
a traditional oral literature belonging to Krui community, West Lampung. Oral literature of
hahiwang is an activity of chanting poem in Lampung with rhythm. The facts, hahiwang oral
literature just mastered by the old generation, many young generations know about this oral
literature but do not mastered how should its sung. Whereas, the oral literature of hahiwang is
full of meaning and moral message about life which is implied from its poem. Some activities of
preservation have been done by socialization and externalization.
Keywords
Preservation, Indigenous Knowledge, Local Wisdom, Oral Literature, Culture, Hahiwang
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1. Introduction
Oral literature included in indigenous knowledge, knowledge held by local communities.
Oral literature is literature that encompasses the literature expression of the citizens. a culture
that is spread by word of mouth orally from mouth to mouth (Hutomo, 1991). To preserve oral
literature, people usually inherit from generation to generation. Oral literature contains cultural
values and local wisdom as characterize the region itself. Local wisdom can also be interpreted
as an original knowledge that is very unique from every culture or society. usually, this
knowledge can influence planning and decision making in the local area.
Cultural diversity is nothing but a fact about the existence of so many different cultures
from one another, distinguished by ethnographic observations. Lampung is one of the provinces
located on the island of Sumatra. Lampung has abundant cultural diversity such as traditional
houses, traditional dances, traditional clothing, regional culinary, and traditional oral art.
However, the lack of cultural exposure makes young people less familiar with the variety of
cultures in Lampung. Unfortunately, it makes the existence of culture to be forgotten and even
become extinct.
One of the cultures in Lampung that is endangered crushed by time is oral literature,
many oral literature contained in Lampung, one of them is hahiwang. Hahiwang is the oral
literature of society 16 Marga Pesisir, Krui, West Lampung. Hahiwang is an oral art of chanting
poem with Lampung language and accompanied by rhythm.
Hahiwang is full of the moral values implied by its poem. Unfortunately, the oral
literature of hahiwang is only mastered by the older generation, many younger generation who
know this oral literature but do not know how should its sung. This makes us aware that the
preservation of oral literature needs to be intensified, transfer knowledge from the older
generation to the young generation to preserve the existence of oral literature hahiwang so it does
not disappear from the culture of the Lampung society.
Previous research is contained in an article entitled “Preservation of Knowledge in the
Oral Tradition of ‘Randai’ Performance Art in Minangkabau,West Sumatra” written by Yona
Primadesi from State University of Padang, Indonesia. Which has been published in the Journal
of Information and Library Studies Vol.1/No.2, December 2013, p.179-187. This article aims to
identify the elements in the oral tradition of Minangkabau randai performing arts, knowledge
preservation activities that have been done, constraints in the process of preservation of
knowledge, along with steps that can be done in order to preserve the knowledge contained in the
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oral tradition of Minangkabau randai art performance. The results of this study show that, lack of
policy with respect to the use of Minangkabau language in the environment of formal education,
and policies that revive the function of the surau or the mosque as media of informal education,
became another trigger for the loss of randai knowledge in the community. Therefore, it is
strongly recommended the participation of all levels of society and government to maintain and
preserve knowledge in randai with more structured and sustainable in order to maintain the
originality and main function of the randai itself.
The difference of previous research with this study are located on the purpose and
location of the study, where the aim of this study is to identify the traditional hahiwang oral
literature, and the efforts that have been made in preserving hahiwang oral literature, as well as
this research conducted in West Lampung. Preliminary results indicate that hahiwang is
traditional oral literature belonging to the Krui community, West Lampung. Hahiwang oral
literature is a poetry singing activity in Lampung with a rhythm. The facts, the new oral literature
hahiwang is dominated by the old generation, many young people know about this oral literature
but do not master how it should be sung.
2. Literature Review
2.1 Preservation
Preservation is the act of preserving or protecting something to prevent it from being
damaged. Preservation specialists in libraries, archives, and museum share a commitment to
protect the “stuff” of culture in all forms and formats, perhaps even including the built
environment that houses the raw material of history and the evidence that feeds our memories
(Conway, 2010). Another concept about preservation, preservation is widely recognized as the
process of selection, storage and effective actualization of organizational knowledge or,
similarly, as the process enabling workers to store, organize and retrieve knowledge in
organizations (Agrifoglio, 2015).
Northeast Document Conservation Center interpret preservation as the protection of
cultural property through activities that minimize chemical and physical deterioration and
damage and that prevent loss of informational content. It was explained that the main purpose of
conservation was to extend the existence of cultural property. Involves keeping a balance
between collection-level activities such as environmental control, which can be difficult and/or
costly to manage but provide the greatest long-term benefit for the most materials, and item-level
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activities such as conservation treatment, which are often more easily understood and managed
but can have limited effect, especially if the items are returned to a damaging environment.
2.2 Indigenous Knowledge
Knowledge that people usually have in their environment, Environs meaning what is
around us. IK related to specific environmental knowledge, and rooted in particular places.
Indigenous knowledge is fundamentally tacit and embedded in practice and experience and
exchanged in the community through oral communication and demonstrations. Indigenous
knowledge or can be referred to by local wisdom is exposed to all tangible cultural heritages
(tangible in form of textual which is some kind of local wisdom such as value system, ordinance,
special provisions written in the same way as in the traditional book of primbon) or intangible
(architectural building, cultural / traditional preserve or intangible artwork).
Boven and Morashi (2002) suggests that indigenous knowledge refers to a complete body
of knowledge, knowing and maintaining the history of interaction with the natural environment.
A collection of understandings, interpretations and meanings are part of the cultural complexities
that include language, naming and classification systems, practices for using resources, ritual,
spirituality and worldview. consequently, it provides the basis for local level decision-making
about many fundamental aspects of day-to-day life to adapt to environmental or social changes.
Boven and Morashi insist that informal knowledge differs from formal knowledge, formal
knowledge is more often documented in such knowledge, whereas in non-formal knowledge it is
knowledge that is orally submitted, from generation to generation, and therefore rarely
documentation of non-knowledge -the formal.
Another concept about indigenous knowledge is essentially empirical knowledge, based
on the experience of people who are directly involved with the natural world. Many terms are
used to described to IK; local knowledge, folk biology, folk knowledge, ethno ecology and
traditional environmental knowledge (Morris, 2010). Mearns, Du Toit and Mukuka (2006)
mentioned the characteristic form of IK such as: 1) IK is local, holistic, and integrative because it
is rooted in a particular community and its experiences are situated within broader cultural
traditions of the people living in that place; 2) IK is experiential rather than theoretical and is
reinforced through continuous experience, trial and error; 3) IK is tacit and cannot easily be
codified; 4) The distribution of IK is always fragmented; 5) IK is transmitted orally, the
codification process can eliminate some of its properties.
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2.3 Oral literature
Oral literature is a product of society that is adopted from the culture, way of life, the
value of life, and the philosophy of society. There has been a widespread spread of the art of
writing and printing aiming to make oral literature for posterity and access to the public. The
term “oral literature” broadly includes ritual texts, curative chants, epic poems, folk tales,
creation stories, songs, myths, spells, legends, proverbs, riddles, tongue-twisters, recitations and
historical narratives. In most cases, such traditions are not translated when a community shifts to
using a more dominant language (Turin, 2013).
The term oral literature is sometimes used interchangeably with folklore, but usually has
a broader focus. This term is used to emphasize imaginative creativity and conventional
structures that mark oral discourse as well. (The Canadian Encyclopedia).
2.4 Knowledge transfer
Knowledge transfer is defined as an activities that connect professionally across
functions, platforms, and geographical distances. This connection helps in building a knowledge-
sharing network formation that allows people to build relationships to share knowledge sharing
(Desouza, 2011). Knowledge transfer can be defined as knowledge sharing, a reciprocal process
involving an exchange between individuals. The transfer of knowledge often adopts an analysis
model which includes the existence of a source and a reciever, where knowledge is transferred
from one party to another (Mochado and J. Paulo, 2014) knowledge transfer occurs because
someone is interested in acquiring knowledge and capable of transacting the knowledge required.
From other perspective, Knowledge sharing is basically the act of making knowledge
available to others. Sharing knowledge between individuals is defined as a process in which the
knowledge possessed by individuals is transformed into a form that can be understood, absorbed
and used by other individuals (Ipe, 2003). There are four types of knowledge transformation
based on Nonaka's SECI Model; socialization, externalization, internalization and combination.
Figure 1: The Nonaka’s SE CI Model
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Socialization: conversion of tacit knowledge to tacit knowledge (individual/team)
Externalization: conversion of tacit to explicit knowledge (individual) and
Internalization: conversion of explicit knowledge to tacit knowledge (organization)
Combination: conversion of explicit knowledge to explicit knowledge (organization)
The first is socialization, when a tacit knowledge is transformed into new tacit
knowledge. Socialization aims at transferring tacit knowledge face-to-face through interactions,
imitation and practice. When an experience is shared with the individual, through this experience
will create new tacit knowledge for the individual itself. Second, externalization are when tacit
knowledge is codified and turns into explicit knowledge so that knowledge can be shared with
others, involving the reification of a mental model into a concrete concept. A person who
possesses tacit knowledge, then interprets that knowledge into a documented knowledge so that
it can be shared and understood by others. Frequently, the stage of externalization is difficult to
do, due to tacit knowledge is difficult to convert and codify. Third stage is combination, this
newly explicit knowledge becomes widely disseminated, discussed, redesigned and modified. In
his article, (IAEA-CN-153/2/P/24) Faust, B. argued that “The combination mode of knowledge
conversion embodies the aggregation of explicit knowledge in meetings or conferences. Here,
individuals or a group categorize and combine it in order to merge and then shape a new and
enhanced conception. Such reconfiguration helps create new ideas.” The final stage is an
internalization, explicit knowledge transferred to develop new tacit knowledge. In his article,
Stillwell (2004) explains that internalization converts the changed, explicit knowledge again to a
tacit form, this time held by many people. It then becomes clear how knowledge thus built into a
product or a service, actively solves perceived problems.
2.5 Knowledge Preservation
Knowledge preservation is a process of maintaining knowledge systems and
organizational capabilities that protect and store perceptions, actions and experiences from time
to time and allows to recall for the future use. Knowledge preservation is a constant struggle
against the advance of time and the focus on the present and future, preservation of knowledge
includes the processes necessary to capture, understand, archive, retrieve and protect explicit and
tacit knowledge and to maintain its accessibility and readability in order to remain useful.
(IAEA, 2011).
In the IAEA it is mentioned that knowledge preservation is critical precursor to
knowledge transfer, the risk may come when not preserving the knowledge is the loss of tacit
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knowledge possessed by a competent person. Knowledge preservation efforts go through a cycle
of: identification, capture, processing and organization, storage and retention, search, retrieval
and representation, transfer and exchange, and maintenance and updating. The stage of
knowledge preservation is storing the knowledge identified, captured and processed in robust
and reliable devices to make it available for a long period of time, another stage of knowledge
preservation is handling the maintenance and updating of knowledge base systems. Knowledge
preservation requires information be stored in a format in which it is easily accessible and can be
reused for future undertakings or decision making requirements.
3. Research Methodology
The method used in this study is qualitative, where the data collected and analyzed
obtained from data collection through observation, and literature subject. The data collected for
this study comes from articles on oral literary preservation and knowledge preservation. Then
this study was observed to identify the importance of preserving traditional oral literature.
4. Result and Discussion
Oral literature is a broad term that includes ritual texts, epic poems, fairy tales, songs,
myths, spells, legends, proverbs, puzzles, biographies, etc.. Hahiwang is the art of oral literature
that shaped epic poems by chanting rhythmic poetry. The chanted poem contains the meaning
and moral message of life, usually the oral art of hahiwang is sung only when there is an event
like a traditional event, cangget event (a traditional dance of Lampung), weddings (release of the
bride to the groom), youth event where the term is known as jagodamar/jagadamagh or
kedayek/kedayok, humming while put the child to sleep, and as a free time filler. The main
characteristic of Lampung’s oral literature is the story that is very attached to the traditions of the
local community.
Another term from hahiwang is “ringget”, “pisaan”, “dadi”, “highing-highing”,
“wayak” or “ngehahaddo”. Hahiwang is traditional oral literatures whose poems are containing
meaning and moral messages. It’s usually tell about 2 things that is about life story and romance
story. In one hahiwang’s stanza consisting of five (5) lines or more, hahiwang typically use
cross-rhyme (ab-ab) or free rhyme. Hahiwang sung with the accompaniment of traditional music
of Lampung.
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Here is an example of a hahiwang stanzas:
This is a fragment of hahiwang that tells of the suffering of life, the meaning from
hahiwang’s above is “When natural disasters such as floods, earthquakes, landslides and others
are occur, people will feel sad and scared, because being separated from relatives. Looking for
refuge anywhere, without helping each other. If we reflect again, the tragedy that happened so far
is nothing but self-indulgence. Greedy in exploiting what nature gave, ruining without
responsibility. Ruining nature like dredge the mountain so its becomes flat, cutting down trees
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without planting new trees, so when the rainy season comes no one can withstand the flow of
water. We as human beings who have faith must be able to introspection ourselves, if ever do the
act of damaging the nature do not get repeated again. According to the concept of religion, the
act of preserving nature to avoid disaster is included a good behavior and you can get reward
from God” a poem that has a meaning and a moral message about life to preserve the nature.
Hahiwang is an oral literature that is chanted using the local language, Local languages
act as a vehicle for the transmission of unique cultural knowledge, but the oral traditions encoded
within these languages become threatened when the elders die.
How is the development of oral literature now in the era of globalization? In the context
of globalization and increased migration and urbanization, interrelated challenges in protecting
cultural identity, preserving cultural diversity, and promoting intercultural dialogue is becoming
increasingly important and urgent. The rapid development of communication and information
networks has increased the national economic problem, the development of transnational markets
and the expanding range of new challenges for cultural diversity. (UNESCO, 2009)
The era of globalization, the involvement of external influences on all aspects of life, one
of which affects the local culture, make the original culture slowly begin to be forgotten, give
erosion to the value of a culture, the influx of Western paradigm changing lifestyles become
Westernized thus reducing the sense of love towards the local culture itself. This makes
preservation of traditional oral literature important to do in an effort to preserve and retain the
oral literature possessed by a region.
Aware of the negative impacts of globalization on the cultural diversity of Lampung,
making its community initiative to document and disseminate endangered oral literatures before
they disappear without record, by applying some measures that are expected to maintain local
wisdom, preserving the traditional oral literary culture of hahiwang, such as: formed a committee
of the Lampung Arts Council which is specific to handle the traditional cultural problems of the
Lampung society, the establishment of this committee felt very well targeted, considering a
regional culture is a wealth and identity that has noble values for the region itself so its need for
supervision so that culture gets special attention and will reduce the possibility of an extinct
culture.
Externalization is when tacit knowledge is codified and turns into explicit knowledge,
interprets that knowledge into a documented knowledge so that it can be shared and understood
by others. The externalization activities undertaken in efforts to preserve the culture of oral
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literature of hahiwang are by held a performances of Lampung cultural festivals such as krakatau
festival, megou pak festival, sekura festival, Lampung fair, and oral literature festival that has
been regularly held from year-to-year, it is the right step to support the preservation of cultural
diversity activities scattered in Lampung especially the preservation of hahiwang oral literature.
Transfer knowledge is a connection that helps in building knowledge sharing networks
which allows people to build relationships to do knowledge sharing, knowledge transfer can be
one method that can be used in preserving oral literature. in preservation of oral literature
hahiwang one of them by using knowledge transfer with learning about Lampung culture such as
regional languages, regional songs and also includes studying traditional oral literature which are
included into the category of “local content lesson” at elementary and junior high school level,
this knowledge transfer activity as an early introduction for the students about their local culture.
In Nonaka's SECI model, socialization is when tacit knowledge is transformed into new
tacit knowledge, creating new tacit to other individuals. Socialization activities are also
intensively conducted by conducting oral literature training held at Lampung Cultural Park.
Cultural Park is a place that serves to foster, improve the quality, maintain and preserve the
culture of the local community of Lampung.
Therefore, in this information era, the effort to preserve indigenous knowledge and
culture has become an activity that is very important because of its compatibility with local
environmental preservation and sustainable development of concerned communities..
5. Conclusions
Hahiwang is a traditional oral literature belonging to the community of Krui, West
Lampung. Oral literature of hahiwang is an activity of chanting poem in Lampung language with
rhythm. The facts, hahiwang oral literature just mastered by the old generation, many young
generations know about this oral literature but do not mastered how should its sung. Whereas,
the oral literature of hahiwang is full of meaning and moral massage about life which is implied
from its poem.
The indigenous knowledge preservation activities of local wisdom have been conducted
in various ways by socialization, externalization, and forming committee of the arts council of
Lampung. Socialization preservation is done with conducting oral literature training held at
Lampung Cultural Park and transfer knowledge with learning about Lampung culture such as
regional languages, regional songs and also includes studying traditional oral literature. While,
preservation by externalization has been done with holding a performances of Lampung cultural
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festivals such as krakatau festival, megou pak festival, sekura festival, Lampung fair, and oral
literature festival that has been regularly held from year to year.
From the results of this study there is hope for future generations to grow and move on
with what is vital to them and to sort out and retain what is deemed valuable.
6. Recomendations
This is a preliminary study of the preservation of traditional oral literature of hahiwang in
West Lampung, based on the research there are several recommendations for future research, as
follows: [1] Knowledge of local wisdom such as oral literature hahiwang still required book-
keeping (recording in written form), documentation and audiovisual recordings to have physical
evidence of the existence of oral literature hahiwang (do transfer knowledge of combination
types: explicit knowledge to explicit knowledge) [2] To further expose the art of hahiwang oral
literature by documenting of hahiwang activities which then share through social media to be
known by the public. [3] We hope the young generation of Lampung have a passion for learning
oral literature of hahiwang by following the cultural festival or oral literary training, so as to
participate in preserving of the culture of Lampung society.
Acknowledgement
This researcher is supported by Faculty of Humanities, Universitas Indonesia and the Directorate
of Research and Community Service, Universitas Indonesia.
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